Inside the Coherence and Cohesion Score

Coherence and Cohesion is one of four criteria in the IELTS Writing Task 2 band scale, and it carries the same weight as the other three: a quarter of your final writing mark. Examiners assess it separately from grammar and vocabulary, which means an essay can be almost error-free at sentence level and still lose ground here. The criterion looks at how ideas fit together across the whole essay, not just whether the sentences are correct.

What Cohesion Means

Coherence is about whether the reader can follow your line of thought without effort. Cohesion is the machinery that holds it together: linking words, reference words like this and such, and the logical order in which points appear. Examiners read a Task 2 essay once at normal speed, the way a busy reader would, and they judge how much work it takes to understand you.

At the middle bands, the descriptors talk about progression that is present but not always smooth. A band 6 essay usually arranges information logically and uses cohesive devices effectively, but may overuse or underuse them, and referencing can be faulty. A band 7 essay manages information and ideas clearly, uses a range of connectors accurately, and does not rely on the same few phrases. The jump between those bands is often not about ideas at all; it is about how the ideas are stitched.

Paragraphs and Linking

Paragraphing is written into the descriptor. At band 7 and above, examiners expect clear central topics in each paragraph. This is why a genuine paragraph plan matters more than a stockpile of connectors. Each body paragraph should carry one main idea, introduce it, develop it, and support it before the essay moves on. When ideas from three different points are scattered across two paragraphs, the mark for this criterion suffers even if every sentence is grammatically sound.

Linking works at two levels. Between sentences, you signal relationships: however for contrast, as a result for consequence, for instance for an example. Between paragraphs, the first sentence should tell the reader where this new idea sits in relation to the last one. Candidates who are preparing for a single-skill retake often focus on one of these levels while neglecting the other; a structured plan such as the writing guide at https://careerwiseenglish.com.au/ can help you practise both in the same essay rather than treating cohesion as a checklist of connectors. The point is not to insert more linking words but to make each one earn its place.

Reference words are the quiet part of this criterion. Pronouns and phrases like these measures, that approach, or the former let you refer back without repeating whole noun phrases. Used well, they make writing feel economical. Used carelessly, they leave the examiner guessing what this actually points to, and unclear reference is one of the specific faults named in the band 6 descriptor.

Common Marking Traps

The most frequent trap is mechanical overuse of connectors. An essay that opens nearly every sentence with Moreover, Furthermore, or In addition reads as if the links were bolted on afterwards. Examiners are trained to notice this, and the descriptor explicitly caps the mark when cohesive devices are overused or used mechanically. More is not better.

A second trap is memorised linking templates that do not match the content. Phrases learned for coordination courses in Adelaide or self-study apps elsewhere often sound impressive but attach to nothing in the argument. If on the other hand appears without a genuine other hand, it hurts rather than helps.

The third trap is treating paragraph shape as decorative. Some candidates write four tidy blocks with no single controlling idea inside each one, or bury the main point in the last line. Because the descriptor rewards a clear central topic per paragraph, a well-signposted but empty structure will not reach the higher bands.

If you want one thing to work on before your next attempt, take a past essay of your own and underline every cohesive device, then delete any that do not mark a real relationship between ideas. What remains will tell you how much of your cohesion is genuine and how much is padding.