IELTS Speaking: Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Two things, marked together: the variety of structures you use and how often they come out right. They pull against each other, and this is usually the lowest of a candidate's four criteria — which makes it the fastest one to improve.
Why accuracy alone caps you
A candidate who speaks only in short, simple, correct sentences is accurate and has no range, and the descriptors do not award the higher bands for that. Some error inside complex structures scores better than flawless simplicity.
- Conditionals — if I had, I would have; unless they change.
- Relative clauses — the town where I grew up, a friend who works in.
- Perfect aspect — I have been studying, I had already left.
- Passive — it was introduced, it is widely believed.
- Concession — although, even though, despite the fact that.
Where the range comes from naturally
Trying to insert structures produces stilted speech. Letting the question pull them out does not. Part 3 questions about the past, the future and hypotheses will produce perfect aspect, modals and conditionals from anyone who actually answers them — which is one more reason not to give Part 1 answers to Part 3 questions.
The errors that count most are the ones that obscure meaning. A wrong article is minor; a tense that puts the event in the wrong time is not.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — FAQs
2 questions
Only up to a point. Range is half the criterion, so unvaried accuracy has a ceiling.
Occasional slips are expected at every band. Systematic errors and errors that change the meaning are what move the mark.
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Sources
Written from the test board's own published material and checked on 1 October 2026.