How to get a 7 in IB: what actually separates a 6 from a 7

A 7 in IB usually comes from losing fewer marks, not from knowing much more than a 6-level student. The boundary for a 7 sits below full marks and moves every session, so the students who reach it are the ones who collect marks consistently: a precise point for every mark on short answers, the reasoning the command term asks for, working shown on every calculation, extended answers built for the markbands, and an IA that is already in the top bands before the exams start.

Below is where those marks leak out, how to find your own leaks, and one specific lever for each of seven subjects.

What separates a 6 from a 7 in IB?

Look at a 6-level script and a 7-level script side by side and the content is often similar. The difference is in dozens of small decisions: a missing unit, "describe" answered as if it said "explain", a graph trend described without a single number, a final answer rounded too early. Each costs one mark, and a 7 is lost a mark at a time.

That is good news, because these are habits, and habits can be trained in weeks. Missing knowledge takes longer to fix. So the plan below focuses on finding exactly where your marks go and closing those specific gaps, rather than rereading the whole course.

Where do short-answer questions lose marks?

Short answers are marked against a markscheme: a list of creditable points, one per mark. Examiners can only award marks for points that are actually on the page. Roughly right is not enough.

The first answer uses the right word but gives the examiner one creditable idea at most. The second gives three separate points in a chain: cause, change in structure, effect on the reaction. Two habits produce answers like this:

• Count the marks and write that many distinct points. A 3-mark "explain" needs three separate steps, not one point written three ways.
• Use the precise term, then say what it means here. "Denatured" alone is a label. "The active site changes shape" is the point the mark is attached to.

How do command terms change what earns marks?

The command term tells you the depth the markscheme expects. Answering at the wrong depth is one of the most common ways a well-prepared student loses marks.

• State or identify: a short answer, no reasoning needed. Writing a paragraph here wastes time you will need later.
• Describe: say what happens or what the data shows. For a graph, that means the trend plus figures with units.
• Explain: give the reasons or mechanism. "Because" should appear, followed by something causal.
• Evaluate, discuss or to what extent: weigh both sides and reach a judgement. An answer with no conclusion misses the thing the question asked for, however good the content.

The full lists differ by subject (Chemistry's glossary is notably shorter than Biology's, for instance). Our IB command terms guide puts each one in plain words with examples.

Why show working when your answer is right?

Because the method earns marks on its own, and because a correct method protects you when the final number goes wrong. In Maths, markschemes give method marks separately from accuracy marks. In Chemistry, a clear chain of steps with units shows the examiner exactly where an error came in, and markschemes often still credit later steps that use your wrong value correctly.

The most common accuracy loss is rounding too early. On GDC papers the IB accepts the exact value or an answer to 3 significant figures, but only if you keep full accuracy until the end.

How do you get top marks on extended responses?

Longer answers are often marked partly or wholly with markbands: the examiner judges the response as a whole and places it in a level. Content gets you into the middle bands. What lifts an answer into the top band is usually structure and judgement:

• Plan for a minute before writing. List the points you will make and the order. An answer that wanders loses the "clear and focused" qualities markbands reward.
• Use specific examples. A named case study, a named study, a real number. Generic examples read as generic understanding.
• End with a judgement that follows from what you wrote. Not a summary, an answer: which factor matters most, under what conditions, and why.

Why does the IA matter so much for a 7?

Because it is the one component you finish before exam day, against criteria you can read in advance, with a teacher's comments on a draft. Every mark you secure there is a mark you no longer need to find in the exam hall.

It is also worth more per mark than you might think. In Biology and Chemistry, the IA is 24 marks for 20% of the grade. At HL, Paper 1 is 75 marks for 36% and Paper 2 is 80 marks (Biology) for 44%, so one IA mark is worth about 1.7 Paper 1 marks or 1.5 Paper 2 marks. In Psychology from May 2027, the research proposal is 30% of the grade at SL.

Two things to keep in mind. Moderation can move your teacher's marks up or down, so aim at the criteria as written rather than the mark your class expects. And your teacher comments on one draft only, so make that draft as complete as you can.

How should you practise with markschemes?

Doing past-paper questions is not the same as improving. The improvement comes from marking yourself strictly and recording why each mark went. A simple loop:

1. Attempt a section under time, without notes.
2. Mark it with the markscheme, strictly. If your wording would not obviously match the point, you did not get the mark.
3. Log every lost mark with its cause.
4. Review the log weekly and pick the most frequent cause as next week's focus.

After a few weeks, the "cause" column usually shows that most of your losses come from two or three repeat patterns. That is your route from a 6 to a 7. If your marks have stalled despite hours of work, why you're not improving covers the usual reasons.

How do you stop running out of time?

Work out your minutes per mark for each paper and check yourself against it during practice. From the official durations and marks:

A 6-mark question in Biology HL Paper 2 deserves about 11 minutes. If you are on minute 20, write what you have and move on. More on pacing in IB exam time management.

What is the one lever in each subject?

Biology

Use the numbers in data-based questions. Paper 1B and the data question in Paper 2 reward answers that quote values with units and compare them ("rose from 12 to 30 units between 20 and 40 °C"), not answers that say "it increased". Remember there is no Biology data booklet for the 2026 and 2027 exams. See Biology common mistakes.

Chemistry

Know your data booklet before the exam. You get a clean copy in Paper 1 and Paper 2, but finding a value under time pressure is a skill. Practise every calculation with the booklet open, and write each step with units. See Chemistry common mistakes.

Maths AA

Train Paper 1 without a calculator. It is the only maths paper with no technology, and it carries 40% at SL and 30% at HL. Algebra, exact values and sign errors decide it. See Maths AA common mistakes.

Maths AI

Write down what you did on the GDC. Every AI paper requires a calculator, and a bare number gives the examiner nothing to credit if it is wrong. Write the function you used and the values you entered, for example "normal distribution, mean 60, standard deviation 8, lower bound 70". See Maths AI common mistakes.

ESS

Finish Section B essays with a real evaluation. In Paper 2, the last part of each Section B essay (9 of its 20 marks) is marked with markbands, and that part rewards a reasoned, balanced conclusion. Do not spend the whole essay listing facts and leave the judgement for the final two lines. See ESS common mistakes.

Psychology

Name the concept and apply it to the study in front of you. On the course examined from May 2027, Paper 2 Section B asks you to evaluate an unseen study against two or more of the six concepts (bias, causality, change, measurement, perspective, responsibility). Generic evaluation that would fit any study will not reach the top band. See Psychology common mistakes.

Global Politics

Make every example specific. Name the actors, the place and the year. In Paper 1, tie each claim to a specific source and add your own examples where the question invites them; in Paper 2 build each essay on case studies you can describe in detail. See Global Politics common mistakes.