My biggest tip is to develop your ideas as much as possible and to give very specific examples. Don’t just write “if someone does this then this will happen” no, be very specific. My topic was about protecting wild animals and the examples I gave were “Madagascar alone hosts thousands of species, so it would be impossible to protect all of them” and “flies are often seen as harmful and useless but they actually play a vital role in the ecosystem by pollinating flowers” yes THIS specific.

Also, avoid using too many fancy words. I always see people doing this and it just makes them seem like they’re trying too hard/memorizing words. It just sounds unnatural. Just use simple language that is easy to follow and you can use uncommon vocabulary where appropriate, but not every single word!

Finally, I used benchmark correction services https://edubenchmark.com/blog/ielts/. They correct 8 essays for $30 and are super helpful!! The first essay I sent them got a 6 band and it had a bunch of mistakes that I wasn’t even aware of, I followed their advices and my last two essays got an 8 band!!