Here's something that surprises a lot of IELTS candidates: you can memorise dozens of linking words and still lose marks for them. Coherence and Cohesion is a full quarter of your Writing score, and most people assume the way to win it is to pack in as many connectors as possible — a "Firstly" here, a "Moreover" there, an "In conclusion" to finish. Examiners see that move every single day, and it doesn't work. The band descriptors reward linking words used flexibly and naturally, and they specifically penalise the mechanical, bolted-on kind. So the goal isn't more linkers. It's the right ones, in the right places, doing real work.
What linking words are actually for
A linking word has one job: to show the reader how two ideas relate. Does the second idea add to the first, contradict it, explain it, or follow from it? That's the whole purpose. "She studied hard, so she passed" tells you the second clause is a result. "She studied hard, but she failed" flips the relationship completely with a single word. When the connection between your ideas is already obvious, a heavy connector adds nothing — and the examiner reads it as padding. Strong cohesion means the reader never has to stop and work out how your sentences fit together. The linking word earns its place only when it removes that effort, not when it decorates the sentence.
Learn a small set, not a long list
You don't need fifty connectors. You need a compact, reliable set you can reach for without thinking, grouped by the job they do. For adding an idea: and, also, as well as, what's more. For contrast: but, however, whereas, while, despite. For cause and result: because, since, so, therefore, as a result. For examples: for instance, such as, in particular. For sequencing an argument: first, then, after that, finally. Notice that some of these work inside a sentence — whereas, since, which — and those are the ones that make your writing feel mature. A candidate who only knows sentence-openers ("Firstly… Secondly… Finally…") sounds like they're reading from a list. A candidate who can write "Remote work suits some teams, whereas others lose momentum without an office" sounds like a writer.
The overuse trap that quietly costs marks
Most Coherence and Cohesion problems come from too many linkers, not too few. Opening every paragraph with a big signpost — one heavy connector, then another, then another stacked on top — is the single most common Task 2 habit I see, and the descriptors name it directly: overuse of cohesive devices reads as "mechanical". One clear connector per idea is usually plenty. If you've used "However" twice in the same paragraph, one of them is almost certainly decoration. Read your draft back and, wherever a linking word isn't doing genuine work, cut it. The writing gets stronger and tighter almost every time.
Cohesion is bigger than linking words
Here's the part most candidates miss entirely: linking words are only one ingredient of cohesion, and the examiner is marking all of them. Pronouns and references do quiet, heavy lifting — "This trend", "These measures", "Such an approach" all point back to an earlier idea and tie a paragraph together without a single connector at the front. Clear paragraphing matters just as much: one central idea per paragraph, stated early, is itself a cohesion device. So is repeating a key noun instead of forcing in a clumsy synonym the reader has to decode. Order your ideas well, make each sentence follow naturally from the one before it, and you'll score well on cohesion even with a modest handful of linkers.
So stop collecting connectors and start using a few of them precisely. Pick five or six you genuinely understand, practise dropping them into real sentences, and read everything back with one question in mind: does this word earn its place? That single habit lifts most candidates' Coherence and Cohesion score faster than any vocabulary list ever could. If you'd like an examiner-trained teacher to mark your writing and show you exactly where your cohesion breaks down, our IELTS preparation courses at Kensington English are built around that kind of targeted, honest feedback — come and write with us.
