‘If I were’ conditionals: The Band 7 upgrade to your hypothetical sentences

Most students stumble on the second conditional, especially with ‘if I were’. Examiners look for this structure as a marker of Band 7 grammar range—not just correctness, but the ability to control hypothetical language. Using ‘if I was’ in a hypothetical context is a common Band 6.5 slip, but ‘if I were’ signals to the examiner that you understand the difference between real and unreal conditions. This is not old-fashioned English; it’s the standard for formal writing tasks like IELTS.

The second conditional: Pattern and purpose

The second conditional describes unreal or hypothetical situations in the present or future. The pattern is: ‘If + subject + past simple, subject + would + base verb’. When the subject is ‘I’, ‘he’, ‘she’, or ‘it’, the correct form is ‘were’—not ‘was’. For example: ‘If I were the mayor, I would invest in public transport.’ This signals a situation that is not true now, but imagined.

Concrete examples: Band 6.5 vs Band 7+

You don’t need to force ‘if I were’ into every essay, but it’s a natural fit for questions about hypothetical changes, advice, or imagined situations. IELTS Speaking Part 2 often asks about what you would do in a different circumstance: ‘Describe a job you would like to have if you had the chance.’ This is where the second conditional shines.