You're thinking of Baldur's Gate, not IWD. A mage can reach 14th level, and use 7th level spells in IWD. And to the original poster, you start getting 5th level spells in the Severed Hand (I believe Animate Dead is the first you'll run across, remember to check all the stashes in the Hand!) and Dorn's Deep, so don't fret You don't get most of the 6th and 7th level spells till the very end of the game anyway.
-Wrath
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