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Understanding Band Scores
The Basics
Understanding the IELTS band scores and how they work might take a hot minute, but it's worth knowing to make sure you know what you're aiming for. Some universities might only require a Band 6 for your course, but some companies could require a higher overall score, so check what band you need to achieve and plan accordingly. Once you have a basic understanding of how the exams are graded, check what level you are now and figure out what areas you need to work on. Each section (Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking) is marked against different criteria, and tests different skills, and you will receive a band score for each. These four scores are then averaged out. There is more information on calculating this below. To begin with, check out the table describing the language ability related to each band score:
User Level | Band Score | Language Ability |
|---|---|---|
Expert User | 9 | Fully operational command of the language: appropriate, accurate and fluent. |
Very Good User | 8 | Only occasional unsystematic errors. Misunderstandings may occur in unfamiliar situations. |
Good User | 7 | Generally handles complex language well, though with occasional inaccuracies. |
Competent User | 6 | Can use and understand fairly complex language, particularly in familiar situations. |
Modest User | 5 | Partial command of the language; copes with overall meaning but frequent mistakes. |
Limited User | 4 | Basic competence is limited to familiar situations; frequent problems with understanding and expression. |
Extremely Limited User | 3 | Conveys and understands only general meaning in very familiar situations. |
Intermittent User | 2 | No real communication possible except for the most basic information. |
Non-user | 1 | Essentially no ability to use the language except for a few isolated words. |
Did not attempt the test | 0 | No assessable information; did not answer any questions. |
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Calculating Your Score
Your overall IELTS score is calculated by adding up the band scores you receive for each individual section and dividing them by 4. Each section is weighted equally, so if you are weaker in one part (e.g. reading) and stronger in another (e.g. writing), the scores will offset each other. See below for the step-by-step calculation guide and an example calculation of an IELTS score.
Step-by-step calculation of an IELTS band:
1. Get your individual section scores.
2. Add all four scores together.
3. Divide the total by 4
4. Round to the nearest half or whole band
-
If the average ends in .25, round up to the next half band (e.g., 6.25 → 6.5).
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If the average ends in .75, round up to the next whole band (e.g., 6.75 → 7.0).
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Otherwise, round down (e.g., 6.125 → 6.0).
For example: 8 + 6.5 + 7 + 7.5 = 29. Then divide 29 by 4 = 7.25. Then round up to 7.5.
So the overall score in this example is 7.5
Writing Test Scores
The Writing section is marked according to four different criteria. This is the same for both General Training and Academic, but Task 1 and Task 2 are marked according to either Task Achievement (Task 1) or Task Response (Task 2). The other three criteria are the same: Coherence & Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammar Range & Accuracy. The criteria are all weighted at 25%, as shown below:
Coherence & Cohesion (Task 1 & 2)
- Is your writing clearly and logically organised in paragraphs?
- Are your ideas linked using cohesive devices?
- Is there a clear progression from one idea to the next?
25%
Weight:
Task Response (Task 2)
- Have you answered the question?
- Have you developed your argument with relevant ideas and examples?
25%
Weight:
Lexical Resource (Task 1 & 2)
- Have you used topic-specific language?
- Have you used collocations and idiomatic expressions? (And used them appropriately!)
- Have you avoided repetition and used appropriate synonyms?
- Is your spelling accurate?
25%
Weight:
Grammar Range & Accuracy (Task 1 & 2)
- Are you using a variety of sentence structures (simple, compound, complex)?
- Is your grammar accurate?
25%
Weight:
Task Achievement (Task 1)
- Have you summarised the relevant points of the visual data? (Academic)
- Have you covered all bullet points? (General Training)
25%
Weight:
Listening Test Scores
The table below has the band scores for the IELTS Listening test and how they relate to actual test scores. You gain points for correct answers, but you won't lose any points for incorrect answers. As you can see, you need an almost perfect score to achieve a Band 9.0 score, but there is only a 10 mark difference between 7.0 and 9.0. As the Listening test for Academic and General Training is the same, the band scoring criteria are also the same.
Listening Test Score | Band Score |
|---|---|
39-40 | 9.0 |
37-38 | 8.5 |
35-36 | 8.0 |
32-34 | 7.5 |
30-31 | 7.0 |
26-29 | 6.5 |
23-25 | 6.0 |
18-22 | 5.5 |
16-17 | 5.0 |
13-15 | 4.5 |
Listening quick links
Reading Test Scores
The tables below have the band scores for the IELTS Reading test and how they relate to actual test scores. As with the other tests, you gain points for correct answers, but you won't lose any points for incorrect answers. Because the Academic and General Training tests are different, they are also scored in relation to their difficulty. The Academic version uses more specific vocabulary, is designed to be more difficult and therefore the test score:band score ratio is slightly more lenient (only slightly!).
General Training Test Score | Band Score |
|---|---|
40 | 9.0 |
39 | 8.5 |
37-38 | 8.0 |
36 | 7.5 |
34-35 | 7.0 |
32-33 | 6.5 |
30-31 | 6.0 |
27-29 | 5.5 |
23-26 | 5.0 |
19-22 | 4.5 |
15-18 | 4.0 |
Academic Test Score | Band Score |
|---|---|
39-40 | 9.0 |
37-38 | 8.5 |
35-36 | 8.0 |
33-34 | 7.5 |
30-32 | 7.0 |
27-29 | 6.5 |
23-26 | 6.0 |
19-22 | 5.5 |
15-18 | 5.0 |
13-14 | 4.5 |
10-12 | 4.0 |
Reading quick links
Speaking Test Scores
Similar to the Writing tasks, during the Speaking test, everybody's answers will be different, so the marking criteria are guidelines that the examiner will use to establish your Speaking band score. The four areas that the examiner will score you on are: Fluency & Coherence, Grammatical Range & Accuracy, Pronunciation, and Lexical Resource. Each of these areas is weighted at 25%, and all four scores are added together, then averaged to give you an overall Speaking score. When you practise for the Speaking section, ask yourself the following questions to get an idea of how the examiner will score you:
Fluency & Coherence
How well can you speak without too much hesitation or self-correction?
Are your ideas logically connected and easy to follow?
Pronunciation
How clearly and naturally are you speaking?
Are you using intonation, stress and rhythm correctly when speaking?
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Are you using a variety of grammar structures, and using them correctly? (i.e. tenses, conditionals, complex sentences)
Are you accurate with your grammar?
Lexical Resource
How wide-ranging is your vocabulary and are you using it appropriately?
How well can you paraphrase and use idiomatic expressions naturally?