IELTS Band Score Calculator
Enter your section scores to instantly calculate your overall IELTS band.
Exam Type
Enter all 4 section scores to see your overall band
How the IELTS overall band score is calculated
IELTS reports a band from 0 to 9 for each of the four sections: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. Your overall band is the average of the four, rounded to the nearest half band. Each section counts equally, so a strong Listening score can offset a weaker Writing score.
Rounding works in your favour at the boundaries. An average ending in .25 goes up to the next half band and an average ending in .75 goes up to the next whole band. Section bands of 6.5, 6.5, 6 and 6 average 6.25, which becomes an overall 6.5. That is why one extra half band in a single section is sometimes enough to lift the overall score.
How to use this calculator
Choose Academic or General Training first. For Listening and Reading, enter your raw score, which is the number of questions you answered correctly out of 40. The calculator converts it to a band. For Writing and Speaking, enter the band itself, from your Test Report Form, a teacher, or a practice evaluation.
The exam type only changes Reading. Academic and General Training candidates sit the same Listening test, but the General Training Reading texts are easier, so the same raw score converts to a lower band: 30 correct answers is about band 6 in General Training and band 7 in Academic.
IELTS raw score to band conversion table
| Band | Listening | Academic Reading | General Training Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 39–40 | 39–40 | 40 |
| 8.5 | 37–38 | 37–38 | 39 |
| 8 | 35–36 | 35–36 | 37–38 |
| 7.5 | 32–34 | 33–34 | 36 |
| 7 | 30–31 | 30–32 | 34–35 |
| 6.5 | 26–29 | 27–29 | 32–33 |
| 6 | 23–25 | 23–26 | 30–31 |
| 5.5 | 18–22 | 19–22 | 27–29 |
| 5 | 16–17 | 15–18 | 23–26 |
| 4.5 | 13–15 | 13–14 | 19–22 |
| 4 | 11–12 | 10–12 | 15–18 |
Correct answers out of 40 for each band. These figures are approximate: the raw score needed for a band varies slightly between test versions.
How Writing and Speaking are scored
Writing and Speaking have no raw score. Examiners award a band against four criteria in each. In Writing these are Task Achievement (Task Response in Task 2), Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1. In Speaking they are Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation.
For what each band means, see the IELTS band score chart and the band descriptors explained. To practise under test conditions, see IELTS preparation on Gabble.