How do I calculate my IELTS exam score?

Are you preparing for your IELTS exam and getting confused about how the scoring system for the exam works?

Don’t worry! As someone with experience taking the IELTS exam, I'll help you understand how the IELTS score is calculated, so you don't get lost in the numbers!

The IELTS exam is divided into four sections: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Understanding how each section and how your final score are calculated is key to helping you prepare for the exam and achieve your desired score.

What are some considerations on how the score is calculated?

Scores for each section, as well as your overall score, are converted into "bands":

✅ Each band represents your level of English competency. Band score for each section is reported on a scale from 1 (non user) to 9 (expert user). This score can be a whole or half band (i.e. 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5...).

✅ Your final band score is the average score of the four sections. Your overall band score is rounded to the closest band or half band (i.e. 6.25 is rounded up to 6.5, 6.125 is rounded down to 6, and so on).

✅ All sections are weighted in the same way.

✅ Academic and General Training IELTS use the same 9 band scale.

This section has a total of 40 questions. Each correct answer is 1 mark. The total raw score out of the 40 questions is converted to the 1 to 9 band scale. Scores are reported in whole and half bands.

How can you convert your raw score to the band scale?

Use the chart below to calculate the conversion:

👉 Click here for an accessible text version of the chart above, and locate the chart below the Listening Section heading

This section has a total of 40 questions. Each correct answer is 1 mark. The total raw score out of the 40 questions is converted to the 1 to 9 band scale. Scores are reported in whole and half bands.

Sound familiar? The Listening Section and the Reading Section follow the same scoring.

However, there is something else to consider:

1️⃣ There's a difference between Academic and General Training IELTS Reading Tests. The readings included in theAcademic version are more complex.

2️⃣ You also need to answer more correct questions in the General Training IELTS to achieve a specific band score.

How does the score conversion work for the Academic IELTS?

Use the chart below to calculate the conversion:

👉 Click here for an accessible text version of the chart above, and locate the chart below Reading Academic heading

How does the score conversion work for the General Training IELTS?

Use the chart below to calculate the conversion:

👉 Click here for an accessible text version of the chart above, and locate the chart below Reading General Training heading

There are two tasks in this section: Writing Task 1 and Writing Task 2. Each task is marked according to 4 marking criteria:

✅ Task achievement (for Writing Task 1) Task response (for Writing Task 2)

✅ Cohesion

✅ Grammatical range and accuracy

✅ Lexical resource

All criteria are valued in the same way. The final band score for each task is the average score for the four criteria. You can find a full description of the marking criteria and bands in Writing Task 1 and Writing Task 2.

There's one more thing you need to keep in mind:

🛎️ You'll only receive a total final score for the section. However, Tasks 1 and 2 aren't worth the same. Task 2 is double the points.

For example, to calculate the total writing score for a test where Writing Task 1 scored 6, and Writing Task 2 scored 7, you can:

1. Add Task 2's score 2 times to the score of Task 1: 7+7+6 = 20

2. Divide this score by 3: 20/3 = 6.66

3. Round up (or round down) the score to the closest band or half band: 6.5

⚡ Test Your Knowledge

Meet Marcos. He's preparing for the Academic IELTS with a trained IELTS instructor to get into college. Marcos wrote a practice test and he scored 7 in Writing Task 1 and 6.5 in Writing Task 2.

There are 4 marking criteria in the speaking section:

✅ Fluency and coherence

✅ Lexical resource

✅ Grammatical range and accuracy

✅ Pronunciation

All criteria are valued in the same way. The final band score is the average score for the 4 criteria.

The score is decided by the examiner who interviews you during the exam. You can find more information about the speaking section and the marking criteria in How do I answer IELTS speaking exam questions? and Speaking marking criteria.

Do you know how to calculate your IELTS score now?

⚡ Test Your Knowledge!

Marcos wrote his IELTS exam. The college he wants to apply to asks candidates for a 6.5 overall in the IELTS exam to be accepted. Marcos' results are:

• Listening: 27/40 (raw score)

• Reading: 26/40 (raw score)

• Writing: 6 (band score)

• Speaking: 6.5 (band score)

Get your scoring right!