IELTS Band Score Calculator: How Your Score Is Calculated & How to Check It

Your IELTS result is a band score from 0 to 9, given for each of the four skills plus an overall band.

Understanding how the score is calculated matters because it tells you where to focus. If Reading needs 30 correct answers for a 7 but you're scoring 26, you know exactly how many more questions you need. If Writing averages your four criteria, you know which criterion is dragging you down.

Here is the complete breakdown, with the conversion tables and examples.

The Quick Answer

Overall score: Average of your 4 skill scores, rounded to the nearest 0.5
Listening: Raw correct answers (out of 40) → band
Reading: Raw correct answers (out of 40) → band (Academic and General differ)
Writing: Average of 4 criteria
Speaking: Average of 4 criteria

Overall Score: How the Four Skills Combine

Your overall band is the average of your four skill scores, rounded to the nearest half band.

The rounding rule:

Averages ending in .25 round up (6.25 → 6.5)
Averages ending in .75 round up to the next whole band (6.75 → 7.0)
Averages ending in .125 or .375 round down

Example 1: 7.5 + 7.0 + 6.5 + 6.5 = 27.5 ÷ 4 = 6.875 → overall 7.0

Example 2: 7.0 + 6.5 + 6.5 + 6.0 = 26 ÷ 4 = 6.5 → overall 6.5

Example 3: 8.0 + 7.5 + 7.0 + 7.0 = 29.5 ÷ 4 = 7.375 → overall 7.5

Use our IELTS Band Score Calculator tool to compute yours instantly.

Listening: Raw Score to Band

Listening has 40 questions. Your raw score (correct answers) converts to a band. The conversion is the same for Academic and General Training.

Band	Correct Answers (out of 40)
9.0	39-40
8.5	37-38
8.0	35-36
7.5	32-34
7.0	30-31
6.5	26-29
6.0	23-25
5.5	18-22
5.0	16-17

Key takeaway: Listening is forgiving at the top (39-40 for a 9) but punishing in the middle — the difference between 25 and 30 correct answers is a full band.

Reading: Raw Score to Band

Reading also has 40 questions, but the conversion differs between Academic and General Training. General Training requires more correct answers for the same band because the passages are easier.

Band	Academic Correct	General Correct
9.0	39-40	40
8.5	37-38	39
8.0	35-36	37-38
7.5	33-34	36
7.0	30-32	34-35
6.5	27-29	32-33
6.0	23-26	30-31
5.5	20-22	27-29
5.0	16-19	23-26

Key takeaway: These conversions vary slightly between tests. The numbers above are the typical band — the official table for your specific test is printed in the test result booklet.

Writing: The 4 Criteria

Writing is scored subjectively by an examiner on four criteria, each worth 25% of the writing band:

Criterion	What It Measures
Task Response (TR)	Did you fully answer the question with developed ideas?
Coherence & Cohesion (CC)	Is your essay organized with logical paragraphing and linking?
Lexical Resource (LR)	Your vocabulary range and accuracy
Grammatical Range & Accuracy (GRA)	Your sentence structures and error frequency

Your writing band is the average of the four criteria. For Task 2, these are weighted equally. For Task 1, TR becomes "Task Achievement."

Example: TR 7, CC 7, LR 6.5, GRA 6.5 → average 6.75 → Writing 7.0

This is why criterion-level feedback matters. If you know your LR is 6.5 while the rest is 7.5, you have one specific problem to fix — not four.

Speaking: The 4 Criteria

Speaking is scored on four criteria, each worth 25%:

Criterion	What It Measures
Fluency & Coherence	Smoothness, speed, logical organization
Lexical Resource	Vocabulary range and naturalness
Grammatical Range & Accuracy	Sentence variety and error frequency
Pronunciation	Clarity, stress, intonation

Your speaking band is the average of the four criteria.

How to Use This Knowledge to Improve

Step 1 — Diagnose with a mock. Take a full IELTS mock test and convert your raw scores using the tables above. This tells you your current bands for Listening and Reading with precision.

Step 2 — Get writing feedback. Submit an essay for AI feedback to get your per-criterion scores (TR, CC, LR, GRA). Fix the lowest one first.

Step 3 — Check your rounding leverage. If your overall is sitting at .25 or .75, one skill improvement rounds you up. A single 0.5 improvement in one skill can raise your overall half band.

Step 4 — Target the easiest gain. Reading often improves fastest because it's formulaic — learn question-type strategies (see all 12 reading question types) and the raw score climbs quickly.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the IELTS overall band score calculated?

Your overall score is the average of your four skill scores (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking), rounded to the nearest half band. For example, 7.5, 7.0, 6.5, 6.5 averages to 6.875, which rounds to 7.0.

How many correct answers do I need for a Band 7 in Reading?

For IELTS Academic Reading, roughly 30 out of 40 correct answers converts to Band 7. For General Training Reading, Band 7 requires approximately 34 out of 40. The exact conversion varies slightly between tests.

How many correct answers do I need for a Band 7 in Listening?

Roughly 30 out of 40 correct answers converts to Band 7 in Listening. Listening scoring is the same for Academic and General Training. Around 35 correct is Band 8, and 39-40 correct is Band 9.

How is IELTS Writing scored?

Writing is scored on 4 criteria, each worth 25%: Task Response/Achievement, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Your writing band is the average of the 4 criteria.

Does the IELTS overall score round up or down?

IELTS rounds to the nearest half band. Averages ending in .25 round up (6.25 becomes 6.5), and averages ending in .75 round up to the next whole band (6.75 becomes 7.0). Averages ending in .125 or .375 round down.