IELTS Band Score Calculator

How the overall band is calculated

Your overall band is the average of the four section bands, rounded to the nearest half band. Two averages are special: one that ends in .25 rounds up to the next half band, and one that ends in .75 rounds up to the next whole band. Everything else goes to whichever half band is nearest.

Your four bands	Average	Overall band
6.0 · 6.0 · 6.0 · 6.5	6.125	6.0
6.5 · 6.5 · 6.0 · 6.0	6.25	6.5
7.0 · 6.5 · 6.5 · 6.5	6.625	6.5
7.0 · 7.0 · 7.0 · 6.0	6.75	7.0
7.0 · 7.0 · 6.5 · 7.0	6.875	7.0

The rule matters at the edges. A student at 6.5 · 6.5 · 6.0 · 6.0 is already a 6.5 overall; one at 6.0 · 6.0 · 6.0 · 6.5 is a 6.0, and needs half a band more in one section to move. Knowing which section is cheapest to raise is most of the strategy — for many students in Bangladesh that is Listening, because it is the most practisable, and we have written about it in how to get band 7 from Bangladesh.

Listening: correct answers to band

Listening has 40 questions, one mark each. The table is the guide IELTS publishes; every paper is calibrated, so a band can need one answer more or fewer on the day.

Correct answers (of 40)	Listening band
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
10–12	4.0

Academic Reading: correct answers to band

Academic Reading also has 40 questions, and its thresholds sit a little higher in the middle bands than Listening's. General Training Reading uses a different table and is not shown here — our course teaches IELTS Academic.

Correct answers (of 40)	Academic Reading band
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

Writing and Speaking have no table

An examiner marks Writing on four criteria — task achievement or response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy — and Speaking on four of its own: fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation. Each criterion is scored from 0 to 9 and the section band comes from those four. No calculator can predict that; a teacher can. Between classes, our free Writing app gives instant feedback on a practice essay, and on the IELTS Master Course every task you submit is marked with the band descriptors explained.

What band do you need?

Most universities ask for an overall band between 6.0 and 7.0, often with no section below 5.5 or 6.0 — and the exact number depends on the country and the course. We keep the typical ranges on the study abroad page and in the guide to IELTS band requirements for UK, Canada and Australia. Always confirm with the university itself.