IELTS SCORINGBand Score DescriptionSee Details Below
IELTS scores and test format
Test Format
The IELTS test assesses your abilities in all four skills - listening, reading, writing and speaking - in under three hours.
“The IELTS test format is tried and trusted by organisations and test takers worldwide, and has not changed significantly for over 20 years.”
You will take the Listening, Reading and Writing tests all on the same day one after the other, with no breaks in between them. They are always taken in this order. Your Speaking test will either be after a break on the same day as the other three tests, or up to seven days before or after that. This will depend on your test centre.
The IELTS Band Scores
IELTS is a multi-level exam. You get a score between 1 and 9 for each section. Half scores such as 6.5 are possible. Universities often demand an IELTS score of 6 or 7. They may also demand a minimum score in each of the 4 sections.
IELTS Listening marking schemes
For the listening test, which contains 40 questions, the approximate band scores can be calculated using this table.
| Band Score | 9 | 8.5 | 8 | 7.5 | 7 | 6.5 | 6 | 5.5 | 5 | 4.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 2.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score / 40 | 39-40 | 37-38 | 35-36 | 32-34 | 30-31 | 26-29 | 23-25 | 18-22 | 16-17 | 13-15 | 10-12 | 8-10 | 6-7 | 4-5 |
IELTS General Reading marking schemes
For the general reading test, which contains 40 questions, the approximate band scores can be calculated using this table.
| Band Score | 9 | 8.5 | 8 | 7.5 | 7 | 6.5 | 6 | 5.5 | 5 | 4.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 2.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score / 40 | 40 | 39 | 37-38 | 36 | 34-35 | 32-33 | 30-31 | 27-29 | 23-26 | 19-22 | 15-18 | 12-14 | 9-11 | 6-8 |
IELTS Academic Reading marking schemes
For the academic reading test, which also contains 40 questions, but is more difficult, the approximate band scores can be calculated using this table.
| Band Score | 9 | 8.5 | 8 | 7.5 | 7 | 6.5 | 6 | 5.5 | 5 | 4.5 | 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 2.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score / 40 | 39-40 | 37-38 | 35-36 | 33-34 | 30-32 | 27-29 | 23-26 | 19-22 | 15-18 | 13-14 | 10-12 | 8-9 | 6-7 | 4-5 |
IELTS Writing marking
The two writing questions are marked out of 9 according to the following criteria:
- Task Achievement
- Coherence and Cohesion
- Lexical Resource
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy
IELTS Speaking marking
The speaking test is also marked out of 9 according to the following criteria:
- Fluency and coherence
- Lexical resource
- Grammatical range and accuracy
- Pronunciation