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How IELTS band scores work

By the PrepEve team · Published 28 September 2026

Your IELTS result is four skill bands and one overall band. This guide explains how each one is calculated, how the rounding works, and why one weak skill can matter more than you think.

The 0–9 band scale

Every IELTS result uses bands from 0 to 9. You get a band for each skill: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. You also get one overall band. Bands can be whole (like 7.0) or half (like 6.5).

Most visa and university targets sit between 6.0 and 8.0. So the gap between "competent" and "good" matters a lot.

How your overall band is calculated

Your overall band is the average of your four skill bands. That average is then rounded to the nearest half band.

The rounding has two special cases that confuse many people:

• If the average ends in .25, it rounds up to the next half band. For example, 6.25 becomes 6.5.
• If the average ends in .75, it rounds up to the next whole band. For example, 6.75 becomes 7.0.
• Anything below .25 rounds down to the whole band. Anything between .25 and .75 becomes .5.

Worked examples

Look at rows three and four. One extra half band in a single skill did not change the overall band. But in row one, a strong Speaking score pulled the overall up to 6.5, even with a 5.0 in Writing.

Want to try your own numbers? Use the IELTS band calculator.

Listening and Reading: marked out of 40

Listening and Reading each have 40 questions. Each correct answer gets one mark. Your raw score (out of 40) is then converted to a band.

Listening uses the same test for Academic and General Training. Reading is different: the General Training Reading test uses its own conversion, and you usually need more correct answers for the same band.

Listening (Academic and General Training)

Academic Reading

A simple takeaway: for Band 7 in Listening or Academic Reading, you need about 30 correct answers. That means you can miss around ten.

Writing: four criteria, and Task 2 counts double

Writing has two tasks. Examiners mark each task on four criteria. Each criterion carries equal weight (25%):

1. Task Achievement (Task 1) or Task Response (Task 2) — did you do what the task asked, fully and clearly?
2. Coherence and Cohesion — is your writing organised, with clear paragraphs and linking?
3. Lexical Resource — do you use a good range of words, accurately?
4. Grammatical Range and Accuracy — do you use varied sentences with few errors?

Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1. So a weak essay hurts your Writing band more than a weak report or letter. If time is short, protect Task 2.

Writing is often the skill that stays stuck. Here are the Task 2 mistakes that keep people at 6.5.

Speaking: four criteria

The Speaking test is a face-to-face conversation with an examiner in three parts. It is marked on four equal criteria:

1. Fluency and Coherence — can you keep talking smoothly and link your ideas?
2. Lexical Resource — do you have the words to talk about many topics?
3. Grammatical Range and Accuracy — varied, mostly correct sentences.
4. Pronunciation — are you easy to understand? Accent itself is not the problem; clarity is.

Quick answers

Is a 6.5 in every skill the same as a 6.5 overall?

No. A 6.5 overall can include a 5.5 in one skill. If your target needs 6.5 in each skill, check every band separately.

Are Academic and General Training bands the same scale?

Yes, both use 0–9. The Reading and Writing tasks are different, but a band 7 means the same level. Which one you need depends on your goal. For Canada PR, see General vs Academic for Canada PR.