How IELTS is scored, on the Academic route.
Four papers, one mean, two friendly roundings. On the Academic route the Reading paper converts more generously than its General Training counterpart, the Task 1 report is marked on its overview, and the other two papers are identical on both routes. The figures below are indicative.
Why this page exists. The overall band is a mean of four papers, and on the Academic route one of those papers converts differently from its GT counterpart. Better to know the arithmetic before results day.
One mean, rounded to the nearest half band.
Four papers, equal weight, no exceptions.
Four equal parts
L + R + W + S, each 0 to 9
Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking each produce a band, and the overall band is their mean. No paper is optional and none counts extra.
A weak Listening drags the mean exactly as hard as a weak Writing.
The rounding rule
.25 rounds up to .5 · .75 rounds up to the whole
A mean ending in .25 reports as the half band above it; one ending in .75 reports as the next whole band. At those two points the arithmetic works in your favour.
6.5 + 6.0 + 6.0 + 6.5 gives a mean of 6.25, which reports as overall 6.5.
Within each paper
Criteria, not impressions
Writing and Speaking are marked against four named criteria each; Listening and Reading convert a raw score out of forty. The descriptors are public and worth reading.
The criteria live on How IELTS is scored.
Academic Reading converts more generously, because its texts are harder.
Indicative figures; exact conversions vary slightly between test versions.
Band 6
≈ 23 of 40 correct
Around twenty-three right answers converts to band 6 on the Academic paper. The General Training paper asks around thirty for the same band.
Denser texts, kinder ladder.
Band 7
≈ 30 of 40 correct
Around thirty right answers for band 7, where the GT paper asks around thirty-four. Three passages, sixty minutes, no extra transfer time.
A band 7 here still means dropping no more than a question in four.
Band 8
≈ 35 of 40 correct
Around thirty-five for band 8, against around thirty-eight on the GT paper. At this level the difference between routes is real but narrow.
High bands are precision work on either route.
Task 1 is a report, and the overview is the mark.
One hundred and fifty words on a chart, map, process or diagram, and no opinion anywhere in it.
Task Achievement on the Academic Task 1 turns on two things: a clear overview of the main pattern, and key features selected and compared rather than data recited. Candidates who copy numbers row by row cap themselves however accurate the grammar. Task 2, the essay, counts double, and both tasks are marked on the same four criteria: Task Achievement or Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. The thirteen practice papers pair every visual type with an essay, written online against the clock.
The other two papers are the same test on both routes.
Listening and Speaking neither know nor care which box you ticked on the booking form.
Listening
The same four recordings and the same raw-to-band conversion on both routes. Your route page covers the lecture-register back half and the form-filling front half.
Indicatively, thirty of forty converts to band 7 for everyone.
Speaking
One interview, one marksheet, one scale. Your route page covers the Part 3 advantage and the Part 1 register trap.
A Speaking 7 is the same 7 on either route.
The descriptors
The band descriptors for Writing and Speaking, in plain English, with what actually separates a 6 from a 7.
Read them once before you write anything.
A second pair of eyes
Self-assessment against the descriptors takes you far; a marked script or a scored mock interview tells you where the next half band is hiding.
The arithmetic is public. The diagnosis is the service.