Work out your IELTS band score.
Two calculators. The first turns your four skill scores into your overall band using the official rounding rules. The second converts a Listening or Reading raw score out of 40 into its indicative band.
The published indicative conversions.
IELTS publishes these conversions as indicative: real test versions are calibrated individually, so a hard version may be a mark or two more generous and an easy one a mark or two stricter. Listening uses the same table on both routes. Reading does not: the General Training table demands more raw marks for the same band. Writing and Speaking have no raw-score table at all, because both are marked on four criteria and the band is the average of the four, which is exactly what the scoring page walks through.
| Raw score /40 | 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 |
| Raw score /40 | 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 |
| Raw score /40 | Band |
|---|---|
| 40 | 9.0 |
| 39 | 8.5 |
| 37–38 | 8.0 |
| 36 | 7.5 |
| 34–35 | 7.0 |
| 32–33 | 6.5 |
| 30–31 | 6.0 |
| 27–29 | 5.5 |
| 23–26 | 5.0 |
| 19–22 | 4.5 |
| 15–18 | 4.0 |
How the overall band is rounded.
The overall band is the average of the four skills, rounded to the nearest half band, and the two awkward cases round in your favour: an average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band, and one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band. So 6.5 + 6.5 + 6.0 + 6.0 gives an average of 6.25, which becomes 6.5. And 7.0 + 7.0 + 6.5 + 6.5 gives 6.75, which becomes 7.0. But 7.0 + 6.5 + 6.0 + 7.0 gives 6.625, which is nearer 6.5 than 7.0, and rounds down. If you want to know what a given band demands of your English rather than your arithmetic, that is the by-band page, and the route-specific detail lives on the Academic scoring page and the General Training scoring page.
The book of the method
The Proper English Grammar Guide to IELTS Speaking
The method this site drills for free, written down properly: five response frameworks, thirteen grammatical structures taken to automation, vocabulary by band, pronunciation with audio demonstrations one scan away, and first-language guidance for eight language families. 614 pages, built from more than two thousand documented one-to-one lessons. Most guides teach every candidate the same English; this one starts from what your first language makes you do.
Paperback on Amazon →Kindle edition →The free 79-page companion →