IELTS Score Calculator
Work out your overall IELTS band score in seconds. Enter your Listening and Reading correct answers and your Writing and Speaking bands — the calculator converts everything using the standard band tables and the official rounding rule, then gives you instant feedback. You can also use it skill-by-skill to see a single section's band.
Calculate your band score
For Listening and Reading, enter how many questions (out of 40) you answered correctly. For Writing and Speaking, choose the band you were given.
Your Listening and Reading bands appear instantly as you type. Add your Writing and Speaking bands to calculate your overall IELTS score.
How the IELTS score is calculated
IELTS reports a score for each of the four skills — Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking — on a band scale from 0 to 9, in whole and half bands. Your overall band score is the average of those four skill scores, rounded to the nearest whole or half band.
Listening and Reading are objectively marked: each has 40 questions, and your number of correct answers (your raw score) is converted into a band using a fixed conversion table. Writing and Speaking are assessed by trained examiners against detailed criteria, and reported directly as a band — which is why this calculator asks you to enter those two scores rather than raw marks.
IELTS Listening band score table
The Listening conversion is the same for both the Academic and General Training tests. These are the standard, widely-used bands:
| Correct answers (/40) | Band score |
|---|---|
| 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 |
IELTS Reading band score table (Academic & General Training)
Reading uses two different tables. General Training Reading needs more correct answers than Academic Reading to reach the same band, because the GT texts are more accessible.
| Band | Academic (/40) | General Training (/40) |
|---|---|---|
| 9.0 | 39–40 | 40 |
| 8.0 | 35–36 | 37–38 |
| 7.0 | 30–32 | 34–35 |
| 6.0 | 23–26 | 30–31 |
| 5.0 | 15–18 | 23–26 |
| 4.0 | 10–12 | 15–18 |
Conversion tables are the standard published bands and are indicative; the exact raw-score-to-band cut-offs can vary slightly between individual test versions.
How the overall band score is rounded
After averaging the four skills, IELTS rounds the result to the nearest whole or half band using a simple rule:
- An average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band.
- An average ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band.
- Otherwise it rounds to the nearest half band.
- 6.5 + 6.5 + 5.0 + 7.0 = 25.0 → average 6.25 → overall 6.5
- 6.5 + 6.5 + 5.5 + 6.0 = 24.5 → average 6.125 → overall 6.0
- 4.0 + 3.5 + 4.0 + 4.0 = 15.5 → average 3.875 → overall 4.0
What IELTS band score do you need?
It depends on your goal, but these are the common thresholds:
- 6.0–6.5 — typical undergraduate university entry (often with no skill below 5.5–6.0).
- 7.0 — competitive and many postgraduate programmes; some professional registrations.
- 7.5–8.0 — top universities and strict professional bodies.
- 8.5–9.0 — very good to expert user.
Roughly mapped to the CEFR: band 4–5 ≈ B1, band 5.5–6.5 ≈ B2, band 7–8 ≈ C1, and band 8.5–9 ≈ C2. If you want to understand how long reaching the next level takes, see how long it takes to learn a language.
How to raise your weakest skill
Because your overall band is an average, the fastest way to lift it is usually to improve your lowest skill. A few starting points from our teaching team:
- Speaking — build fluency and reduce hesitation with our guide to improving English speaking.
- Reading & Listening — grow usable vocabulary with vocabulary in chunks and a consistent input habit from our step-by-step method.
- All four skills — practise little and often with feedback. Our free B1 track corrects your sentences the way an examiner would.
Frequently asked questions
How is the overall IELTS band score calculated?
Your overall IELTS band score is the average of your four skill scores — Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking — rounded to the nearest whole or half band. If the average ends in .25 it is rounded up to the next half band, and if it ends in .75 it is rounded up to the next whole band. For example, Listening 6.5, Reading 6.5, Writing 5.0 and Speaking 7.0 average to 6.25, which rounds up to an overall 6.5.
How are the IELTS Listening and Reading scores calculated?
Listening and Reading each have 40 questions. Your number of correct answers (your 'raw score') is converted to a band from 0 to 9 using a conversion table. Listening uses the same table for Academic and General Training, but Reading uses different tables: General Training Reading needs more correct answers than Academic Reading to reach the same band. This calculator applies the standard, widely-used conversion tables.
How many correct answers do I need for IELTS band 7?
As an approximate guide: Listening band 7 needs about 30 out of 40, Academic Reading band 7 needs about 30 out of 40, and General Training Reading band 7 needs about 34 out of 40. These are indicative — the exact conversion can vary slightly between test versions.
Is this IELTS score calculator accurate?
It gives a reliable estimate using the standard published band conversion tables and the official overall-score rounding rule. Two caveats: the real raw-score-to-band conversion can vary slightly between individual test versions, and Writing and Speaking are scored by trained examiners against detailed criteria — so use the calculator to plan and track progress, not as an official result.
What is a good IELTS score?
Most universities ask for an overall band of 6.0 to 6.5, often with no individual skill below 5.5 or 6.0. Competitive or postgraduate programmes frequently require 7.0, and some professional registrations require 7.0–7.5. An overall band of 8.0 or above is excellent and reflects a very good to expert user.
Can my overall band be higher than my weakest skill?
Yes. Because the overall band is an average of all four skills, a strong performance in three skills can lift your overall band above your weakest one. That is why it usually pays to raise your lowest skill first — it has the biggest effect on your average.