IELTS band score calculator
Enter raw scores for Listening and Reading and bands for Writing and Speaking. The overall band comes out using the published conversion scale and rounding rule.
Rounding rule: the four bands are averaged. An average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band, and one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band. Page updated 11 October 2026.
See the conversion tables and sources ↓Correct answers out of 40
Correct answers out of 40
From your examiner score, or your own estimate
From your examiner score, or your own estimate
Listening
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Reading
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Writing
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Speaking
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Overall band score
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Fill in all four skills to see your overall band
What this tool does
- Converts Listening and Reading raw scores (out of 40) to a band using the same conversion scale IELTS uses, separately for Academic and General Training Reading.
- Takes Writing and Speaking as direct band inputs, since those two are examiner-scored against public criteria, not converted from a raw count.
- Averages all four and applies the official rounding rule, the same .25-rounds-up, .75-rounds-up logic IELTS uses for your Overall Band Score.
How to use it
- After a practice test, count your Listening and Reading raw scores and enter them directly, no conversion needed on your end.
- For Writing and Speaking, enter the band an examiner gave you, or your own honest estimate against the public band descriptors.
- Check the overall band against your actual requirement, remember a rounded-up overall can still hide one section below the minimum you need.
How the math works
Listening and Reading are marked out of 40 raw points, then converted to a band from 0 to 9 using a fixed scale. The scale isn't linear: the middle bands compress more raw marks into one band than the top and bottom do. Reading also has two separate scales depending on whether you sat Academic or General Training, since General Training passages are written to be more accessible.
Writing and Speaking skip the raw-score step. An examiner scores each against four public criteria: for Writing, Task Achievement/Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy; for Speaking, Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation. The result is already a band, so this tool takes that band directly.
The overall band is the average of all four, rounded to the nearest half band, with .25 and .75 rounding up. An average of 6.25 becomes 6.5. An average of 6.75 becomes 7.0. An average of 6.125 becomes 6.0, and 6.625 becomes 6.5. An average that's already a multiple of 0.5, like 6.5, stays where it is.
Full conversion tables
The exact tables the calculator above runs on. Each is the commonly published indicative scale, sourced below its column. IELTS equates every test version separately and doesn't release one fixed table, so real boundaries can move by about a mark in either direction from one sitting to the next.
Listening (Academic + General)
| Band | Raw score / 40 |
|---|---|
| 9.0 | 39–40 |
| 8.5 | 37–38 |
| 8.0 | 35–36 |
| 7.5 | 32–34 |
| 7.0 | 30–31 |
| 6.5 | 26–29 |
| 6.0 | 23–25 |
| 5.5 | 18–22 |
| 5.0 | 16–17 |
| 4.5 | 13–15 |
| 4.0 | 10–12 |
| 3.5 | 8–9 |
| 3.0 | 6–7 |
| 2.5 | 4–5 |
| 2.0 | 2–3 |
| 1.0 | 0–1 |
Reading, Academic
| Band | Raw score / 40 |
|---|---|
| 9.0 | 39–40 |
| 8.5 | 37–38 |
| 8.0 | 35–36 |
| 7.5 | 33–34 |
| 7.0 | 30–32 |
| 6.5 | 27–29 |
| 6.0 | 23–26 |
| 5.5 | 19–22 |
| 5.0 | 15–18 |
| 4.5 | 13–14 |
| 4.0 | 10–12 |
| 3.5 | 8–9 |
| 3.0 | 6–7 |
| 2.5 | 4–5 |
| 2.0 | 0–3 |
Reading, General Training
| Band | Raw score / 40 |
|---|---|
| 9.0 | 40 |
| 8.5 | 39 |
| 8.0 | 37–38 |
| 7.5 | 36 |
| 7.0 | 34–35 |
| 6.5 | 32–33 |
| 6.0 | 30–31 |
| 5.5 | 27–29 |
| 5.0 | 23–26 |
| 4.5 | 19–22 |
| 4.0 | 15–18 |
| 3.5 | 12–14 |
| 3.0 | 9–11 |
| 2.5 | 6–8 |
| 2.0 | 0–5 |
This calculator gives you the number. A full SmoothMock test shows which specific answers are keeping it there.
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Free to use on any site: blog, forum, coaching-center page. Paste this snippet where you want the widget to appear. It renders as a self-contained calculator with a small “by SmoothMock” credit link back to this page; please keep that credit intact.
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Every table and rule on this page is cross-checked against these sources. Verified 2026-08.
Questions, answered
How is the overall IELTS band score calculated?+
It's the average of your four skill bands (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking), then rounded to the nearest half band. IELTS states it as: if the average ends in .25 it rounds up to the next half band, and if it ends in .75 it rounds up to the next whole band. An average of 6.125 rounds down to 6.0 and 6.625 rounds down to 6.5.
Why do I enter a raw score for Listening and Reading but a band for Writing and Speaking?+
Listening and Reading are marked out of 40 questions, then converted to a band using a published scale. Writing and Speaking have no raw score. An examiner assesses your response directly against the public band descriptors and gives a band, so there's nothing to convert.
Is the Reading conversion the same for Academic and General Training?+
No. General Training passages are designed to be more accessible, so its conversion table is more lenient. You generally need more correct answers than Academic to reach the same band. Listening uses one table for both.
Is this the exact table IELTS will use on my test?+
It's the commonly published indicative scale, cited below with sources. IELTS equates every test version separately, so real raw-score boundaries can shift by about 1 mark either way between sessions. Use this tool to estimate and practice, not as your official score.
Can I put this calculator on my own website?+
Yes. Copy the embed code further down this page and paste it into your site's HTML. It renders as a self-contained widget with a small SmoothMock credit link.
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