How IELTS band scores work
Learn how the four skill bands combine into an overall band, and what a half band really means.
বাংলায় সারাংশ (Bangla summary)
চারটি দক্ষতার ব্যান্ড থেকে কীভাবে ওভারঅল ব্যান্ড হিসাব করা হয় এবং রাউন্ডিং নিয়ম কী — তা জানুন।
By the end of this lesson you can
- Describe the 0–9 band scale and what half bands represent
- Calculate an overall band from four skill bands, including the rounding rule
- Explain why practice scores are estimates rather than official results
One scale for four skills
IELTS reports every skill — Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking — on the same scale from 0 to 9. Scores can be whole bands (6, 7) or half bands (6.5, 7.5).
Listening and Reading are marked by counting correct answers out of 40 and converting that raw score to a band. Writing and Speaking are assessed by trained examiners against published descriptors, criterion by criterion.
From four bands to one overall band
Your overall band is the average of the four skill bands, rounded to the nearest half band.
There is one rule to remember: 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. So 6.25 becomes 6.5, and 6.75 becomes 7.
Averages ending in .125 or .375 round to the nearest half band in the usual way: 6.125 becomes 6, and 6.375 becomes 6.5.
Worked example
Listening 6.5 + Reading 6.5 + Writing 5.5 + Speaking 6.0 = 24.5
24.5 ÷ 4 = 6.125
6.125 is closer to 6.0 than to 6.5, so the overall band is 6.0.
Raising Writing from 5.5 to 6.5 would give an average of 6.375, which rounds up to 6.5. Your weakest skill often has the biggest effect on your overall band.
Guided practice
Work out the overall band. Use the rounding rule from this lesson.
Practise on your own
Calculate each overall band on your own.