IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors Explained in Plain English

Your Speaking score is based on four equally weighted criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation. The examiner gives a band for each and your overall Speaking band comes from these four.

This means a weakness in one area, such as limited grammar, can hold your score down even if your fluency is good. Balanced improvement is usually faster than polishing your strongest skill.

This measures whether you can keep talking without long pauses and whether your ideas connect logically. Some hesitation is normal; at higher bands it sounds like thinking about ideas, not searching for basic words.

At band 6 you are willing to speak at length but may lose coherence or repeat yourself. At band 7 you speak at length without noticeable effort and use a range of linking words flexibly. At band 8 hesitation is rare and mostly content-related.

This is your vocabulary: range, precision and the ability to paraphrase when you do not know a word. Band 7 speakers use some less common words and idiomatic language with awareness of style and collocation. Band 8 speakers use these skilfully, with only occasional inaccuracies.

The examiner listens for a mix of simple and complex structures and how often errors appear. At band 6 you use a mix but make frequent mistakes in complex sentences. At band 7 you use complex structures with some flexibility and frequent error-free sentences. At band 8 most sentences are error-free.

Pronunciation is not about having a British or American accent. It is about how easy you are to understand: clear individual sounds, word stress, sentence stress and natural intonation. A clear accent from any country can score highly if the listener never has to work to understand you.