Enter your Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking scores below to instantly calculate your overall IELTS band score using the official IELTS rounding rules.
Your overall IELTS band score is the average (mean) of your four section scores — Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking — rounded to the nearest whole or half band. Each section is scored from 1 to 9 in half-band increments, and the overall score is reported the same way.
The formula is simply:
Overall Band = (Listening + Reading + Writing + Speaking) ÷ 4, rounded to the nearest 0.5.
IELTS uses a specific rounding rule when the average of your four scores is not already a whole or half band:
| Section scores (L / R / W / S) | Average | Overall band |
|---|---|---|
| 6.5 / 6.5 / 5.5 / 6.0 | 6.125 | 6.0 (rounded down) |
| 6.5 / 6.5 / 6.5 / 6.0 | 6.375 | 6.5 (rounded up) |
| 6.5 / 6.5 / 6.0 / 6.0 | 6.25 | 6.5 (.25 rounds up) |
| 7.0 / 6.5 / 7.0 / 6.5 | 6.75 | 7.0 (.75 rounds up) |
Each IELTS band corresponds to a level of English competence:
| Band score | Skill level |
|---|---|
| 9 | Expert user |
| 8 | Very good user |
| 7 | Good user |
| 6 | Competent user |
| 5 | Modest user |
| 4 | Limited user |
| 3 | Extremely limited user |
| 2 | Intermittent user |
| 1 | Non user |
Only the Listening and Reading sections are scored out of 40 — each has 40 questions, and your number of correct answers (the "raw score") is converted into a band. Writing and Speaking are not scored out of 40: a certified examiner assesses your performance against detailed band descriptors and awards a band score directly.
Please note: the tables below are approximate. IELTS does not publish official fixed conversion tables, and the exact cut-offs can shift slightly between test versions to account for differences in difficulty.
The Listening conversion is the same for both IELTS Academic and General Training.
| Band score | Correct answers (out of 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 |
The Reading conversion is different for Academic and General Training. General Training texts are easier, so you need more correct answers to reach the same band.
| Band score | Academic (out of 40) | General Training (out of 40) |
|---|---|---|
| 9.0 | 39–40 | 40 |
| 8.5 | 37–38 | 39 |
| 8.0 | 35–36 | 37–38 |
| 7.5 | 33–34 | 36 |
| 7.0 | 30–32 | 34–35 |
| 6.5 | 27–29 | 32–33 |
| 6.0 | 23–26 | 30–31 |
| 5.5 | 19–22 | 27–29 |
| 5.0 | 15–18 | 23–26 |
| 4.5 | 13–14 | 19–22 |
| 4.0 | 10–12 | 15–18 |
Yes. IELTS band scores are reported in whole and half bands, such as 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0, for both the individual sections and the overall band score.
Yes. If the average of your four scores ends in a fraction below .25 (such as .125), it is rounded down to the nearest half band. For example, an average of 6.125 gives an overall band of 6.0.
No. Only Listening and Reading are scored out of 40 correct answers, which are then converted to a band. Writing and Speaking are assessed directly by a certified examiner against band descriptors and are not marked out of 40.
Yes. The overall band score is calculated the same way for both IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training, so this calculator works for either test.
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