How is your IELTS score calculated?
Your overall IELTS score is based on your score in the four parts of the test: reading, listening, speaking and writing. An average of your scores is taken to calculate your overall band score.
Keep in mind that for some visas and courses, there will be extra requirements on top of the average score. Lots of universities will ask for a band 7 overall with no band lower than a 6.5. If you got 6, 7, 7, 8, you wouldn’t qualify based on these criteria.
How to get a band seven in reading
The reading section of the IELTS exam is made up of forty questions worth one mark each. These are marked and then your score is added up and turned into a band based on a chart. Click the ‘+’ to see the chart you need.
Academic IELTS reading band score calculator
| Raw score out of 40 | Band score |
|---|---|
| 15 | 5 |
| 16 | 5 |
| 17 | 5 |
| 18 | 5 |
| 19 | 5.5 |
| 20 | 5.5 |
| 21 | 5.5 |
| 22 | 5.5 |
| 23 | 6 |
| 24 | 6 |
| 25 | 6 |
| 26 | 6.5 |
| 27 | 6.5 |
| 28 | 6.5 |
| 30 | 7 |
| 31 | 7 |
| 32 | 7 |
| 33 | 7.5 |
| 34 | 7.5 |
| 35 | 8 |
| 36 | 8 |
| 37 | 8.5 |
| 38 | 8.5 |
| 39 | 9 |
| 40 | 9 |
General IELTS reading band score calculator
| Raw score out of 40 | Band score |
|---|---|
| 15 | 4 |
| 16 | 4 |
| 17 | 4 |
| 18 | 4 |
| 19 | 4.5 |
| 20 | 4.5 |
| 21 | 4.5 |
| 22 | 4.5 |
| 23 | 5 |
| 24 | 5 |
| 25 | 5 |
| 26 | 5.5 |
| 27 | 5.5 |
| 28 | 5.5 |
| 30 | 6 |
| 31 | 6 |
| 32 | 6.5 |
| 33 | 6.5 |
| 34 | 7 |
| 35 | 7 |
| 36 | 7.5 |
| 37 | 7.5 |
| 38 | 8 |
| 39 | 8.5 |
| 40 | 9 |
These scores are averages, so if a particular version of the IELTS test was too hard, a more generous table might be used.
One interesting thing about these scores is that you need fewer right answers to get a high band score in the academic test than the reading test. The IELTS website says that this is because the academic test usually features harder vocabulary.
How are listening scores calculated?
Much like reading scores, listening scores are graded out of forty. Your band score will be calculated based on your raw score. Click the ‘+’ to see a chart of how these scores are calculated.
General IELTS reading band score calculator
| Raw score out of 40 | Band score |
|---|---|
| 15 | 4.5 |
| 16 | 5 |
| 17 | 5 |
| 18 | 5 |
| 19 | 5.5 |
| 20 | 5.5 |
| 21 | 5.5 |
| 22 | 5 |
| 23 | 6 |
| 24 | 6 |
| 25 | 6 |
| 26 | 6.5 |
| 27 | 6.5 |
| 28 | 6.5 |
| 30 | 7 |
| 31 | 7 |
| 32 | 7 |
| 33 | 7.5 |
| 34 | 7.5 |
| 35 | 8 |
| 36 | 8 |
| 37 | 8.5 |
| 38 | 8.5 |
| 39 | 9 |
| 40 | 9 |
How to get an IELTS band seven in speaking
Your speaking score is based on four smaller categories. These are fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation. Unlike the reading and listening sections where you get a raw score, each of these parts is graded from 1-7. Your speaking grade is based on the average of these four parts.
Fluency and coherence
Fluency and coherence measures how well your speech flows. To get a band seven, you need to show you can speak at length without pausing, repeating yourself or saying ‘umm’ too much.
Lexical resource
Lexical resource is the vocabulary section. It’s all about how well you use words. To get a band seven, you need to be flexible in how you use words. You can make a few mistakes, but these should not be too frequent.
Grammatical range and accuracy
Grammatical range and accuracy looks at if you use several different types of grammar, if you use complex grammar and if you make mistakes. To get a band seven, you need to show some complex grammar structures and not make too many mistakes.
Pronunciation
Pronunciation is about how clear your speech is. This includes individual sounds as well as the rhythm of your speech. To get a band seven, you need to have a good rhythm to your speech and should be fairly easy to understand.
For more information on how IELTS speaking is graded, check out this speaking guide.
How to get a band seven in IELTS writing
Writing is also broken down into four sets of grading criteria: task response; coherence and cohesion; lexical resource and grammatical range and accuracy. The average of your score in these four parts makes your writing score.
Task response
Task response is about how well you answer the question. To get a band seven, you will need to answer all parts of the question, give a clear answer and support your ideas well.
Coherence and cohesion
Coherence and coherence is based on how well you organise your ideas into paragraphs and how well your writing flows. To get a band seven, you need to have a clear topic to each paragraph and have a good ‘flow’ throughout your essay.
Lexical resource
Lexical resource is based on how well you use words in your writing. To get a band seven, you need to use a wide range of vocabulary specifically. You can make a few eros, but these shouldn’t be too common.
Grammatical range and accuracy
The grammatical range and accuracy section is about how many types of complex grammar you use and how accurate your grammar is. You can make a few mistakes and still get a band seven, but your sentences should be ‘frequently error free’. You also need to have a good range of complex sentences.
For more information on IELTS writing grading, check out our complete guide.
How can I improve my IELTS band to a seven?
Identify the problem
If you want to improve your IELTS score, you need to know where to focus. If your writing is holding you back, there is no point in spending hours on your reading. You can work with a tutor or have an honest look at your strengths and weaknesses. Try and be as specific as possible. If your grammar is specifically the weakest part of your writing, you should spend as much time as possible in that area.
Get help
One of the tricky things about improving is sometimes you don’t know which mistakes you are making. If you can work together with a friend, you can help identify each other’s mistakes. However, the best option is to have a tutor help you. A good tutor will know which problems are holding you back and be able to practice those things specifically. They should also know how to explain things so that you understand and give you valuable feedback.
Practice smart
Once you know what you are specifically working on, you can practice those things. However, you want to do things in a smart way. I recently had a student who was having difficulty with writing introductions. Instead of just writing lots of essays, I got him to focus on just writing introductions. This focus made a huge difference to his introductions and his IELTS score jumped quickly.
Do your hobbies in English
Sometimes advice is hard to follow because it takes a lot of time. Luckily, this advice won’t take you any more time than you are usually spending. You probably know it’s important to immerse yourself in English to improve, but what if you started doing your hobbies in English instead? If you like cooking, read English cookbooks. If you love a sport, follow it in English. If you like TV shows, it has never been easier to watch shows in English. You’d already be spending the time doing your hobbies, so doing them in English is an easy switch.
You can find out more about this technique in this video:
Look at sample tests
Especially with writing, it can make a big difference to look at sample answers. We have a book of these you can download. The trick here is not just to read the answers, you need to look for a specific part of the answers and see what makes the answer good through that lens. If you want to improve your structure, read some essays and look at what they’ve done to have a strong structure.
Frequently asked questions
While ‘How can I get an IELTS band seven?’ is a common question, I also get a lot of interesting follow up questions. I’ve tried to answer as many as possible below.
What is the hardest part of IELTS?
Statistically speaking, the lowest average score is in the writing section. This matches very closely with what I see with new students: that they want help with writing more frequently than anything else. The writing section is quite different from how you’d normally write and so you can not realise you are using an incorrect structure.
Is it easy to get a band seven in the IELTS exam?
It depends on how good your English is. However, even if your English is good, you might struggle to get a band seven because the things you need to succeed in the IELTS aren’t the same as you need in everyday English.
How long does it take to get from IELTS band six to band seven?
It can be quite quick to move up a grade or it can be fairly slow. Generally, if a student is having problems with structure or using enough complex grammar, they can make progress in a month. However, if you need to work on making fewer grammar mistakes, it can take longer.
How long does it take to get from IELTS band five to band seven?
Typically someone who needs to get from a band five to band seven will have several problems that need working on. I’ve seen students increase their band score like this in six months, but this was with classes and lots of exposure to English outside of class. Without classes, it could take considerably longer.
