IELTS Band Score Calculator: Overall Band and Section Check
Short answer. Your IELTS overall band is the average of your four section bands, rounded to the nearest half band. An average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band and .75 to the next whole band, so 6.5, 6.5, 5.0 and 7.0 average 6.25 and give 6.5. Most offers also set section minimums.
Overall rounding follows the rule published by IELTS. The correct answer estimate uses only the average marks IELTS publishes for bands 5 to 8; the exact marks needed vary slightly between test versions, so treat it as a range, not a score.
How the overall band is rounded
IELTS adds your four section bands, divides by four and rounds to the nearest half band. Because each section is reported in whole or half bands, the average can only end in .0, .125, .25, .375, .5, .625, .75 or .875. The two edge cases are fixed by rule: .25 rounds up to the next half band and .75 rounds up to the next whole band. These are the worked examples IELTS publishes itself.
| Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking | Average | Overall band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.5 | 6.5 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 6.25 | 6.5 |
| 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.875 | 4.0 |
| 6.5 | 6.5 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 6.125 | 6.0 |
The first row is the one to study. That candidate has a 6.5 overall, which clears most master's requirements on paper, with a 5.0 in Writing, which fails almost every one of them. Universities rarely stop at an overall band; the usual wording is something like 6.5 overall with no section below 6.0, and the calculator above checks both.
Listening and Reading: what IELTS actually publishes
Listening and Reading each have 40 questions worth one mark each, and the raw score is converted to a band. IELTS does not publish a full conversion table. It publishes the average number of correct answers at four bands and says the precise marks needed vary slightly from one test version to the next. The 40 row tables passed around coaching groups are not official IELTS tables, which is why this calculator gives a range rather than a single band.
| Band | Listening | Academic Reading | General Training Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 35 | 35 | n/a |
| 7 | 30 | 30 | 35 |
| 6 | 23 | 23 | 30 |
| 5 | 16 | 15 | 23 |
| 4 | n/a | n/a | 15 |
Notice the gap between the two Reading tests. Academic and General Training Reading are graded on the same band scale, but General Training texts are easier, so you need more correct answers for the same band: 30 gets you about 7 in Academic and about 6 in General Training. If you are practising with General Training papers for a university application, your mock scores will flatter you, because universities almost always want IELTS Academic.
Writing and Speaking
Examiners score Writing on four criteria with equal weight: task achievement in Task 1 and task response in Task 2, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy. Each task is assessed separately, and Task 2 carries more weight than Task 1, so a strong essay matters more than a perfect chart description. Speaking is also scored on four equally weighted criteria: fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation.
Faz's rulePlan for your weakest section, not your overall band.
Students celebrate the overall number, then find the offer letter says no section below 6.0. Run your mock scores through the calculator with the real requirement from your offer, not a generic 6.5. If one section is short, the IELTS One Skill Retake lets you resit just that section, which is cheaper than a full test, but check your university accepts it first: Purdue's graduate school, for one, does not. And if you need IELTS for a UK visa rather than for the university, book IELTS for UKVI, because plain IELTS Academic does not count as a Secure English Language Test.
For which test to take in the first place, and which countries refuse which tests, see our IELTS vs TOEFL vs PTE vs Duolingo comparison. If you hold a different test score, our English test score converter maps TOEFL, PTE and Duolingo to IELTS using each test owner's official tables.
Questions people ask
How is the IELTS overall band score calculated?
It is the average of your Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking bands, rounded to the nearest half band. An average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band, and one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band.
Is 6.25 in IELTS rounded to 6 or 6.5?
To 6.5. IELTS rounds an average ending in .25 up to the next half band. An average of 6.125, though, rounds down to 6.0.
How many correct answers do I need for band 7 in IELTS Listening?
About 30 out of 40 on average, according to IELTS. The exact number varies slightly between test versions. For band 8 the average is 35, and for band 6 it is 23.
Is IELTS Academic Reading scored the same as General Training?
Both use the same band scale, but General Training needs more correct answers for the same band. About 30 correct answers is band 7 in Academic Reading and band 6 in General Training.
How long is an IELTS score valid?
IELTS recommends that results are treated as valid for two years after the test. Universities and visa authorities can set their own period, so check theirs.
Where these rules come from
- IELTS, scoring in detail: overall band rounding, Listening and Reading marks, Writing and Speaking criteria
- GOV.UK, prove your English language abilities with a Secure English Language Test and its list of approved tests, IELTS for UKVI at B2
Checked in October 2026. Your university or visa authority sets its own requirement; always use the figure on its page.