IELTS Band Score Calculator - Overall Band, Rounding and Raw Score Conversion
Calculate your IELTS overall band
You need at least 8 in Writing for an overall 7.
Overall band: the average of the four skills rounded to the nearest half band, with .25 rounding up to .5 and .75 up to the next whole band. Raw-score tables for Listening and Reading are typical; each test version has its own, so treat a converted band as plus or minus half a band.
How IELTS band scores work
IELTS reports a band from 0 to 9 for each of Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking, in half-band steps, and an overall band that is the average of the four rounded to the nearest half. Listening and Reading come from 40 questions converted through a table; Writing and Speaking are rated by examiners against descriptors. The same Listening test is used for Academic and General Training, but the Reading tests differ and so do their conversion tables.
Steps
- 1 Choose Academic or General Training, then set your four bands. If you only know how many Listening or Reading answers you got right, type the number and the band is filled in for you.
- 2 Read the overall band, the unrounded average and the CEFR level.
- 3 Set a target overall band and the skill you can still improve to see the minimum band you need there.
The rounding rule
The average of four bands ends in .0, .25, .5 or .75 (or .125 and .375, .625, .875 when half bands are involved). IELTS rounds to the nearest half band: an average of 6.25 becomes 6.5, 6.75 becomes 7, and 6.125 becomes 6. So 6.5, 6.5, 5 and 7 give 6.5, while 6.5, 6.5, 5.5 and 6 give 6.
Raw scores to bands
In Listening, 30 correct out of 40 is typically band 7, 23 is band 6 and 16 is band 5. Academic Reading is similar, while General Training Reading needs more correct answers for the same band: 30 correct is about 6 and 34 about 7. The exact table varies by test version, which is why the official result can differ by half a band from the conversion here.
Typical requirements
Universities usually ask for an overall 6.5 with no skill below 6, or 7 with no skill below 6.5 for competitive programmes. Skilled-migration points in Australia, Canada and the UK are tied to specific bands per skill, often 7 or 8 in each. The target tool shows exactly how much a single skill has to rise.
CEFR equivalence
The test owners map 8.5 and 9 to C2, 7 to 8 to C1, 5.5 to 6.5 to B2 and 4 to 5 to B1. The mapping is indicative; institutions set their own thresholds and some read 6.5 as C1 for admission purposes.