Band scores decoded: raw marks, bands and the overall rounding

"I need a 7." OK, but what does a 7 actually look like? How many answers right? Which skills? 🤔 Most people never work it out, so they train blind.

This lesson turns your target into real numbers: marks out of 40, four section bands, and one overall score. Five quick hacks, a bit of maths, no stress. 🧮

⚠️ Our own summary. The official scoring pages are on ielts.org (search "IELTS scoring in detail"). We are not affiliated with IELTS, the British Council or IDP.

The scale in 20 seconds

There is no "pass" or "fail". The score that matters is the one your university, employer or visa asks for.

Listening and Reading: from marks to bands

Raw marks become bands through a conversion table. IELTS publishes a few guide points, and fuller tables are widely shared. Here is our approximate version.

⚠️ Approximate. The exact cut-offs can vary slightly by test version (IELTS adjusts them so that harder and easier versions are fair). Use this for practice tests, not as a promise. A mark either side of a line can change the band.

Hack #1: The 23-30-35 Code

Don't memorise the whole table. Memorise three numbers. 🔢

For Listening and Academic Reading, the official guide points line up:

So a band 7 means about 3 out of every 4 answers right. Band 6.5 sits in the gap between 26 and 29. After every practice test, check your marks against the code: "33? Close to 7.5. Three more and I hit 35."

Hack #2: GT One-Down

General Training Reading uses its own table. Its texts are more everyday, so it asks for more correct answers for the same band.

The quick version: take the same raw score, and the GT band is about one band lower than the Academic one.

👉 GT candidates: your 7 needs about 34–35 out of 40 in Reading. Plan your Reading practice around that. (Listening is the same test and the same table for both modules, so no shift there.)

Writing and Speaking: four criteria, not a mark out of 40

No counting here. The examiner gives a band for each of four criteria, all weighted equally:

• In Writing, each task gets its criteria scores, and Task 2 counts more than Task 1 (it's often described as worth twice as much). The full method is in "How Writing is marked" (remember the Quarter Rule).
• In Speaking, the four criteria are the Four Dials from the Speaking overview.
• You only see one band for Writing and one for Speaking, in whole or half bands. IELTS doesn't publish every detail of how criterion scores are combined, so don't trust anyone selling you a secret formula.

The overall band: how the rounding really works

The rule, from ielts.org, in our words:

1. Add your four section bands and divide by 4.
2. Round to the nearest half band.
3. Exactly halfway? It goes up: an average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band (6.25 → 6.5), and one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band (6.75 → 7.0).

Hack #3: Sum & Snap

Four half-band scores can only give eight possible endings. Learn where each one snaps. ⚡

👀 Two traps:

• .125 goes down, not up. Only .25 and above reaches the half band.
• .625 stays at .5. It does not reach the next whole band; that needs .75.

There's no such thing as an overall 6.25 or 6.75 on a results page. If you calculate one, you're not finished: snap it.

Hack #4: Minus-One Sum

Want a quick check without decimals? Look at the total of your four bands.

🎯 Overall X or higher ⟺ your four bands add up to 4 × X − 1 or more. Even half a band below that total, and you land below X. It works both ways, for every target.

That "minus one" is the halfway rule working for you: you can be half a band short in total and still make it. It also answers the classic question "What do I need in Speaking?": target total minus the three bands you have.

Hack #5: Floor First

Many universities and visa bodies don't just ask for an overall. They add a minimum for every section, like "overall 6.5, no band below 6.0". Requirements vary a lot by place and course, so check the exact line on the official page you're applying to.

The overall is an average, so a great Listening can rescue a weak Writing for the overall. It can't rescue it for the floor. ❌

So read the requirement in this order:

1. The floor (the minimum per section). Is any of your skills below it? That skill is your first job.
2. The overall. Then use the Minus-One Sum to see what total you need.
3. Your marks. Turn Listening and Reading targets into raw scores with the 23-30-35 Code (GT: One-Down).

💡 Practice-test scores are estimates, and the real tables move a little. So aim a little above each target in practice, not exactly on it.

Watch the hacks work

Tomás needs overall 6.5, no band below 6.0 for a Master's course. He takes the Academic test.

His practice results: Listening 33/40, Reading 25/40, Writing 6.0, Speaking 6.0.

👀 Tomás passes on paper, but with no room for a bad day. Three marks fewer in Reading (22) and it would be about 5.5, which breaks the floor. His plan: Reading and Writing first, aiming for 6.5 in each, so he has a safety margin.

What if he'd been a GT candidate with 25 in Reading? GT One-Down: about 5.0. Below the floor. Same marks, very different story.

Myth busters 💥

Your 10-second checklist

• Floor and overall both written down? (Floor First)
• Total I need = 4 × target − 1? (Minus-One Sum)
• Average snapped to a real band? (Sum & Snap)
• Raw targets for Listening and Reading? (23-30-35 Code)
• GT? Reading shifted one band down? (GT One-Down)

Next: Hack Drill (7 questions, about 8 minutes) → then take Test 1 Listening, Parts 1–4 (Questions 1–40; t001-lis-01 to t001-lis-04) and Test 1 Reading (Academic: t001-acr-01 to t001-acr-03; General Training: t001-gtr-01 to t001-gtr-05), count your marks out of 40, and convert them with the table. Next lesson: "Your study plan: diagnostic test, weak spots, weekly routine".