How scoring works
IELTS reports each skill on a band scale from 0 to 9, in half bands. This page explains how SageTutor turns your practice answers into an estimated band, and why it is only an estimate.
Listening and Reading
Listening and Reading each have 40 questions worth one mark each. We count your correct answers (your raw score) and convert it to a band using the tables below, which follow the conversion tables published in official IELTS guidance. Academic and General Training Reading use different tables: General Training texts are more familiar, so you need more correct answers for the same band.
| Correct answers (out of 40) | Band |
|---|---|
| 39-40 | 9.0 |
| 37-38 | 8.5 |
| 35-36 | 8.0 |
| 32-34 | 7.5 |
| 30-31 | 7.0 |
| 26-29 | 6.5 |
| 23-25 | 6.0 |
| 18-22 | 5.5 |
| 16-17 | 5.0 |
| 13-15 | 4.5 |
| 10-12 | 4.0 |
| 8-9 | 3.5 |
| 6-7 | 3.0 |
| 4-5 | 2.5 |
| Correct answers (out of 40) | Band |
|---|---|
| 39-40 | 9.0 |
| 37-38 | 8.5 |
| 35-36 | 8.0 |
| 33-34 | 7.5 |
| 30-32 | 7.0 |
| 27-29 | 6.5 |
| 23-26 | 6.0 |
| 19-22 | 5.5 |
| 15-18 | 5.0 |
| 13-14 | 4.5 |
| 10-12 | 4.0 |
| 8-9 | 3.5 |
| 6-7 | 3.0 |
| 4-5 | 2.5 |
| Correct answers (out of 40) | Band |
|---|---|
| 40 | 9.0 |
| 39 | 8.5 |
| 37-38 | 8.0 |
| 36 | 7.5 |
| 34-35 | 7.0 |
| 32-33 | 6.5 |
| 30-31 | 6.0 |
| 27-29 | 5.5 |
| 23-26 | 5.0 |
| 19-22 | 4.5 |
| 15-18 | 4.0 |
| 12-14 | 3.5 |
| 9-11 | 3.0 |
| 6-8 | 2.5 |
A raw score below the lowest row is shown as band 2.0, and no correct answers as 0.
Writing
Examiners mark each Writing task against four criteria, which carry equal weight within the task:
- Task Achievement (Task 1) or Task Response (Task 2): how fully and accurately you answer the question.
- Coherence and Cohesion: how clearly your ideas are organised and linked.
- Lexical Resource: the range and accuracy of your vocabulary.
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy: the variety and correctness of your sentence structures.
Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1. The Writing band is worked out as (Task 1 + 2 × Task 2) ÷ 3, rounded to the nearest half band. For example, Task 1 at 6.0 and Task 2 at 7.0 gives (6.0 + 14.0) ÷ 3 = 6.67, which rounds to 6.5.
Speaking
The Speaking test is marked on four criteria of equal weight:
- Fluency and Coherence
- Lexical Resource
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy
- Pronunciation
The Speaking band is the average of the four criteria, rounded to a half band.
AI feedback for Writing and Speaking is being added during the beta. Where it gives a band, it uses the criteria and weighting above. Until then, compare your answers with the model answers and examiner-style comments in each test.
Overall band
The overall band is the average of your four skill bands, rounded using the IELTS rule: an average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band (.5), and one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band. Anything less than these rounds down.
| Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking | Average | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.5 | 6.5 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 6.25 | 6.5 |
| 6.5 | 6.5 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 6.125 | 6.0 |
| 7.0 | 7.0 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.75 | 7.0 |
Getting the most from your estimate
- Take the test in one sitting, with the timer running, as you would on test day.
- Look at the trend across several tests rather than a single score.
- Read the explanation for every question you got wrong: that is where most of the improvement comes from.