How to Calculate IELTS Score (Overall & Each Component)

Lar Ryan AvatarbyLar Ryan

If you’re confused about how to calculate IELTS scores, that’s completely understandable.

In this lesson, we’ll look at how the overall score is determined and how to calculate band scores in IELTS Writing, Listening, Reading and Speaking.

In this lesson, you'll learn exactly how to calculate IELTS scores for all components and the overall score.

Contents;

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Writing – How to Calculate IELTS Score

The documents here and here outline how to calculate IELTS band scores for Writing Task 1 and Task 2.

But, what they don’t explain is how these scores are used to determine your overall score.

So, let’s find out.

You can see how to calculate the individual band scores in IELTS Writing Task 1 and Task 2 with the linked documents.

What are Band Scores

Each band is given a score from 1 to 9.

The first band score is referred to as Task Achievement, and this is based on your ability to answer the question.

The second band score, Coherence and Cohesion, assess the organisation of your writing and how easy it is to follow what you’ve written.

Next is the band score is known as Lexical Resource, and this is the evaluation of your range and accuracy of vocabulary.

Finally, each Task gets a score for Grammatical Range and Accuracy, which is the score for your grammar.

To learn more about each of these band scores, click on the links above.

To understand exactly how to calculate the overall band score in IELTS Writing, you can look at the lesson dedicated to each one.

How to Calculate IELTS Score for Task 1 and Task 2

After the four band scores are decided for your answer, the average becomes your overall score for that task.

So if these are your Task 1 scores;

  • Task Achievement – band 8
  • Coherence and Cohesion – band 8
  • Lexical Resource – band 7
  • Grammatical Range and Accuracy – band 7

Those four figures are added together and divided by 4.

(8+8+7+7) ÷ 4
⇒ 30 ÷ 4 = 7.5

So, as you can see, a band score of 7.5 is awarded for this Task 1 answer.

How to calculate IELTS band score in each writing task is to get the average of the individual band scores.

However, if the average isn’t a whole number, like 7.0, or a half number, such as 7.5, it will be rounded down to the nearest half number.

To illustrate, let’s say your Task 2 essay got the band scores;

  • Task Achievement – band 7
  • Coherence and Cohesion – band 7
  • Lexical Resource – band 7
  • Grammatical Range and Accuracy – band 6

Again, we add these figures and divide them by 4.

(7+7+7+6) ÷ 4
⇒ 26 ÷ 4 = 6.75

However, there is no such score as 6.75, so this will be rounded down to 6.5 as the overall Task 2 score.

Some candidates think this is unfair but, later, the average of both Tasks is rounded up, which means it’s completely reasonable.

The part that many IELTS students don't appreciate about how to calculate IELTS overall score for writing is that the average score for each task is rounded down.

How to Calculate Overall Band Score in IELTS Writing

Now that we have our Task 1 score of 7.5 and our Task 2 score of 6.5, these need to be combined to get our overall IELTS Writing score.

However, Task 2 is worth twice as much as Task 1. This is why you are told to spend 40 minutes on Task 2 and 20 minutes on Task 1.

Here is the easiest way to calculate this;

(Task 1 score + Task 2 score + Task 2 score) ÷ 3

So for the example we were looking at previously, this will be;

(7.5 + 6.5 + 6.5) ÷ 3
⇒ 20.5 ÷ 3 = 6.833

How to calculate IELTS score for writing is to get the average of the scores given for Task 1 and Task 2, with the latter being given double its value.

To calculate the overall band score in IELTS Writing, 6.833 is rounded up to the nearest half mark to become 7.0.

How to Improve Your Overall Band Score in IELTS Writing

To improve your IELTS Writing score, firstly, complete my Task 2 Lessons, then my lessons for Academic Task 1 or General Training Task 1, depending on which type of IELTS you need.

Once you’ve completed those, subscribe to my free Live Feedback Lessons so that I can explain the specific problems you have in Task 1 and Task 2.

Listening – How to Calculate IELTS Score

How to calculate overall band score in IELTS Listening is very straightforward.

Firstly, all your answers are marked as right or wrong.

Keep in mind that the answer must be exactly the same as the answer key to be marked as correct. This includes the spelling.

The way listening is marked is the least complicated of all.

After that, all your correct answers are counted up, and the chart below is used to determine your IELTS Listening score.

To calculate the band score in IELTS Listening, you can use this conversion table.

To improve your listening score, you can learn everything you need to know with my IELTS Listening Lesson.

Reading – How to Calculate IELTS Score

How to calculate IELTS band score in reading is the exact same as in listening.

However, because Academic and General Training IELTS have different reading tests, the required number of correct answers is also different.

To calculate the IELTS band score for reading, you can use this conversion chart. Make sure to choose the correct row for Academic IELTS or General Training IELTS.

To understand how to get the reading score you need, make sure to complete my IELTS Reading Lesson.

Speaking – How to Calculate IELTS Score

How to calculate the band score in IELTS Speaking is similar to Writing in that the IELTS examiner gives you a score in four different bands.

The first band, Fluency and Coherence, is based on your ability to speak without pausing and stay on topic while developing your answers.

The next band is Lexical Resource which is determined by the range and accuracy of your vocabulary.

You'll really need an IELTS expert to accurately determine your scores for the individual bands.

Next, Grammatical Range and Accuracy is the score you get for grammar.

Then Pronunciation is based on your ability to produce individual sounds, word stress, sentence stress, connected speech and intonation.

For a more detailed understanding of each band score and how to improve in each one, check out my lesson on How The IELTS Speaking Test is Scored.

Once the four scores are decided, the average is rounded down to the nearest half mark.

Let’s look at three examples to clarify this;

Example #1

  • Fluency and Coherence – band 7
  • Lexical Resource – band 7
  • Grammatical Range and Accuracy – band 6
  • Pronunciation – band 6

To get the overall score we do the following;

(7 + 7 + 6 + 6) ÷ 4
⇒ 26 ÷ 4 = 6.5

The four band scores in IELTS Speaking are Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy and Pronunication.

Because the average is a half mark, this doesn’t need to be rounded down, and an overall band score of 6.5 is awarded for this IELTS Speaking Test.

Example #2

  • Fluency and Coherence – band 7
  • Lexical Resource – band 7
  • Grammatical Range and Accuracy – band 6
  • Pronunciation – band 5

To get the overall score we do the following;

(7 + 7 + 6 + 5) ÷ 4
⇒ 25 ÷ 4 = 6.25

This time, the average score doesn’t land on a half mark, so 6.25 will be rounded down to 6.0 for the overall band score for this IELTS Speaking Test.

Example #3

  • Fluency and Coherence – band 8
  • Lexical Resource – band 7
  • Grammatical Range and Accuracy – band 6
  • Pronunciation – band 6

To get the overall score we do the following;

(8 + 7 + 6 + 6) ÷ 4
⇒ 27 ÷ 4 = 6.75

If you want to know how to calculate band score in IELTS Speaking, it's the average score of the individual bands, rounded down.

Once more, the average score needs to be rounded down so a band of 6.5 will be awarded for this IELTS Speaking Test.

How to Improve Your Overall Band Score in IELTS Speaking

If you need to improve your scores, you can complete my IELTS Speaking Lessons and register below for my weekly Live Feedback Lessons for Speaking.

How to Calculate IELTS Overall Score

Once your scores for IELTS Writing, Reading, Listening and Speaking are determined, the average of these four scores are calculated to determine your overall IELTS score.

So, if you got the following scores;

  • IELTS Writing – band 6.5
  • IELTS Listening – band 7
  • IELTS Reading – band 7
  • IELTS Speaking – band 7

Your overall score will be calculated as follows;

How to calculate overall band score in IELTS is to simply get the average of the score for each component and round up.

(6.5 + 7 + 7 + 7) ÷ 4
⇒ 27.5 ÷ 4 = 6.875

This will be rounded up to 7.0 for your overall IELTS band score.

Why Candidates Expect Higher IELTS Scores

The sad truth is that most IELTS candidates are surprised by their scores.

There are two main reasons for this;

  1. Misconception about English Level
  2. Misconception about IELTS Test
It's quite common for IELTS candidates to expect a higher score than the one they get.

Misconception about English Level

Many students need to get a band 7, but they don’t fully understand what that means.

They already have a good level of English, and they probably got high scores in their high school and university exams.

However, those exams are not comparing the students’ proficiency to that of a native English speaker, as is the case with the IELTS test.

As you’ll see here, in reality, a band 7 candidate is a very strong user of English.

This is a problem because IELTS certificates don’t display individual band scores such as Lexical Resource or Grammatical Range and Accuracy.

how to calculate IELTS overall score

As a result, a candidate who doesn’t have the language ability can fail the IELTS test but still not realise that they need to improve their English.

Misconception about IELTS Test

This can happen to students who have a very high level of proficiency in English.

Because they know that the IELTS test assesses their language ability, they feel that they will get a high score without preparing.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and every IELTS candidate needs to understand how to do the test before getting a high score.