IELTS uses a 0–9 scale in half-band steps. Your Overall is the average of Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking, rounded to the nearest whole or half band. The maximum is 9.
For example, Listening 6.5 + Reading 6.5 + Writing 5.5 + Speaking 6.0 gives 24.5 ÷ 4 = 6.125 → 6.0. Raise Writing to 6.0 and the total becomes 25, the average 6.25 and the Overall jumps to 6.5. Half a band in one section lifted the whole result by half a band, because it crossed the rounding threshold. Find out where that threshold falls for your scores and how far you are from your target.
IELTS Overall band calculator
Enter four section band scores, not correct answers out of 40.
Choose all four bands to see your calculation.
These options are equal mathematically, not in effort: the section where mistakes repeat for the same reason improves fastest. Check any minimum section requirements separately.
Improve your Listening with LetsWordsHow IELTS Overall rounding works
Add the four bands and divide by four. A 0.5 increase in any one section raises the average by 0.125. Each section has equal weight. Academic and General Training use the same Overall calculation.
| Fractional part of the average | Rounded Overall |
|---|---|
| x.0 or x.125 | x.0 |
| x.25, x.375, x.5 or x.625 | x.5 |
| x.75 or x.875 | x + 1 |
Three examples from the official IELTS scoring guide, checked on 26 October 2026:
- L 6.5; R 6.5; W 5.0; S 7.0: 25 ÷ 4 = 6.25 → 6.5.
- L 6.5; R 6.5; W 5.5; S 6.0: 24.5 ÷ 4 = 6.125 → 6.0.
- L 4.0; R 3.5; W 4.0; S 4.0: 15.5 ÷ 4 = 3.875 → 4.0.
Set a target and the calculator lists every combination with the smallest number of half-band increases. Two increases can go into one section or be split between two. Mathematically the options are equal; in practice they are not: the section where mistakes keep repeating for the same reason improves fastest. If your university sets a minimum for each section, check that too.
Finding that reason takes feedback, not another practice test. LetsWords explains every mistake: Writing against the four criteria, a sentence with a new word for usage and grammar, and a Reading or Listening question with an explanation and the evidence in the passage or recording.
What each IELTS band means
These short summaries follow the official band descriptions, checked on 26 October 2026. They describe language ability, not a syllabus to memorise.
| Band | Skill level | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Expert | Fluent, accurate and appropriate language use with complete understanding. |
| 8 | Very good | Confident use of complex language, with occasional slips or misunderstanding in unfamiliar situations. |
| 7 | Good | Strong language use and understanding of detailed arguments, with some inaccuracies. |
| 6 | Competent | Effective language use; reasonably complex language is manageable, especially in familiar situations. |
| 5 | Modest | Partial command: the main meaning is generally understood, but mistakes are frequent. |
| 4 | Limited | Ability is limited to familiar situations, with frequent difficulty understanding and expressing meaning. |
| 3 | Extremely limited | Only general meaning is understood or conveyed in very familiar situations; communication often breaks down. |
| 2 | Intermittent | Great difficulty understanding spoken and written English. |
| 1 | Non-user | Use of English is largely limited to isolated words. |
| 0 | Did not attempt | The test questions were not answered. |
IELTS bands and CEFR levels: where B2 fits
The official IELTS–CEFR comparison concerns Overall, not individual section bands. Checked on 26 October 2026. The boundaries are approximate: IELTS explicitly says there is no exact one-to-one match.
| CEFR | Approximate IELTS Overall range |
|---|---|
| B1 | 4.0–5.0; 5.0 is near the B2 boundary |
| B2 | 5.5–6.5; 6.5 is near the C1 boundary |
| C1 | 7.0–8.0; 8.0 is borderline C2 |
| C2 | 8.5–9.0 |
The short answer to “What IELTS score is B2?” is usually 5.5–6.5. Many people scoring 6.5 are already at C1, but some are just below it; IELTS suggests 7 when an institution needs confidence in C1 ability. The chart does not assign separate IELTS ranges to A1 and A2.
Listening and Reading: correct answers and bands
Each test has 40 questions, with one raw mark for each correct answer. IELTS publishes approximate reference points, not a universal conversion for every test version. Checked against ielts.org on 26 October 2026.
| Test | Approximate correct answers out of 40 → band |
|---|---|
| Listening | 16 → 5; 23 → 6; 30 → 7; 35 → 8 |
| Academic Reading | 15 → 5; 23 → 6; 30 → 7; 35 → 8 |
| General Training Reading | 15 → 4; 23 → 5; 30 → 6; 35 → 7 |
Exact thresholds vary by test version. For example, 30 correct answers is a guide to band 7 in Academic Reading, but band 6 in General Training Reading. Do not interpolate an exact scale between these points or apply the table to a short exercise or a single part of a test.
How Writing and Speaking are assessed
Writing has four criteria: Task Achievement for Task 1 / Task Response for Task 2, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. These assess task fulfilment, organisation, vocabulary and grammar. The criteria are equally weighted within each task, and Task 2 carries more weight than Task 1: a weak essay costs more than a weak report.
Speaking has four equally weighted criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation. The score is based on their average. Both lists come from the IELTS scoring guide, checked on 26 October 2026.
Writing and Speaking have no answer key: an examiner awards the band against the criteria. So gaining half a band here depends on knowing which criterion is pulling your score down. In LetsWords, you can submit a full Writing answer for feedback against all four criteria, then practise the weak criterion on a shorter passage. Vocabulary for both sections starts with a smaller action: write a sentence using the target word and find out straight away whether it is used correctly.
What IELTS score do you need?
There is no universal pass score: the requirement is set by the university, course or authority. It usually has three parts: the IELTS type (Academic or General Training), the Overall and a minimum for each section. The last one is what most often catches people out: an Overall of 7.0 will not count if every section must be at least 6.5 and your Writing is 6.0. A strong Listening raises the average, but it cannot cover a weak section. That is why the lowest section is the one to improve, even when your Overall is already high enough.
After the calculation: IELTS preparation with LetsWords
LetsWords covers IELTS preparation in the browser: exam vocabulary, Writing, Reading and Listening, lessons and mistake review. Every task ends with feedback, not just a count of correct answers, so you can see exactly where the points go.
Vocabulary pays off in all four sections. Words are what you need to follow a passage or recording, to express an idea precisely in Writing and to keep talking in Speaking. LetsWords has ready-made sets of exam and academic vocabulary. You write a sentence with the word you are learning and get a correction and explanation tuned to your IELTS goal. Then you recall the word in spaced repetition until it becomes your own. You can also dictate the sentence.
Writing, from the task to the feedback. Hundreds of Academic and General Training tasks for Task 1 and Task 2. LetsWords reviews a full answer against all four criteria, and you can train a weak criterion separately on a short passage. A task-format guide and a checklist help before you start writing.
Reading and Listening, with every question explained. Academic and General Training tests, and Listening in a practice mode or an exam mode. After a test you can open the explanation, find the evidence in the passage or transcript and answer again. The review shows your weakest question types and offers lessons on them. An unfamiliar word from a passage goes straight to your vocabulary and from there into practice.
A practice test with an answer key gives you a total, but not where or why the points were lost. In LetsWords, the next session targets a specific weakness: a Writing criterion, a Reading question type, a word you cannot yet use correctly. The increase the calculator showed you becomes a study plan.
Start your IELTS preparation with LetsWords — with feedback on every mistake. To plan your study week by week, use the IELTS self-study plan.