Marking

The IELTS Listening and Reading papers have 40 items, each worth 1 mark if correctly answered.

IELTS Listening

16 out of 40 correct answers: IELTS band score 5

23 out of 40 correct answers: IELTS band score 6

30 out of 40 correct answers: IELTS band score 7

IELTS Reading

15 out of 40 correct answers: IELTS band score 5

23 out of 40 correct answers: IELTS band score 6

30 out of 40 correct answers: IELTS band score 7

Writing and Speaking are marked according to performance descriptors.

Please note the following:

• Your performance in the IELTS test will be reported in two ways: there will be a Band Score from 1 to 9 for each of the skills; and an Overall Band Score from 1 to 9. Both the Band Scores for each skill and the Overall Band Score may be reported in whole or half bands.

The Overall Band Score is the average of your scores in the four skills. For example, if you score Band 6 for Listening, Band 6 for Reading, Band 5 for Writing and Band 7 for Speaking, your Overall Band Score will be:  6 + 6 + 5 + 7 /4 = 6

You will see from this example that a lower score in one skill can be compensated for by higher scores in the others.

• Institutions or organisations considering your application are advised to look at both the Overall Band Score and the Band Scores for each skill to make sure you have the language skills needed for a particular purpose. For example, if your course has a lot of reading and writing, but no lectures, listening comprehension might not be very important and a score of, say, 5 in Listening might be acceptable if the Overall Band Score was 7. However, for a course where there are lots of lectures and spoken instructions, a score of 5 in Listening might be unacceptable even though the Overall Band Score was 7.

• Different institutions and organisations accept different scores for different purposes. The institution to which you are applying may require a higher or lower score than most other institutions. Please check score requirements for individual institutions on the IELTS website www.ielts.org