IELTS Score Calculator (Academic and General)

In this post, we’re proud to present you with an IELTS score calculator. Use this calculator to predict your section and whole-test scores, and to convert your raw IELTS Listening and IELTS Reading scores to band scores!

How IELTS Calculates Band Scores

So, how are IELTS Academic and General band scores calculated? To determine your IELTS score, the makers of the IELTS use an official Writing Task 1 rubric, Writing Task 2 rubric, and Speaking rubric. They also use their own IELTS band score calculator system to convert your Reading and Listening raw scores (raw score = the number of questions you answered correctly) into band scores. You can see a partial table of raw-to-band score conversions on the official IELTS website.

To understand how the band scores correspond to English ability, and to learn how to improve your band score in each section, read Rachel’s articles on the IELTS band descriptors for Listening , Reading, Writing, and Speaking.

And once you’ve gotten a feel for what your section band scores might be, based on your English ability, you can average your four sections into one whole band score. Just use the IELTS band score calculator below. (This works as an IELTS Academic score calculator or an IELTS general score calculator.)

IELTS Score Calculator (Academic and General)

Follow the instructions in the score calculator below to get an average of the scores for each of your four IELTS sections.

Since IELTS rounds up by half-band increments, use the slider below and move it as close as you can to your calculator result. This will automatically round to the half-band or full band IELTS score!

IELTS Reading and Listening Band Score Calculator

Let’s revisit the official IELTS page for raw-to-band score conversion for the Reading and Listening sections.

Admittedly, those tables are far from complete; as an IELTS band score calculator, they seem insufficient. But here’s the good news: based on the tables, you can notice a number of important things about how the IELTS calculates Listening and Reading scores. First, it’s apparent that General Training Reading, which has simpler passages and questions, is graded more strictly. (For instance, a band 5 in Academic Reading would only be a Band 4 on IELTS GT.) It’s also apparent that middle-level scores have a wider score range than scores farther away from the middle of that 0-9 band range. Notice, as just one example, that a band 6 in Listening has a seven point range (23-29), while Band 7, farther from the middle, has a shorter five point range (30-34).

From this information alone, we can get a pretty good sense of what the ranges are for each whole band, and we can also place the half-band scores in the upper half of each range. Based on this, I’ve put together a set of tables below for calculating your Listening and Reading band scores.

Listening Raw to Band Score Conversion

BAND SCORE	9	8.5	8	7.5	7	6.5	6	5.5	5	4.5	4	3.5	3	2.5
SCORE / 40	39-40	37-38	35-36	33-34	30-32	27-29	23-26	20-22	16-19	13-15	10-12	8-10	6-7	4-5

General Reading Raw to Band Score Conversion

BAND SCORE	9	8.5	8	7.5	7	6.5	6	5.5	5	4.5	4	3.5	3	2.5
SCORE / 40	40	39	38	36-37	34-35	32-33	30-31	27-29	23-26	19-22	15-18	12-14	9-11	6-8

Academic Reading Raw to Band Score Conversion

BAND SCORE	9	8.5	8	7.5	7	6.5	6	5.5	5	4.5	4	3.5	3	2.5
SCORE / 40	39-40	37-38	35-36	33-34	30-32	27-29	23-26	19-22	15-18	13-14	10-12	8-9	6-7	4-5

Final Thoughts on Using the IELTS Score Calculator

If you look closely at how the makers of the IELTS score the exam, this can give you a good idea of how to predict your score. And our IELTS score calculator can help even more. But for Speaking and Writing in particular, it’s also helpful to get feedback– and if possible score estimates– from others. If you can, see a tutor or work with a study partner on these two sections. And you may also want to consider Magoosh’s IELTS essay scoring service.