Lately we have been getting some questions about how the IELTS exam is scored. Today we are going take a look at the IELTS band scale and explain how your score is calculated on the IELTS exam. The IELTS exam is scored a little bit differently than other standardized English tests.
The IELTS test is scored on a nine-band scale. Each band refers to a different level of ability in English. So there is no “pass” or “fail” when taking the exam but rather an estimate on your level of English proficiency.
A good idea that will benefit you is to find out what score you will need on the IELTS before taking the exam. Regardless if you take the IELTS exam for immigration purposes or to get admitted to a University in English speaking country it will help you know what kind of score you are expected to achieve.
For example if you are taking the IELTS to attend a University you might want to check what the IELTS score requirement they have. Different schools have different score requirements. After completing your IELTS exam the score will be valid for two years.
IELTS Band Scale
9 Expert user
8 Very good user
7 Good user
6 Competent user
5 Modest user
4 Limited user
3 Extremely limited user
2 Intermittent user
1 Non user
0 Did not attempt the test
Each section of the IELTS exam (reading, listening, speaking and writing) will give you a score between 0-9 and then calculated together to give you an overall score.
If you receive an overall score of 8.25 or 8.75 your score will be rounded up to the nearest half band or full band. 8.25 becomes 8.5 and 8.75 becomes 9.
Learn more about the IELTS exam, check out our previous posts about the IELTS exam. Read more about the IELTS.