Virtuous English AcademyThe nine-band scale
Each of the four papers is reported on the same scale, in whole and half bands. The official one-word labels are given below; the descriptions are our own summary of what performance at each level typically looks like, not a reproduction of the published descriptors.
| Band | Label | What performance at this level generally looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Expert user | Full operational command: accurate, appropriate and fluent, with complete understanding. |
| 8 | Very good user | Fully operational with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracy, and some difficulty in unfamiliar situations. |
| 7 | Good user | Operational command with occasional inaccuracy and misunderstanding; handles complex language well, especially in familiar contexts. |
| 6 | Competent user | Generally effective command despite some inaccuracy and misunderstanding; can use and understand fairly complex language in familiar situations. |
| 5 | Modest user | Partial command, coping with overall meaning in most situations while making many mistakes; able to handle basic communication in their own field. |
| 4 | Limited user | Basic competence limited to familiar situations, with frequent problems in understanding and expression and no use of complex language. |
| 3 | Extremely limited user | Conveys and understands only general meaning in very familiar situations; communication breaks down frequently. |
| 2 | Intermittent user | No real communication is possible beyond isolated words in familiar situations to meet an immediate need. |
| 1 | Non-user | Essentially no ability to use the language beyond a few isolated words. |
| 0 | Did not attempt the test | No assessable information was provided. |
The IELTS band scale. Labels are the official ones; the summaries are ours.
How the overall band is calculated
Your overall band is the mean of the four skill scores, rounded to the nearest whole or half band. The rounding rule is specific, and it decides a great many results:
- A mean ending in .25 is rounded up to the next half band.
- A mean ending in .75 is rounded up to the next whole band.
- Anything else is rounded to the nearest half band in the ordinary way.
| Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking | Mean | Overall band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.5 | 6.5 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 6.25 | 6.5 — .25 rounds up |
| 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.875 | 4.0 — .875 rounds up to the nearest half |
| 6.5 | 6.5 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 6.125 | 6.0 — .125 rounds down |
| 7.0 | 8.0 | 6.5 | 7.5 | 7.25 | 7.5 — .25 rounds up |
| 5.5 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 — no rounding needed |
Worked examples. The third row is the one worth studying.
Two consequences follow, and both should shape how you prepare. First, half a band on a single paper can move the overall result, so the weakest paper is almost always where preparation time is best spent — a candidate at 7, 7, 7, 5.5 gains far more from lifting the 5.5 than from perfecting the sevens.
Second, and more important: many institutions set a minimum for each individual skill as well as an overall band. A profile averaging 6.5 with a 5.5 in Writing will fail a requirement of "6.5 overall with no band below 6.0", however good the average looks. Read the requirement in full before you decide you have met it.
Raw scores: how many answers a band is worth
Listening and Reading are objectively marked out of forty and converted to a band. Writing and Speaking are not — they are assessed by trained examiners against four published criteria each, so there is no raw score to convert.
The conversion tables below are the typical published figures. They vary slightly between test versions, because the boards adjust the conversion so that a band means the same thing on an easier or a harder paper. Treat them as indicative targets, not as a guarantee.
| Band | Listening (of 40) | Academic Reading (of 40) | General Training Reading (of 40) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9.0 | 39–40 | 39–40 | 40 |
| 8.5 | 37–38 | 37–38 | 39 |
| 8.0 | 35–36 | 35–36 | 37–38 |
| 7.5 | 32–34 | 33–34 | 36 |
| 7.0 | 30–31 | 30–32 | 34–35 |
| 6.5 | 26–29 | 27–29 | 32–33 |
| 6.0 | 23–25 | 23–26 | 30–31 |
| 5.5 | 18–22 | 19–22 | 27–29 |
| 5.0 | 16–17 | 15–18 | 23–26 |
| 4.5 | 13–15 | 13–14 | 19–22 |
| 4.0 | 10–12 | 10–12 | 15–18 |
Indicative raw-score-to-band conversion. General Training Reading uses a stricter scale than Academic Reading.
The useful reading of this table is how ordinary the common targets are. Band 6.0 in Listening is roughly 23 of 40 — a little over half. Band 7.0 in Academic Reading is around 30 of 40. Neither requires anything close to perfection, and candidates who prepare as though it does tend to lose more marks to panic than to gaps in their English.
IELTS bands and CEFR levels
The CEFR is the six-level scale — A1 to C2 — used across European education and by most course providers, including every lesson, word list and level test on this site. IELTS publishes a comparison with it, and the alignment below reflects that comparison.
The two scales do not convert exactly, and it is worth understanding why. The CEFR describes what a learner can do; an IELTS band summarises performance on one test on one day. IELTS is also designed to discriminate most finely in the middle and upper range — roughly B1 to C2 — so it says relatively little about a learner below about band 4.
| CEFR level | Typical IELTS band | What a learner at this level can do | Where to start here |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 · Beginner | — | Handles greetings, numbers and memorised phrases. IELTS is not built to measure this far down the scale and a sitting would not be informative. | A1 grammar · A1 words |
| A2 · Elementary | around 3.0–4.0 | Copes with routine exchanges about familiar things, but breaks down as soon as the topic is unfamiliar or the speaker is quick. | A2 grammar · A2 words |
| B1 · Intermediate | around 4.0–5.0 | Deals with most travel and everyday situations, gives opinions with reasons, and writes connected text — with visible strain under time pressure. | B1 grammar · B1 level check |
| B2 · Upper-Intermediate | around 5.5–6.5 | Follows complex text and extended speech, argues a position, and writes clearly enough for most academic and professional purposes. This is the band most universities ask for. | B2 grammar · B2 level check |
| C1 · Advanced | around 7.0–8.0 | Uses English flexibly and precisely for academic and professional work, with only occasional inaccuracy and good control of register. | C1 vocabulary · phrasal verbs |
| C2 · Mastery | around 8.5–9.0 | Understands virtually everything read or heard and expresses shades of meaning precisely, even in complex situations. | C1–C2 vocabulary · long-form reading |
Indicative CEFR-to-IELTS alignment. Bands overlap because the two scales measure differently — treat this as a starting estimate, not an equivalence.
The practical use of the table is planning. If you need band 7 and your CEFR level is B1, the gap is not a matter of exam technique — it is two levels of language, which is realistically a year or more of steady work. If you are already B2 and need 6.5, format preparation and timed practice may well be enough. Knowing which of those two situations you are in is the most valuable thing you can establish before booking a test.
Our free adaptive level test reports a CEFR level in five to seven minutes with a per-skill breakdown, and the longer free placement exam covers all four skills and records the result. Neither is an IELTS test, neither is affiliated with IELTS, and neither predicts a band — what they do is establish the CEFR level this table then translates into a realistic expectation.
What different bands are typically used for
Requirements are set by individual institutions and authorities and change regularly, so what follows is a general orientation and nothing more. Always read the current published requirement of the specific organisation you are applying to — including whether it also sets a minimum for each individual skill.
Around 5.0–5.5
Often the range for foundation and pathway programmes, some vocational courses, and pre-sessional English at a university that will require a higher band before the degree itself begins.
Roughly the CEFR B1/B2 boundary.
Around 6.0–6.5
The most commonly quoted range for undergraduate admission at English-medium universities, and for many professional and migration purposes.
Roughly CEFR B2.
Around 7.0–7.5
Typical of competitive undergraduate programmes, most postgraduate study, and several professional registration bodies — often with a per-skill minimum attached.
Roughly CEFR C1.
8.0 and above
Required comparatively rarely: some professional registrations, a few highly competitive programmes, and certain immigration schemes that award points for language.
Roughly CEFR C1/C2.
A result is normally treated as current for two years, and many institutions will not consider one older than that. The period runs from your test date, not from your application, which is worth remembering if you are planning a sitting well ahead of a deadline.
Reading your own score report
The five numbers on a result form contain more diagnostic information than most candidates extract from them. Three patterns come up repeatedly.
- Receptive high, productive low — strong Listening and Reading, weaker Writing and Speaking. Extremely common, and it means your passive knowledge outruns what you can produce under time pressure. The fix is production practice, not more input.
- One paper adrift — three scores clustered and one a band or more below. Usually a format problem rather than a language one, and usually the fastest half-band available.
- Flat across all four — an even profile at a level below your target. This is the honest case where the answer is more English rather than more technique, and where a structured course beats exam drills.
If you sat a computer-delivered test, some centres also offer a One Skill Retake: a chance to sit a single paper again within a set period after the original test, in participating locations. Availability varies by country and by centre, and whether an institution accepts a result produced that way is entirely up to them — check both before relying on it.
Whichever pattern your report shows, the direction is the same. Work on the weakest paper, because that is where the overall band is being decided, and because it is very often also where a per-skill minimum is being missed.