The Wave / The British English IELTS Academy

IELTS Listening Marking Criteria

There are 40 questions in the Listening paper and according to how many correct answers you get, your band score will be specified.
The score will be defined as per the below chart.

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	32-34	30-31	26-29	23-25	18-22	16-17	13-15	10-12	8-10	6-7	4-5

There are 40 questions in the Reading paper and according to how many correct answers you get, your band score will be listed.
Since there are two modules in Reading assessment (Academic and General Training), both reading modules have a separate marking criteria.
The score of two modules will be defined as per the below charts.

For the General Reading test, which contains 40 questions, the approximate band scores can be calculated using the below table

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	32-34	30-31	26-29	23-25	18-22	16-17	13-15	10-12	8-10	6-7	4-5

IELTS Writing test contains two questions; Task 1 and Task 2. These two writing questions are marked out of 9 according to the following criteria. There are four areas of the writing question to be focused in order to get a higher band score.
• Task Achievement – Is the writing related to the task?
• Coherence and Cohesion – Are the words and sentences related to each other (ideas are interconnected)? Are the paragraphs separated, according to a logic? Are the sentences in a sequence? Is the topic sentence followed by supporting sentences?
• Lexical Resource – Does the candidate has a range of vocabulary?
• Grammatical Range and Accuracy – Is the grammar correct?

Your Speaking test will be evaluated and marked out of 9 according to the following criteria.
• Fluency and Coherence – Is the candidate fluent in his / her speaking skills? Minimum mistakes are happening and show the confidence in using different styles of speaking?
• Lexical Resource – Does the candidate has a wide range of vocabulary and knows how to use them effectively to express ideas or opinions?
• Grammatical Range and accuracy - Is the grammar correct? Does the candidate has a clear knowledge in expressing the ideas / events according to the correct tense form?
• Pronunciation – Does the candidate has a clear pronunciation ability? Can the others understand what candidate says?