More than four million people take the IELTS test every year. Some use their scores to get into university; others need IELTS for work; many need it to emigrate. If you’re thinking about taking the test, this post will explain how IELTS scoring works and how to find out the score you need.

What is IELTS?

Let’s start with the basics. IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System. When you do the test, you are essentially showing how well you can read, write, speak and listen in English. It’s jointly run by the British Council, IDP and Cambridge, and accepted by universities, employers and immigration authorities in more than 150 countries.

What is an IELTS score?

IELTS is scored from 0 (didn’t attempt the test) to 9 (expert user). You can see the full IELTS band scale here. Nobody takes IELTS for fun, so you will be taking it for a good reason – a university place, a work visa, a move abroad. In each case, you will be told what IELTS band score you need to achieve. Or you can look it up online.

So, for example, if you want to study Psychology at the University of Bath, UK, the University’s website tells you: ‘You will normally need: IELTS 7.0 overall with no less than 6.5 in all components’.

The first thing to note, then, is that there is no such thing as ‘a good score’ in IELTS. There is only the score you need. Either you get it, and you’ve succeeded, or you don’t – in which case you take it again.

What are ‘components’?

The next question is what ‘no less than 6.5 in all components’ means. IELTS is made up of four papers: IELTS Reading, IELTS Writing, IELTS Listening and IELTS Speaking. You will get a score for each of those papers – again between 0 and 9 – and these will be averaged to get your overall band score.

In short, the four scores are averaged and the result is rounded to the nearest half band, with .25 rounding up to the next half and .75 rounding up to the next whole. That last detail matters more than it sounds. Here’s why.

If you get Reading 6.0, Listening 6.5, Writing 5.5 and Speaking 6.5, the total is 24.5. Divide by 4 and you get 6.125. That means your band score will be 6.0.

But if you can manage to get 6.0 in Writing, that will push the total up to 25. Divide by 4 and you get 6.25, which is rounded up to 6.5. Which could make all the difference.

The takeaway: if you’re close to the rounding boundary, even a small improvement in your weakest paper could push your overall band up by half a point.

How does IELTS compare with other exams?

If you already have a score from another English exam, you can cross-reference it with IELTS to get a rough sense of where you are: visit this excellent and comprehensive page. Bear in mind that no cross-reference is exact – the tests measure slightly different things – so treat the result as a starting point rather than a prediction.

What if I don’t have another test result?

If you don’t have another test score to work from, the most reliable way to gauge your current level is to sit a full IELTS practice test under timed conditions. Listening and Reading are easy to self-mark because the answers are objective; Writing and Speaking are harder to assess on your own and ideally need a teacher or experienced examiner to give you a realistic band. Many IELTS preparation courses include a diagnostic test for exactly this reason. When you’ve taken your practice tests, note down your score. With this information, you will be able to use the British Council-approved IELTS score calculator to find out what scores you need to get in the other papers to achieve your overall band score goal.

What’s next?

Once you know the score you need and roughly where you stand, the work begins. Take a look at our posts on IELTS Reading, IELTS Writing, IELTS Listening and IELTS Speaking for strategies on each paper – and remember, IELTS rewards preparation more than almost any other English exam. Knowing the rules is the first step. Practising within them is the rest.