Can You Elaborate on the Scoring Criteria
Outlined in the IELTS Exam Syllabus?
The IELTS scoring can be a little difficult to understand.
You have two types of scores – the raw and the band. If
you go through some university applications, you’ll
notice that all of them require you to submit your band
results. Now, how do you obtain them? Well, the
conversion is quite simple.
If you check the IELTS exam syllabus on AbroAdvice.com,
you’ll notice that the exam has four main groups –
Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. The Listening
and Reading follow a certain way of score calculation,
while the Writing and Speaking follow another.
1. Listening
If you have to rate this page for their SOP and LOR
writing services, you'd use numbers to score it, right?
Well, similarly, in the Listening section, you have to
answer 40 questions, and you get a number based on
your performance. Every correct answer equates to 1
mark. This is called the raw score. Now you have to
convert it to the band result. Here are the corresponding
band marks for their equivalent raw marks:
Band
5
6
7
8
Raw
16
23
30
35
2. Reading
The Reading section is scored quite similarly to the
Listening section. You get 40 questions here as well, with
each corresponding to 1 mark. The total number of
correct answers can help you calculate your raw score.
This section tests your expertise in complex vocabulary
and writing styles. Here's how you can determine your
band score for the Academic test:
Band
5
6
7
8
Raw
15
23
30
35
3. Writing
In the writing section, you only get to work on two tasks.
The assessment criteria for this part focus on the
following –
 Task achievement for Task 1 and Task response for
Task 2
 Lexical resource
 Grammatical accuracy and range
 Coherence and cohesion
The average of the two tasks will determine your total
here.
4. Speaking
The final section is quite similar to Writing. In this case,
you will be assessed on the following criteria –




Lexical resource
Pronunciation
Range and accuracy of grammar
Fluency and coherency
The better you’re able to express yourself in fluent
English, the better you can score in this section.
In summary,
The assessment criteria of all sections of the IELTS check
your expertise in the language. As long as you cover your
basics, you should be fine. Good luck with your exam!