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!