How the calculation works
Your overall IELTS band is the average of your Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking scores, rounded to the nearest whole or half band. The rounding has one well-known quirk: an average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band, and an average ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band - both round up, never down.
| Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking | Average | Overall band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.5 | 7.0 | 6.0 | 6.5 | 6.75 | 7.0 |
| 6.5 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.5 | 6.25 | 6.5 |
| 7.0 | 7.5 | 6.5 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
This calculator only does the arithmetic. It can't tell you what your Writing or Speaking score actually is - those are assessed against the official band descriptors by a person, not a formula. If you want an honest read on your current level in any of the four skills, that's the first thing covered in a trial session.
Why your weakest skill usually matters most
Because the overall band is a plain average, one low score pulls the whole result down more than people expect - and pushing your weakest skill up half a band often moves your overall band further than the same effort on a skill that's already strong, especially when you're sitting right on a rounding boundary like .25 or .75.
See where each skill is typically won or lost: Speaking and Writing have their own detailed breakdowns.