Your Speaking band is the average of four criteria, each scored from 1 to 9 and each weighted equally. The same four apply to all three parts of the interview, and the whole thing is recorded so the marking can be checked.
| Criterion | Weight | What is assessed |
|---|---|---|
| Fluency and Coherence | 25% | Speaking at a normal rate without undue hesitation, and organising ideas so they connect. |
| Lexical Resource | 25% | Range and precision of vocabulary, including paraphrasing when a word will not come. |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 25% | Variety of structures and how accurately they are used. |
| Pronunciation | 25% | Clarity, word and sentence stress, and intonation. |
Accent is not assessed. Intelligibility is. Examiners are trained on a wide range of accents, and a strong one costs nothing provided the listener never has to strain.
| Band | Fluency | Lexis | Grammar | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Fluent, rare repetition, coherent throughout | Full flexibility and precision | Full range, natural and accurate | Effortless to understand |
| 8 | Fluent, hesitation only to search for content | Wide range, skilful paraphrase | Wide range, mostly error-free | Easy to understand, accent has no effect |
| 7 | Speaks at length, some hesitation and repetition | Flexible range, some less common items | Range of complex structures, frequent error-free sentences | Generally well controlled |
| 6 | Willing to speak at length, coherence sometimes lost | Wide enough to discuss topics at length | Mix of simple and complex, errors persist | Generally understood, some lapses |
| 5 | Usually maintains flow with noticeable effort | Limited flexibility, attempts paraphrase | Basic forms reasonably accurate, limited complex | Mispronunciation sometimes obscures meaning |
Fluency is what most often keeps a strong candidate at band 6. It is not measured by speed but by the absence of effortful hesitation — pausing to find an idea is fine, pausing to find a word is not.
You receive a band for each of the four skills, and the overall band is the average of those four, rounded to the nearest whole or half band.
Rounding works in your favour more often than people expect. An average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band; one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band.
| Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking | Average | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.5 | 6.5 | 5.0 | 7.0 | 6.25 | 6.5 |
| 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.875 | 4.0 |
| 6.5 | 6.5 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 6.125 | 6.0 |
| Band | Descriptor | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Expert user | Full operational command. Accurate, fluent and complete understanding. |
| 8 | Very good user | Fully operational command with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracies. |
| 7 | Good user | Operational command, though with occasional inaccuracies and misunderstandings. |
| 6 | Competent user | Generally effective command despite some inaccuracies and misunderstandings. |
| 5 | Modest user | Partial command, coping with overall meaning in most situations. |
| 4 | Limited user | Basic competence limited to familiar situations. |
| 3 | Extremely limited user | Conveys and understands only general meaning in very familiar situations. |
| 2 | Intermittent user | Great difficulty understanding spoken and written English. |
| 1 | Non-user | No real ability beyond a few isolated words. |
| 0 | Did not attempt | No assessable information provided. |
Written by Kirill O'Nayd
IELTS expert and educator at TestSucceed, with over a decade of experience preparing candidates for the Academic and General Training modules. Author of the Complete IELTS Preparation Course on Udemy ★★★★★★4.7