IELTS Listening band scores: how many correct answers you need

Listening is the section where students most often underestimate how close they are to the next band. One more correct answer can be the difference between 6.5 and 7.0.

The Listening band score chart

These figures are the ones most widely used. Each test version is checked for difficulty, so a cut-off can occasionally move by one mark either way.

The same Listening test for Academic and General Training

The IELTS Listening test is the same for both Academic and General Training. The same Listening questions can be used for either test type, and both follow the same test format, marking criteria and band score conversion.

Where the marks go

When we look at practice test results from our students, the pattern is fairly steady:

• Part 1 (everyday conversation) is where strong candidates should drop nothing. Lost marks here are almost always spelling, plurals or numbers written incorrectly.
• Part 2 (monologue on a local topic) trips people up with maps and plans. If you are not used to following directions such as "opposite the car park, just past the main entrance", practise this specifically.
• Part 3 (academic discussion) tests whether you can follow who thinks what. Several speakers change their minds, and the first answer you hear is often a distractor.
• Part 4 (lecture) has ten questions with no break, usually note or sentence completion. Candidates aiming for 7 or above tend to lose most of their remaining marks here.

What "correct" means

A right answer with a spelling mistake is wrong. So is an answer that breaks the word limit. If the instruction says "NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER", then "the old library" is wrong even if "old library" is right.

A few rules that save marks:

• Both British and American spellings are accepted, but be consistent.
• Numbers can be written as figures: "15" is fine for "fifteen".
• Check singular and plural against the sentence you are completing.
• Capital letters don't matter in the computer test.

Moving up one band

If you are on 26 (band 6.5) and need 7.0, you need four more correct answers. That usually means fixing one habit, not improving your English overall. The most common fixes are:

1. Reading ahead to the next questions while the speaker finishes the current one.
2. Writing exactly what fits the gap grammatically, not the first word you hear.
3. Practising Part 4 lectures at full length rather than in short clips.

Our Listening tips guide goes through each question type.

Practise with a real conversion

Each AIL practice test gives you a Listening raw score and the band it converts to, using the table above, and shows which part each wrong answer came from. That tells you whether to work on spelling, maps or lectures.