Three tools in one place: convert a Reading raw score into a band, work out your overall band
from four skills, or find out what you still need in the skill you have left. Academic and
General Training Reading are converted on different tables — using the wrong one can
move the result by a full band.
Which test did you sit?
/ 40
Whole numbers only. There are no half marks in IELTS Reading.
Your four band scores
The three bands you already have
The full conversion table
Raw score out of 40
Estimated band
Why Academic and General Training convert differently
General Training Reading is marked to a higher raw score for the same band, because its
texts — notices, advertisements, workplace documents — are less demanding than the academic
passages. The gap is widest exactly where most candidates sit. A raw score of
30 out of 40 is roughly band 7.0 on the Academic table and roughly band
6.0 on the General Training one.
That is why a single "IELTS band calculator" that ignores the distinction is worse than no
calculator at all: a General Training candidate scored on the Academic table would be told
they already have the band they need, and would stop preparing. If you are not certain which
test you sat, check the paper — Academic Reading has three long passages on academic topics;
General Training has five or six shorter texts, the first of which are everyday notices.
What this can and cannot tell you
It is an estimate, not a result. Official band boundaries are set for each
individual paper and shift slightly between versions, so a real result can land either side
of the figure shown here.
The raw score is the number we actually know. The band is a conversion applied to
it. If you are tracking progress, track the raw score.
This converts Reading only. Listening uses its own table, and Writing and Speaking
are marked against criteria by a trained examiner — there is no raw score to convert, and
any tool claiming to produce a Writing band from a word count is guessing.
An overall IELTS band is the average of all four skills, rounded to the nearest
half band. A Reading band on its own is one quarter of that picture.
If you are weighing IELTS against TOEFL: since January 2026 TOEFL also reports on a
1–6 scale and also averages its four sections, rounding to the nearest half band. The two
tests now work the same way at the overall level, so the same planning trap applies to
both — you rarely need your target score in every skill, because rounding can carry
you over. Our TOEFL calculator does the same
arithmetic on that scale.
Need a raw score to convert?Sit a full 40-question TACT paper — Academic or General Training, marked to the real
rules, with a breakdown by question type. Free, no account needed.
Independent practice material. Created by TACT for academic English practice.
The conversion tables above are approximate and unofficial. This is not an official
examination paper or scoring service, and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved
by IELTS or its owners.