ListeningReadingGlossary
Raw score
The number of questions you answered correctly in Listening or Reading, out of 40, before it is converted into a band. Each correct answer is worth one mark.
Guides that use this term
How to Improve Your IELTS Listening Score
Listening has one band scale for everyone, on Academic and General Training. This plan gives the extra correct answers each step up takes. It also shows what to change when you hear each recording only once.
Improvement planListening
IELTS Listening Matching Questions
You match each item you hear about to an option in a list, and your answer is a letter. The items follow the order of the recording, but the options may not. Read the instructions and the whole list before you listen.
Listening
IELTS Listening Sentence Completion
Each question is a sentence with a gap, and you fill it with words you hear. Stay inside the word limit. An extra word, a missing plural or a spelling error can cost the mark even when you heard the answer.
Listening
IELTS Listening Short Answer Questions
You read a question and write a short answer using what you hear. Stay inside the word limit and spell every word correctly. Some questions ask for two or three answers, so count them.
Listening
How to Prepare for IELTS
Learn the format first, then use the free official practice tests. Learn how each section is marked and practise under the real time limits. Give the most time to your weakest skill.
General
IELTS Listening Question Types, and How Each One Works
IELTS Listening has six question types. In some you choose a letter, and in others you write words you hear. Learn what each one asks, then work on the type that costs you the most marks.
Listening
How to Improve Your IELTS Reading Score
Academic and General Training Reading turn the same marks into different bands. This plan gives the gap for each step up that IELTS publishes marks for. It links the guide for each type that costs you marks.
Improvement planReading
Short Answer Questions: Where Spelling Costs the Mark
Answer each question with words taken from the text, inside the word limit. The questions follow the order of the text, and a spelling error costs you the mark.
Reading
Multiple Choice in IELTS Reading: Four Options, and the Variant That Wants Several
Reading multiple choice gives four options and asks for one answer. The Academic paper also has a form where you choose more than one. The question tells you how many.
Reading
Sentence Completion: Words From the Text, Inside the Word Limit
Fill a gap in each sentence with words from the text, inside the word limit. On the Academic paper the questions follow the order of the text. On General Training the answers may not.
Reading
Summary, Note, Table and Flow Chart Completion: One Type, Four Shapes
A summary, notes, a table and a flow chart are one question type. Fill the gaps with words from the text, inside the word limit. The answers may not follow the order of the text.
Reading
Diagram Label Completion: Turning a Description Into a Picture
You complete the labels on a diagram using a description in the text. The answers may not follow the text's order. They usually come from one part of it.
Reading
Matching Features: When an Option Repeats and When It Is Not Used
Some options are never used, and others are used more than once. The answer is the person who makes the claim, not the name nearest the words you know.
Reading
Matching Sentence Endings: An Academic-Only Type That Follows the Text
This type is on the Academic paper only. The sentence beginnings follow the order of the text, so you can work forward through the passage and never search backwards.
ReadingAcademic
Matching Headings: Finding the Main Idea, Not a Supporting One
A heading must match what the whole paragraph is about, not one detail in it. A wrong heading is often true of just one part of the paragraph.
Reading
Matching Information: How It Differs From Matching Headings
This type asks where in the text a fact or detail is, not what a paragraph is about. One paragraph can be the answer to more than one question.
Reading
Checked against ielts.org's IELTS scoring in detail page on 8 September 2026.