IELTS Listening Raw Score to Band Score

The Listening test has four parts with 10 questions in each, so 40 questions in all. Each correct answer gets 1 mark, and you hear each recording once only source: ielts.org.

Listening is the same test in Academic and General Training source: ielts.org. So unlike Reading, it has one set of marks for each band.

The published marks for each band

The figure shows the average marks IELTS publishes for four Listening bands.

These are averages. The exact number varies a little between test versions. Between the pins there is no official figure.

Source: ielts.org, IELTS scoring in detail

Show the data

Listening: average marks out of 40 for each band

Band	Average marks out of 40
8	35
7	30
6	23
5	16

The Listening marks match Academic Reading at bands 6, 7 and 8. At band 5, Listening needs 16 marks and Academic Reading needs 15. Reading raw scores covers the Reading marks for both tests.

How to work out your Listening band

The converter below does steps 3 and 4 for you.

Small errors that lose marks

The key is strict, so some marks are lost after you have heard the right answer.

• A word limit is given in the instructions, such as "NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER". You lose the mark if you write more than the limit source: ielts.org.
• A hyphenated word such as "check-in" counts as one word source: ielts.org.
• A word with a spelling error is marked incorrect. British or American spelling is fine if you spell the word correctly. Mixing the two is not a spelling error as such, but it is inconsistent source: IDP.

Completion questions are where these rules matter most, because you write the words yourself. Numbers, dates and times covers the answers that are easiest to write wrongly.

Marks come only from correct answers, so write something for every question.

Paper and computer

In the paper test, you write your answers on the question paper as you listen. At the end, you get 10 minutes to transfer them to the answer sheet. That is in addition to the 30 minutes for the test source: IDP.

On computer there is no answer sheet. You type your answers directly, and you get 2 minutes at the end to check them source: IDP.

On paper, a copying slip costs the mark just as a wrong answer does. On computer, check each answer as you type it.

Setting a raw score target

Band 7 needs about 30 of the 40, so you can miss about ten. Band 8 needs about 35, so you can miss about five.

Near those marks, two spelling errors and one answer over the word limit cost three marks. Three marks can be the gap between two half bands.

In practice tests, mark strictly against the key. Give no credit for an answer you nearly wrote. Then convert your score before you judge the result. The Listening improvement plan gives the extra correct answers each band step takes.

Your Listening band is one of the four in your overall average, which the band score calculator works out. IELTS band scores explained covers the scale.

The published marks come from the IELTS scoring in detail page on ielts.org. The test shape, the once-only recording and the word limit rules come from its Listening format page. The fact that Listening is the same in both tests comes from its test types page. The spelling rule comes from IDP's guide to spelling in IELTS, and the computer checking time from IDP's IELTS on computer page. Last checked September 2026. The paper transfer time comes from IDP's Listening pocket guide, dated 6 April 2022 and read on 3 October 2026.