SpeakingGuide
How IELTS Speaking Is Marked: The Four Criteria Explained
Four criteria decide your Speaking band, and each one counts equally. This guide explains what each one measures. It also shows how the four scores combine, and what changes from band 6 to band 7.
Certificated IELTS examiners assess your speaking all through the test, against four assessment criteria source: ielts.org.
There is no answer key for IELTS Speaking. The criteria are what you practise against, so it pays to know what they reward. This guide is the hub for our series on the four Speaking criteria.
What happens in each part
11 to 14 minutes in all, with an examiner, and recorded.
Source: ielts.org, Speaking format
Show the data
| Part | What happens | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction and interview | 4 to 5 min |
| 2 | Long turn: 1 min to prepare, up to 2 min of talk | 3 to 4 min |
| 3 | Discussion | 4 to 5 min |
Part 1 asks about familiar topics such as home, family, work, studies or interests. In Part 2, you get a task card and a minute to prepare, then you talk for 2 minutes. Part 3 is a discussion of more general and abstract issues linked to the Part 2 topic source: ielts.org.
The examiner assesses every part, so every part counts. Each part has its own guide: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
The four criteria
| Criterion | What it looks at |
|---|---|
| Fluency and coherence | Talking with normal continuity, rate and effort, and linking your ideas into connected speech |
| Lexical resource | The range of your vocabulary, how precise and appropriate it is, and paraphrase when you do not know a word |
| Grammatical range and accuracy | The range of your grammar, and how accurately you use it |
| Pronunciation | How easily you are understood, through chunking, rhythm, stress, intonation and individual sounds |
Each criterion has its own guide in this series:
- fluency and coherence, and why pausing to think is not the problem
- lexical resource, and why paraphrase is a scored skill
- grammatical range and accuracy, and how errors are counted
- pronunciation, where band 7 has no wording of its own
To plan your practice, use our Speaking improvement plan. It starts from the criterion that holds your band down.
How the scores combine
The four criteria carry equal weight, and their average gives your Speaking score source: ielts.org.
For example, suppose fluency and coherence is 7, lexical resource 6, grammar 6 and pronunciation 7. The average is 6.5. IELTS publishes a rounding rule for the overall band, but not for an average of the four Speaking criteria.
Your Speaking band is then averaged with your other three section bands. The overall band score is that average, rounded to the nearest half band source: ielts.org.
The band score calculator shows how your Speaking band moves your overall score. IELTS band scores explained covers the scale itself.
What changes from band 6 to band 7
| Criterion | Band 6 | Band 7 |
|---|---|---|
| Fluency and coherence | Keeps going, but coherence may be lost at times through hesitation, repetition or self-correction | Produces long turns without noticeable effort. Hesitation does not affect coherence. |
| Lexical resource | Enough vocabulary to discuss topics at length. Some words may be inappropriate, but the meaning is clear. | Flexible use across topics, some less common and idiomatic items, and an awareness of style and collocation |
| Grammatical range and accuracy | A mix of short and complex forms. Errors are frequent in complex structures but rarely block communication. | A range of structures used flexibly, and frequent error-free sentences |
| Pronunciation | A range of features, but variable control. Stress and intonation are not sustained. | All the positive features of band 6, and some, but not all, of those of band 8 |
Each criterion guide has a section on this step, with a worked example. Two rules printed on the band descriptors apply to all four criteria.
The first rule means you need every positive feature of a band to be given it, not only some. So you can improve and stay on the same band until the last feature is there.
The second rule means one strong answer does not set your band, and one weak answer does not ruin it.
The Speaking and Writing criteria
| Criterion | Writing | Speaking | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Task 1 | Task 2 | ||
| Task Achievement | assessed | not assessed | not assessed |
| Task Response | not assessed | assessed | not assessed |
| Coherence and Cohesion | assessed | assessed | not assessed |
| Fluency and Coherence | not assessed | not assessed | assessed |
| Lexical Resource | assessed | assessed | assessed |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | assessed | assessed | assessed |
| Pronunciation | not assessed | not assessed | assessed |
Each task is marked on four criteria of equal weight. Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy mark all three.
The definitions are not the same in the two skills, because Speaking is judged as speech. How IELTS Writing Is Marked covers the written versions.
The four criteria and what each assesses come from the Speaking key assessment criteria, and the band-level wording and the two rules from the public Speaking band descriptors, both on ielts.org. Neither document carries a revision date. The three parts and who assesses them come from the Speaking format page. The equal weighting and the rounding rule come from IELTS scoring in detail. Last checked on 28 September 2026.
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- Compass IELTS Editorial Team, the team behind the Compass IELTS band score tools and practice tests
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- Words in a quote box, and sentences just before a source link such as ielts.org, come from the test owners. Everything else is our explanation. Facts about the test come from official sources, linked where we use them. Read our editorial policy.
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