IELTS Reading Raw Score to Band Score: Academic and General Training

Your IELTS Reading result starts as a raw score: the number of questions you answered correctly, out of 40. Each question is worth one mark, a wrong answer costs nothing extra, and there is no partial credit. The raw score is then converted to a band on the 0 to 9 scale, and this is where people get caught out: Academic and General Training use different conversions, so the same raw score can produce different bands depending on which test you took.

How the Reading paper is marked

Both versions give you 40 questions and 60 minutes. Your answers are checked against a fixed answer key, automatically on the computer delivered test and by trained markers on paper. No examiner judgement is involved, which makes Reading one of the two objectively marked sections, along with Listening.

The key is strict. A correct answer spelled wrongly earns nothing, and an answer that breaks a word limit earns nothing either, even when the right idea is in it. Since a wrong answer carries no penalty, never leave a blank: a guess has some chance of a mark, and a blank has none.

The official conversion anchors

IELTS publishes the average marks needed for several bands on its scoring guidance page at ielts.org. It gives whole band anchors rather than a full table of every half band.

Academic Reading:

General Training Reading:

Notice the pattern: at every published anchor, the same raw score sits exactly one band lower on General Training. 30 marks is band 7 on Academic and band 6 on General Training.

Half bands sit between the anchors. A raw score of 27 on Academic falls between the band 6 mark of 23 and the band 7 mark of 30, so it converts to band 6 or 6.5 depending on where that version's boundary falls.

Why General Training needs more correct answers

The two papers use different kinds of text. Academic Reading draws its three long passages from books, journals, magazines, and newspapers written for a general audience. General Training uses notices, advertisements, workplace documents, and one longer general interest passage. IELTS states the difference plainly in its scoring guidance: Academic texts may carry more difficult vocabulary and more complex style, so a greater number of questions must usually be answered correctly on General Training to secure the same band.

The consequence is that raw scores do not compare across the two tests. 32 out of 40 clears the band 7 anchor on Academic with two marks to spare. On General Training the same 32 sits just above the band 6 anchor and three marks short of band 7. Neither result is better than the other. The two conversions exist so that a band 7 describes the same reading ability whichever paper produced it.

Why the anchors are averages, not fixed cut-offs

No two versions of the test are exactly equal in difficulty, however carefully they are written. IELTS sets the band boundaries for each version so that the band, rather than the raw score, stays constant: a slightly harder paper gets slightly lower cut-offs. That is why the published figures are described as averages, and why the exact boundary on your test date can sit a mark or two away from them. Treat the anchors as reliable planning targets, not guarantees.

The figures above come from the scoring guidance IELTS publishes on ielts.org, last checked in August 2026. If that guidance changes, this article changes with it.

A note on the full tables you see elsewhere

Plenty of prep sites publish complete raw to band tables covering every half band. Those are usually taken from the conversion pages of official practice test books, where each table applies to that one practice test. They are close to the real thing and fine for scoring your practice, but they are not a published standard, and the real boundaries move slightly between versions. A site promising that 33 marks is always a 7.5 is claiming more precision than IELTS itself does.

Setting a raw score target

Work backwards from the band you need. Here is what the anchors leave you room to miss:

That margin should shape your practice. If one question type reliably costs you three or four marks, you know exactly how much of your target it is eating. And when you score a practice test, convert with the right table before you react to the number: a 30 that would delight an Academic candidate is a band 6 on General Training.

Your Reading band then joins Listening, Writing, and Speaking in a straight average, rounded to the nearest half band. Averages ending in .25 round up to the next half band and .75 up to the next whole band. You can try any combination in the band score calculator, and if you want the scale itself explained first, start with IELTS band scores explained.