Understanding the IELTS Band score

Understanding IELTS Band score

So, you want to understand what does a band score mean? To do so you first need to know the IELTS band score scale. 

The lowest band score is 0 and the highest is Band 9. IELTS increases your score by half a band. Which gives us the following possible band scores:

0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 and so on all the way to Band 9.

Let’s understand what each band score means

Band 0 score means did not respond at all in the test. 

Band 1 score means the person has little to no knowledge of the language. 

All the way up to Band 4 means that person does not have any operational knowledge of English. They may be able to say a few words and probably understands something that another person says but will not be able to hold a conversation. They will be able to use the language to ask simple questions such as asking for directions, time etc. 

Band 5 means the person can form simple sentences and understand most of what the other person is saying in their own field of operation. They will probably not be able to hold a conversation in English in an un familiar situation. 

Band 6 means the person can hold a conversation using simple sentences and also use complex structures occasionally. They will make many errors in structure, usage and understanding but will be able to make and convey sense through their conversation particularly in familiar situations. 

Band 7 means the person is a good user of English language. The user has good operational command of the language and can use it with few errors. They handle complex language well and understand detailed reasoning. 

Band 8 means the person is a very good user of English language and that they can hold complex conversations with few errors in any situation 

Band 9 means expert user. The user is unlikely to make any error and will understand and convey meaning in any situation.

So this was the low-down on the IELTS Band scores and I hope you found it useful. You will find that tons of useful articles and free and paid courses are published on Manil to help you prepare for the IELTS test, so keep following us here or on Facebook and Instagram for daily updates.