IELTS grading rubrics (officially known as Band Descriptors) are the criteria examiners use to grade the Writing and Speaking sections of the test.

Each section is graded on a scale of 1 to 9 across four distinct criteria, with an equal 25% weight for each.

The Speaking section (interview with the examiner) is scored across these four criteria:

11-14 min

1.Fluency and Coherence: Assesses your ability to speak at a steady, natural pace without unnatural pauses, hesitation, or overusing filler words (like "um" or "like").

2.Lexical Resource: Evaluates your vocabulary range, ability to paraphrase, and use of idiomatic language naturally.

3.Grammatical Range and Accuracy (GRA): Tests your ability to construct complex sentences accurately and without frequent mistakes.

4.Pronunciation: Measures how well you are understood, your use of intonation, rhythm, and clear word stress.

The Writing section (task 1 & task 2 responses) is scored across the following four criteria:

60 min

1.Task Achievement (Task 1) / Task Response (Task 2): Evaluates if you fully addressed the prompt, presented a clear position, supported your main points, and met the word count (150 words for Task 1, 250 for Task 2).

2.Coherence and Cohesion: Assesses the logical flow of your ideas, how effectively you use paragraphs, and your variety of linking words (e.g., furthermore, in contrast, additionally, however).

3.Lexical Resource: Checks your vocabulary. Higher bands require a wide range of words, natural collocation (word pairings), and correct spelling, with rare errors.

4.Grammatical Range and Accuracy (GRA): Measures your sentence variety (simple vs. complex structures) and the frequency of grammatical errors.