How IELTS Speaking is scored, in one paragraph
A certified examiner listens to your 11 to 14 minutes and gives you a whole band from 0 to 9 on each of four criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy and Pronunciation. Per the ielts.org page "Understanding your score", each criterion carries equal weighting and the overall average gives the IELTS score for Speaking, reported in whole and half bands. The descriptors the examiner uses are public: the IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors PDF on ielts.org. Two notes at the foot of that PDF matter more than anything a coaching centre will tell you. Note (i): "a candidate must fully fit the positive features of the descriptor at a particular level". Note (ii): you are rated "on average performance across all parts of the test". So you earn a 7 by meeting every Band 7 line in a criterion, across the whole test, not by producing one impressive sentence. This page translates each line into what the examiner hears. For the general picture across all four skills, read our band descriptors explainer; this page is the Speaking-only, line-by-line version.
- Four criteria, equal weight, each marked as a whole band. The average is your Speaking band.
- Reported in whole and half bands. ielts.org publishes the .25 and .75 rounding rule only for the overall band across the four skills; it does not publish how a Speaking average of 6.75 is reported, so treat 6.75 as "not yet 7" and lift one criterion.
- Pronunciation is fully described only at Bands 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9. Bands 3, 5 and 7 are "all of the band below, some of the band above".
- You must fully fit the positive features of a band to get it.
- You are rated across all three parts, not on your best moment.
The four criteria, in the words of the PDF
Each criterion has a plain meaning and a trap. Here is both, with the official wording for Band 7 as the anchor, because Band 7 is the mark most of our readers need: the UK NMC lists 7 in Speaking for nurses (NMC IELTS Academic page), Australia's Proficient English level is 7 in each skill (per the Department of Home Affairs English language page, which we could not re-check this week), while Canada's CLB 7 maps to 6.0 in Speaking per the IRCC language-testing page on canada.ca.
| Criterion | What it really measures | Band 7 wording from the PDF | The usual misunderstanding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fluency and Coherence | Can you keep going, and can the listener follow the thread? | "Able to keep going and readily produce long turns without noticeable effort." Hesitation "will not affect coherence". "Flexible use of spoken discourse markers, connectives and cohesive features." | That fluency means speed. It means flow. Slow and connected beats fast and broken. |
| Lexical Resource | Do you have the words for any topic, and do you pick the precise one? | "Resource flexibly used to discuss a variety of topics. Some ability to use less common and idiomatic items and an awareness of style and collocation is evident though inappropriacies occur. Effective use of paraphrase as required." | That "big words" score. Precision and collocation score. "Heavy rain" is Band 7 language; "torrential precipitation" in a chat about weekends is not. |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | Do you use a mix of structures, and are most sentences correct? | "A range of structures flexibly used. Error-free sentences are frequent. Both simple and complex sentences are used effectively despite some errors. A few basic errors persist." | That every sentence must be complex. The descriptor wants both simple and complex, used effectively. |
| Pronunciation | Can you be understood without effort, and do you use stress, rhythm and intonation to carry meaning? | Band 7 = all the positive features of Band 6 plus some of Band 8. Band 8: "Can sustain appropriate rhythm. Flexible use of stress and intonation across long utterances, despite occasional lapses. Can be easily understood throughout. Accent has minimal effect on intelligibility." | That it is about accent. It is about intelligibility and the features of connected speech. |
Read the Lexical Resource line once more. The PDF says inappropriacies "occur" even at Band 7. You are allowed mistakes. What you are not allowed is a narrow range or vocabulary used "inappropriately" so often that it becomes the pattern, which is the Band 6 wording.
The band ladder: what 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 sound like
The table below puts the official descriptor beside what the examiner actually hears in the room. The left column is quoted or closely paraphrased from the PDF; the right column is TalkDrill's translation.
Fluency and Coherence
| Band | Official descriptor (PDF) | What it sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | "Fluent with only very occasional repetition or self-correction." Any hesitation is "to prepare the content of the next utterance and not to find words or grammar". Topic development "fully coherent and appropriately extended". | A thoughtful native-like speaker. Pauses are thinking pauses, never word-search pauses. |
| 8 | Fluent with very occasional repetition. Hesitation "may occasionally be used to find words or grammar, but most will be content related". Topic development "coherent, appropriate and relevant". | You forget the odd word and recover without the listener noticing. |
| 7 | "Able to keep going and readily produce long turns without noticeable effort." Some hesitation, repetition or self-correction, "often mid-sentence", but "these will not affect coherence". Flexible discourse markers. | A two-minute talk that never stalls. The examiner never has to prompt. |
| 6 | "Able to keep going and demonstrates a willingness to produce long turns. Coherence may be lost at times as a result of hesitation, repetition and/or self-correction." Discourse markers used "though not always appropriately". | You keep talking, but the thread drops once or twice and "basically, actually, you know" are doing a lot of work. |
| 5 | "Usually able to keep going, but relies on repetition and self-correction to do so and/or on slow speech." Hesitations tied to "mid-sentence searches for fairly basic lexis and grammar". "Overuse of certain discourse markers." | Short answers stretched with repeats. Complex ideas cause a stall; simple ones flow. |
Lexical Resource
| Band | Official descriptor (PDF) | What it sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | "Total flexibility and precise use in all contexts. Sustained use of accurate and idiomatic language." | The exact word, every time, on any topic. |
| 8 | "Wide resource, readily and flexibly used." "Skilful use of less common and idiomatic items despite occasional inaccuracies in word choice and collocation." Effective paraphrase. | Natural phrasing such as "I was torn between the two" rather than "I was confused". One slightly off collocation does not hurt. |
| 7 | "Resource flexibly used to discuss a variety of topics. Some ability to use less common and idiomatic items" with awareness of style and collocation, "though inappropriacies occur". Effective paraphrase. | You can talk about the environment, technology or family with topic-specific words, and when a word escapes you, you describe around it without stopping. |
| 6 | "Resource sufficient to discuss topics at length. Vocabulary use may be inappropriate but meaning is clear. Generally able to paraphrase successfully." | You are understood, but "good", "bad", "nice", "very" carry too much weight and the odd word is the wrong register. |
| 5 | "Resource sufficient to discuss familiar and unfamiliar topics but there is limited flexibility. Attempts paraphrase but not always with success." | Familiar topics work; an unfamiliar Part 3 question produces a general answer with the same ten adjectives. |
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
| Band | Official descriptor (PDF) | What it sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | "Structures are precise and accurate at all times, apart from 'mistakes' characteristic of native speaker speech." | Slips a native speaker also makes; nothing systematic. |
| 8 | "Wide range of structures, flexibly used. The majority of sentences are error free. Occasional inappropriacies and non-systematic errors occur. A few basic errors may persist." | Conditionals, relative clauses and reported speech appear without strain; most sentences are clean. |
| 7 | "A range of structures flexibly used. Error-free sentences are frequent. Both simple and complex sentences are used effectively despite some errors. A few basic errors persist." | You mix "I grew up in Ludhiana" with "If I had stayed, I would probably have joined the family business", and errors do not cluster. |
| 6 | "Produces a mix of short and complex sentence forms and a variety of structures with limited flexibility. Though errors frequently occur in complex structures, these rarely impede communication." | Complex sentences are attempted but often carry a tense or article error; meaning survives. |
| 5 | "Basic sentence forms are fairly well controlled for accuracy. Complex structures are attempted but these are limited in range, nearly always contain errors and may lead to the need for reformulation." | Simple present and past are fine; anything with "would have" or "although" goes wrong and gets restarted. |
Pronunciation
| Band | Official descriptor (PDF) | What it sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | "Uses a full range of phonological features to convey precise and/or subtle meaning. Flexible use of features of connected speech is sustained throughout. Can be effortlessly understood throughout. Accent has no effect on intelligibility." | Meaning carried by voice alone; sarcasm, emphasis and contrast all audible. |
| 8 | "Uses a wide range of phonological features." "Can sustain appropriate rhythm. Flexible use of stress and intonation across long utterances, despite occasional lapses. Can be easily understood throughout. Accent has minimal effect on intelligibility." | English rhythm (stressed words long, grammar words short) held across a two-minute talk, in your own accent. |
| 7 | "Displays all the positive features of band 6, and some, but not all, of the positive features of band 8." | Band 6 secured, plus rhythm or intonation that is sustained for stretches, not just in rehearsed openings. |
| 6 | "Uses a range of phonological features, but control is variable. Chunking is generally appropriate, but rhythm may be affected by a lack of stress-timing and/or a rapid speech rate. Some effective use of intonation and stress, but this is not sustained." Individual words "may be mispronounced but this causes only occasional lack of clarity". "Can generally be understood throughout without much effort." | Understandable, but every syllable gets the same weight, or you speed up under pressure and words run together. This is where most Indian candidates sit. |
| 5 | "Displays all the positive features of band 4, and some, but not all, of the positive features of band 6." | Some good chunking, but frequent mispronounced words and a flat or syllable-timed rhythm that makes the listener work. |
The same Part 1 answer at Band 5, 6, 7 and 8
The clearest way to hear the bands is to hold the question constant. Below is one common Part 1 question and four answers written by TalkDrill to illustrate the descriptors. They are not real candidate transcripts. Read each aloud and time it; the Band 7 and 8 versions are longer because the speaker can sustain a turn, not because length is a criterion.
Question (Part 1): Do you prefer to study in the morning or in the evening?
Band 5 (TalkDrill-written). "I prefer... I prefer morning. Because in the morning, my mind is fresh, fresh mind. Evening time I am, I am feeling tired, so I cannot study properly. So morning is good for me. Yes, morning."
Why 5: repetition to keep going ("fresh, fresh mind"), a basic-lexis search mid-sentence, a progressive form for a state ("I am feeling tired" where "I feel tired" is natural), no complex structure attempted successfully. Meaning is clear, which is why it is not a 4.
Band 6 (TalkDrill-written). "Actually, I prefer the morning, because basically my concentration is very good at that time. In the evening I usually get distracted by my phone and my family members are also there, so it is difficult to focus. But sometimes, if I have exam, I study in the night also."
Why 6: keeps going and gives reasons, but "actually" and "basically" are fillers rather than discourse markers used appropriately, articles drop ("if I have exam"), "also" sits in the Hindi position, and vocabulary is sufficient without being precise ("very good", "difficult").
Band 7 (TalkDrill-written). "Definitely the morning. I'm much sharper before breakfast, and the house is quiet, so I can get through difficult material without being interrupted. Evenings are a different story: by then I've been on my feet all day and I tend to re-read the same paragraph three times. Having said that, I do revise in the evening before an exam, just not anything new."
Why 7: a long turn without effort, flexible markers ("having said that", "a different story"), a less common item used naturally ("on my feet all day"), a mix of simple and complex sentences with frequent error-free sentences. One could argue "get through" and "tend to" are the kind of collocation awareness the descriptor names.
Band 8 (TalkDrill-written). "Mornings, without question. I'm one of those people who is fairly useless after about nine at night, so I'd much rather be at my desk by six, when the flat is silent and nobody's messaging me yet. That's when I tackle anything that needs real thinking. The evening is reserved for lighter work, flashcards or re-reading notes, because if I try to learn something new at ten o'clock it simply doesn't stick."
Why 8: wide and precise resource ("fairly useless", "tackle", "it simply doesn't stick", "reserved for"), a wide range of structures ("I'd much rather be", a cleft-like "That's when", a conditional) with the majority of sentences error free, and content-related rather than word-search hesitation. The idiom-like items are skilful and in register, which is the Band 8 Lexical Resource line.
Notice what does not change between 7 and 8: the opinion, the reasons, the length within a few seconds. What changes is precision and control. That is the honest news for anyone stuck at 6.5: you do not need better ideas, you need the same ideas said with fewer fillers, better collocations and a rhythm that holds.
The two criteria Indian candidates most often lose
IELTS does not publish per-criterion scores by nationality, so what follows is TalkDrill's judgement from the descriptors and from practice sessions on our platform, not an official statistic. Across Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil speakers, the two criteria that most often sit a band below the other two in those sessions are Pronunciation and Fluency and Coherence, and for related reasons.
Pronunciation: stuck at Band 6 by rhythm, not by sounds
Read the Band 6 line again: "rhythm may be affected by a lack of stress-timing and/or a rapid speech rate". Most Indian languages are syllable-timed: every syllable takes roughly the same time. English is stress-timed: stressed syllables are long and loud, the rest are squeezed. A candidate who says every syllable of "comfortable" and "vegetables" at equal weight is understood, which keeps the 6, but cannot show the Band 8 "appropriate rhythm", so cannot climb to 7. Add speed under nerves and chunking breaks too. The individual sounds people worry about (v and w for Punjabi and Gujarati speakers, th for Hindi speakers, s and sh for Telugu and Tamil speakers) matter less than most coaching suggests, because the descriptor allows mispronounced words at 6 as long as clarity is only occasionally lost. Fix rhythm first. Our word stress read-aloud and the word stress exercises are built for exactly this; the v and w drill comes second.
Fluency and Coherence: fillers that are not discourse markers
The Band 5 line names "overuse of certain discourse markers" and the Band 6 line says markers are used "not always appropriately". Indian English has a set of habits that the examiner hears as exactly this: "actually" to begin every answer, "basically" before every reason, "only" as emphasis ("I like morning only"), "means" as a connector, and "na" or "isn't it" as a tag. None of these breaks meaning, so the band does not fall to 5, but they stop you fully fitting the Band 7 "flexible use of spoken discourse markers". The fix is not to speak without markers; it is to use a range that signals structure: "the main reason is", "on the other hand", "what I mean is", "to give you an example". The common mistakes guide for Indian students lists the full set with replacements, and our first-language pages go deeper for each mother tongue.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy is usually the third weakest, with the same handful of errors recurring: articles dropped, progressive used for states ("I am having two brothers"), and "since" with a duration ("since five years"). These are "a few basic errors" that the Band 7 descriptor tolerates if they do not cluster, which is why grammar is rarely the criterion that holds a 7 back once the other two are fixed.
A self-rating checklist built from the descriptors
Record a two-minute Part 2 answer and one Part 3 answer, then listen back once per row. Tick a row only if the evidence fully fits, which is the rule the examiner follows under note (i) of the PDF. The questions are TalkDrill's; the bands and wording they test are the official ones.
| Criterion | You are at 6 if | You are at 7 if | You are at 8 if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fluency and Coherence | You kept going, but lost the thread once or twice and restarted sentences. | No stall over two minutes; any pause was for an idea, not a word; markers varied. | Pauses were almost all content-related; the talk had a shape the listener could summarise. |
| Lexical Resource | You were understood but reused "good", "very", "nice", "a lot"; one or two words were the wrong register. | Topic-specific words appeared; at least one less common item fitted naturally; you paraphrased around a gap without stopping. | Several precise, idiomatic choices in register; only occasional collocation slips. |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | You attempted complex sentences but many contained an error. | Error-free sentences were frequent; you used both simple and complex forms; basic errors did not cluster. | The majority of sentences were error free across a wide range of structures. |
| Pronunciation | Understood without much effort, but rhythm was even or rushed and intonation flattened after the first sentence. | Everything in the 6 column, plus stress-timed rhythm or expressive intonation sustained for stretches. | Rhythm, stress and intonation held across long utterances with only occasional lapses. |
Average the four. If you have 7, 7, 7 and a 6 in Pronunciation, you are at 6.75 on paper. If you have 6, 6, 7, 6, you are at 6.25. ielts.org says Speaking is reported in whole and half bands and gives the .25 and .75 rounding rule only for the overall band across the four skills, so we do not know officially where a Speaking 6.75 lands. The safe plan is to treat it as 6.5. That arithmetic is why the fastest route from 6.5 to 7 is almost always one criterion, and it is usually one of the two named above.
How to practise against the descriptors
Descriptor knowledge changes nothing until you hear yourself against it. A practical route, each step with a link:
- Baseline. Run the full three-part mock on TalkDrill once, with no preparation. It is scored on the same four criteria, so you get a starting band per criterion rather than a single number.
- Pick the weakest criterion. If it is Pronunciation, do five minutes of read-aloud a day on read-aloud practice, rhythm texts first. If it is Fluency and Coherence, record one Part 2 a day from the cue card bank and count fillers on playback.
- Rewrite one answer up a band. Take any Part 1 answer you gave, write it the way the Band 7 example above is written, then say it without reading. Do this with ten questions from the Part 1 questions post.
- Re-test weekly. The Band 7 tips and the Band 8 guide tell you what to add at each stage; the descriptors tell you whether you added it.
Keep the official PDF open while you do this. It is two pages, it is free, and it is the only document the examiner is using. Everything on this page, and every tip anywhere else, is a commentary on it. The hub at IELTS Speaking links the rest of this module: the 2026 format, the current question families, vocabulary that does not sound memorised, and the mistakes page for your first language.