Teaching Briefing · 教师简报
There is a sentence printed under the official band descriptors that decides how every band is awarded, and almost nobody who marks IELTS work has read it. It is not a technique and it is not inside information — it is a footnote on a public PDF. This briefing is for teachers, and it comes with a free tool. Download as PDF →
The rule 那条规则
It is printed on the public Speaking descriptors, and on every page of the Writing descriptors.它印在公开版口语评分标准上，也印在写作评分标准的每一页上。
“A candidate must fully fit the positive features of the descriptor at a particular level.”
— IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors, closing note. The Writing descriptors carry the same sentence and add: bolded text indicates negative features that will limit a rating.—— 雅思口语评分标准结尾注释。写作评分标准写着同一句话，并补充：加粗文字表示会限制评分的负面特征。
Read it slowly, because it is stricter than how most people mark. Fully fit means all of them. If Band 7 Fluency and Coherence lists three positive features and a candidate shows two, that is not a Band 7 with a small gap. It is a Band 6. The scale does not average within a band, and it does not give partial credit for getting most of the way there.慢慢读这句话，因为它比大多数人打分的方式严格得多。完全符合意味着全部符合。如果 7 分的流利度与连贯性列出三条正面特征，而考生只表现出两条，那不是"接近 7 分"，而是 6 分。分档内部不做平均，也不为"差不多做到了"给部分分数。
This single rule explains most of the disagreement between a teacher's estimate and a real result. Marking by impression rewards the two features that were present. The descriptors ask about the one that was not.这一条规则就能解释老师的估分与真实成绩之间的大部分差距。凭印象打分，看到的是已经具备的那两条；评分标准问的，是缺失的那一条。
The exception 例外
Not an oversight. A decision made in 2008, and IELTS published the research behind it.这不是疏漏，而是 2008 年的一项决定，雅思也公开了背后的研究。
Until August 2008 Pronunciation was not scored on nine bands at all. It ran on four levels only — 2, 4, 6 and 8 — while the other three criteria used the full scale. Examiners found four levels too coarse, and IELTS-commissioned research found something worse: evidence that having only four bands encouraged examiners to award a Band 6 by default.2008 年 8 月之前，发音根本不是按九档评分的，只有 2、4、6、8 四个等级，而其他三项标准用的是完整九档。考官觉得四个等级太粗，雅思委托的研究还发现了更严重的问题：只有四档会促使考官默认给 6 分。
So the scale was expanded to nine. But rather than write three new descriptors, IELTS defined the new odd bands by comparison: a Band 7 performance shows all the positive features of Band 6 and some, but not all, of Band 8. The same report is candid that examiners then struggled to interpret “some, but not all”.于是量表扩展到九档。但雅思没有另写三条描述，而是用比较来定义新增的单数档：7 分表现要具备 6 分的全部正面特征，再加上 8 分的部分而非全部特征。同一份报告也坦率承认，考官此后难以把握"部分而非全部"这个说法。
The limit 界限
IDP publishes this plainly, in the FAQ of the course that teaches the criteria.IDP 把这一点写得很清楚，就在讲授评分标准那门课的常见问题里。
“Teachers should not award IELTS band scores using the public Band Descriptors, but can highlight features in the assessment criteria that match written and spoken performance.”
— IDP Education, IELTS Teacher Training Program.—— IDP Education，雅思教师培训课程。
I hold both certificates from that programme, Speaking and Writing, 2026 — which is exactly why the tool below is built the way it is. It shows you which features match and which are missing. That is the permitted output, and it happens to be the more useful one: “every Band 7 feature except paraphrase” tells a student what to do on Monday. “You're a 6.5” tells them nothing.我持有该课程口语与写作两份 2026 年证书——这正是下面这个工具如此设计的原因。它显示哪些特征已经符合、哪些还缺。这是被允许的输出方式，而且恰好更有用："除了同义转述之外，7 分特征全部具备"能告诉学生周一该做什么；"你是 6.5"什么也没告诉他。
Honest limits 诚实的界限
Applying these descriptors consistently is a trained skill, and training it takes repetition.稳定地运用这些评分标准是一项需要训练的技能，而训练靠的是反复实践。
Everything the tool produces is indicative. It is not an official band score, it is not a prediction of one, and no score is promised by it. Only certified examiners, rating a live test inside the exam system, award band scores. Even IELTS's own practice test, marked by official IELTS markers, calls its result indicative.这个工具给出的一切都只是参考。它不是官方分数，也不是对官方分数的预测，更不承诺任何分数。只有认证考官在考试体系内对真实考试评分，才能给出分数。连雅思自己的模拟测试，由官方评分员批改，给出的也只是参考分数。
And getting genuinely good at this takes a lot of marking. Examiners are selected, trained, and re-standardised at intervals precisely because judgement drifts. The way a teacher builds the same reliability is unglamorous: mark full mock tests, mark them repeatedly, record what you awarded and why, and go back and check yourself against samples whose rating you already know. The checklist gives that practice something firm to work against. It does not shorten it.而要真正做好这件事，需要大量的批改实践。考官之所以要经过选拔、培训并定期重新校准，正是因为判断会漂移。教师建立同样可靠性的方式并不光鲜：批改完整的模考，反复批改，记录自己给了什么分、依据是什么，再回头用已知评分的样本核对自己。这份清单为那种练习提供了明确的参照，但不会缩短它。
The tool 工具
Speaking, Writing Task 1 and Writing Task 2. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.涵盖口语、写作 Task 1 与 Task 2。无需安装，无需注册。
Two hundred and three tick boxes, paraphrased from the published descriptors across Bands 4 to 9. Tick what the performance actually shows and it tells you which band it fully meets, how far into the next one it has got, and exactly which features are missing. Print it blank and work on paper if you prefer.二百零三个勾选项，改写自公开评分标准中 4 到 9 分的内容。勾选考生真正表现出的特征，它会告诉你完全达到哪一档、进入下一档多少、以及具体还缺哪些特征。也可以打印空白版在纸上使用。
Built because IELTS publishes the descriptors, publishes the award rule, and publishes the research — and then leaves all of it sitting in PDFs that nobody opens. The information was never hidden. It was just never made usable.做这个工具，是因为雅思公开了评分标准、公开了评分规则、也公开了研究——然后把这一切留在没人打开的 PDF 里。这些信息从未被隐藏，只是从来没有人把它做成可用的东西。
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