Scoring Briefing · 原始分对照表
A Band 7 is thirty out of forty. 原始分对照简报 · 7 分，是 40 题里对 30 题
Not thirty-eight. Not “almost everything”. IELTS publishes the conversion itself — and it publishes it in English on ielts.org and in Chinese on the mainland site, with the same numbers. It also stops at Band 8. Every Band 9 conversion chart circulating in study groups took that number from somewhere that is not an official page. Download as PDF →
What is actually published 官方公布的内容
The official table, in full.官方对照表，完整呈现。
Listening and Reading are marked out of 40, one mark per correct answer. These are the figures IELTS publishes for converting that raw score into a band.听力与阅读满分 40 题，每题 1 分。以下是官方公布的原始分与等级分对照数字。
Listening · 听力 · out of 40
Band 5
Band 6
Band 7
Band 8
Band 9
Academic Reading · 学术类阅读 · out of 40
Band 5
Band 6
Band 7
Band 8
Band 9
General Training Reading · 培训类阅读 · out of 40
Band 4
Band 5
Band 6
Band 7
Bands 8–9
Source, both languages. The same three tables are published by IELTS in English and by the Chinese-mainland site in Chinese, with identical figures.
ielts.org — Understanding your score → ·
chinaielts.org — 雅思分数说明 →
The “not published” rows are not an omission on my part — those rows do not exist on either page.
What 30 looks like 30 题是什么样子
You can get ten wrong and still have a 7.错十题，仍然是 7 分。
This is the number most candidates get wrong in their own heads — and it changes how you should spend the last ten minutes of a Reading paper.大多数考生对这个数字的直觉是错的 —— 而它会改变你在阅读最后十分钟的做法。
Band 7 · Listening or Academic Reading
30 correct · 10 wrong75% of the paper. 对 30 题，错 10 题，正确率 75%。
Band 8 · Listening or Academic Reading
35 correct · 5 wrong87.5% of the paper. 对 35 题，错 5 题，正确率 87.5%。
What follows from this, and it is my teaching judgement, not a published finding. A candidate who believes Band 7 requires near-perfect accuracy will spend the last ten minutes re-checking answers they already had right, instead of attacking the questions they left blank. Ten wrong answers is the published allowance at Band 7. A blank is guaranteed to be one of them; a guess is not. 这一条是我的教学判断，不是官方结论：以为 7 分需要几乎全对的考生，会把最后十分钟花在反复检查已经做对的题上，而不是去攻那些空着的题。7 分允许错 10 题。空着的题一定算错，猜的不一定。
The same 30 answers 同样对 30 题
Thirty correct is a 7 in Academic and a 6 in General Training.对 30 题，A 类是 7 分，G 类是 6 分。
A full band apart, on the identical raw score. This is published, and it is the single most misunderstood line in the whole table.同一个原始分，相差整整一分。这是官方公布的，也是整张表里最常被误解的一条。
Academic Reading · 学术类
30 / 40
35 / 40
General Training Reading · 培训类
30 / 40
35 / 40
| The official explanation 官方解释 |
“It is usual that a greater number of questions must be answered correctly on a General Training Reading test to secure a given band score.” The mainland site says the same: 通常情况下，在培训类阅读中，要获得特定的分数等级，需要正确回答更多的问题. 培训类阅读的文本更贴近日常，因此同一个等级分要求答对更多题目。这是官方原文，不是推论。 |
| What it does not mean 它不代表什么 |
It does not mean General Training is “easier” in the sense that matters to you. The band on your report is the band on your report — a GT Band 7 and an Academic Band 7 are both Band 7. The scale is adjusted precisely so that they mean the same thing. 这不代表 G 类「更简单」。成绩单上的 7 分就是 7 分 —— 换算表被调整过，正是为了让两者表示同一水平。 |
| Which one you sit is not a choice you make freely 考哪一类，不是你随便选的 |
The receiving institution decides. Academic is required for most degree study; General Training is used for many migration and some vocational purposes. Confirm which one your application asks for before you book — not after. 由接收机构决定：多数学位课程要求 A 类，移民与部分职业用途使用 G 类。报名前先确认，不要事后才发现。 |
The practical consequence. Practice-test scores are not portable between the two. A student practising with Academic material and converting with a General Training chart — or the reverse — will be a full band out. Check which table you are reading before you trust the number it gives you.
Where the wall actually is 真正的坎在哪里
6 to 7 costs seven answers. 7 to 8 costs five.6 到 7 要多对 7 题；7 到 8 只要多对 5 题。
Measured in correct answers, the published gaps are not equal — and the largest single step in the table is the one most candidates are standing on.按题目数量衡量，各等级之间的间距并不相等 —— 而表中最大的一步，正是多数考生卡住的那一步。
Listening · the published step between each band
5 → 6
+7
16 → 23
6 → 7
+7
23 → 30
7 → 8
+5
30 → 35
8 → 9
?
not published
| Academic Reading, the same arithmetic 学术类阅读，同样的算法 |
15 → 23 is +8. 23 → 30 is +7. 30 → 35 is +5. Subtract the published figures yourself; that is all this row is. 15 到 23 是 +8；23 到 30 是 +7；30 到 35 是 +5。直接用官方数字相减即可。 |
| Why the last step is the smallest in answers 为什么最后一步题数最少 |
Because there are only 40 questions and the scale has to fit inside them. It does not follow that 7→8 is easier — the five answers standing between 30 and 35 are, by construction, the five hardest items left on your paper. Fewer answers, harder answers. 因为总共只有 40 题，刻度必须装进这 40 题里。这不代表 7 到 8 更容易 —— 30 到 35 之间的那 5 题，正是卷面上最难的 5 题。题数更少，难度更高。 |
| What I take from it, as judgement 我的判断 |
A student sitting at 23 who says “I just need a few more” is under-counting by half. Seven more correct answers in a 40-question paper is a real distance, and it is worth planning for as one — not as a rounding error. That framing is mine, from teaching; the seven is theirs, from the table. 这一段是我的教学判断：停在 23 题、觉得「再多对几题就好」的学生，通常把差距低估了一半。40 题里多对 7 题是实实在在的距离，值得当作一个正式目标去规划。7 这个数字是官方的，怎么理解它是我的看法。 |
Every number above is a subtraction between two published figures. Nothing has been modelled, weighted or estimated. If you want to check the arithmetic, the two source tables are linked at the foot of this page.
The row that is not there 那一行不存在
Nobody official has published what a Band 9 costs.没有任何官方来源公布过 9 分要对多少题。
This is worth saying plainly, because the charts that circulate all have a Band 9 row.这一点值得说清楚，因为网上流传的对照表，几乎每一张都有 9 分那一行。
| Source | What it publishes |
|---|---|
| ielts.org 雅思官方国际站 |
Three tables — Listening, Academic Reading, General Training Reading. Listening and Academic Reading run to Band 8; General Training Reading runs to Band 7. There is no Band 9 row on any of them. |
| chinaielts.org 中国大陆官方站 |
The same three tables, the same figures, in Chinese. Also no Band 9 row. |
| The British Council score pages 英国文化教育协会分数页 |
Explain that Listening and Reading are marked out of 40 and converted to the nine-band scale, and do not publish a conversion table at all. |
| So where does the Band 9 figure come from? 那 9 分的数字是哪来的？ |
From unofficial sources — most often the answer keys printed in commercial practice-test books, which are conversion guides for those particular practice papers and are not published by IELTS as the live conversion. I am not going to reprint someone else's copyrighted key here and call it official, because it is not. 来自非官方渠道 —— 多数出自市面练习册后附的对照说明，那是针对该练习卷的换算参考，并非官方公布的正式换算。我不会把别人的版权内容搬过来当作官方发布。 |
And the caveat that applies to every row that is published. IELTS states it in both languages: “The precise number of marks needed to achieve these band scores will vary slightly from test version to test version” — 达到这些等级分所需的确切分数可能会根据不同的测试版本略有变化. Treat 30 as the published guide figure for Band 7, not as a guarantee that 30 on your particular paper will be a 7.
Using the number 怎么用这个数字
What changes once you know it is thirty.知道是 30 之后，什么会改变。
| Mark your practice papers out of 40, not out of 9 练习卷按 40 题记分，不要直接看等级分 |
A raw score moves every time you practise. A band score moves once every seven answers. Counting in raw marks shows you progress that the band scale hides — 25, 26, 28 all read as “Band 6”, but they are not the same paper. 原始分每次练习都会变，等级分要每 7 题才动一次。用原始分记录，能看见等级分掩盖掉的进步：25、26、28 都显示为 6 分，但它们并不一样。 |
| Know your own distance, in answers 用题数算出自己的差距 |
If you sit at 24 in Listening and need a 7, the published distance is six more correct answers. That is a number you can plan a month around. “I need to improve my Listening” is not. 听力现在 24 题、需要 7 分，按官方数字还差 6 题。这个数字可以拿来规划一个月的复习；「我要提高听力」不能。 |
| Never leave a box empty 不要留空 |
There is no penalty for a wrong answer in Listening or Reading — each correct answer earns a mark, and nothing is deducted. A blank scores zero with certainty. A guess does not. 听力与阅读答错不倒扣，每答对一题得一分。空着必定 0 分，猜还有机会。 |
| Remember which two papers this table does not cover 记住这张表管不到哪两科 |
Writing and Speaking have no raw score out of 40. They are marked against four published criteria each, by an examiner, and no conversion table exists because there is nothing to convert. If your gap is in Writing or Speaking, this page is not the one that helps. That briefing is here → 写作与口语没有 40 题的原始分，由考官依据各自的四项评分标准评定，因此不存在换算表。若你的短板在写作或口语，这一篇帮不上忙。 |
No band score is promised anywhere on this page. What is offered is the published conversion, the arithmetic between its rows, and a clear statement of where the table stops.
How this was compiled 编制方法说明
What is quoted, what is subtraction, what is opinion.哪些是引用，哪些是减法，哪些是观点。
Method note · 说明
| Quoted | The three conversion tables, the test-version caveat and the General Training difficulty statement are published by IELTS in English and by the Chinese-mainland site in Chinese. Both are cited. Where a sentence carries a condition it is quoted rather than paraphrased. |
| Subtraction | The step sizes — +7, +7, +5 for Listening; +8, +7, +5 for Academic Reading — are differences between two published figures. The percentages (75%, 87.5%) are the published raw scores divided by 40. |
| Opinion | Three things here are judgement and are marked where they appear: how a candidate should spend the last ten minutes of a paper, that students at 23 tend to under-count the distance to 30, and that raw-mark tracking is more useful than band tracking during preparation. None is a measured finding. |
| Absence, stated as absence | I checked ielts.org, the Chinese-mainland site and the British Council score pages for a Band 9 row and did not find one. That is a statement about what those pages contain on the date of writing, not a claim that no such figure exists anywhere. |
| Not reproduced | Conversion figures printed in commercial practice-test books are copyrighted material belonging to their publishers and are not reproduced here. |
| Credentials | Certified by IDP Education in Understanding the Assessment Criteria for both Speaking and Writing. IDP is one of the three organisations that jointly own IELTS. This is a teacher-training certificate — IELTS has not endorsed this briefing, the books, or the classes. Certificate numbers → |
Sources.
ielts.org — Understanding your score ·
chinaielts.org — 雅思分数说明.
Conversion guidance can be revised. If a source page has changed since publication, the source wins — please tell me.Every source above is public and linked. Not secret knowledge — unread knowledge.以上出处全部公开、均已附链接。这不是内部消息，是没人去读的公开材料。
Take it further 继续深入
Turn thirty into a plan.把 30 变成一个计划。
Everything below is free and needs no sign-up.以下全部免费，无需注册。
| This briefing as a PDF 本简报 PDF 版 | Printable A4 with all three published tables, the step sizes and the sources. Useful to keep beside your practice papers. |
| How the overall band is calculated 总分的算法 | What happens to your four papers once each has a band. The rounding rule, with the official worked examples. |
| One Skill Retake 单科重考 | If the gap is in one paper only, you may not need to sit the whole test again. The rules, the fee and the five conditions. |
| The move to computer 机考简报 | From 1 September 2026 the test in mainland China is computer-delivered. What that changes about Listening and Reading technique. |
| Why Chinese candidates plateau at 6.5 证据简报 · 6.5 瓶颈 | If your Listening and Reading are already at 30 and the overall still will not move, the answer is in Writing and Speaking. |
| Examiner-style mock tests 模考与批改 | For the two papers that have no conversion table — a per-criterion breakdown of Writing and Speaking. |
No band score is promised anywhere in this material. What this page offers is the published conversion and honest arithmetic, so you can measure your own distance in answers rather than in adjectives. Browse the series →