Page 1 of 2 How to Interpret Scores on the Sample Academic Reading Sections

How to Interpret Scores on the Sample Academic Reading Sections

IELTS Academic Reading papers contain 40 questions and each correct question is awarded
one mark; the maximum raw score a candidate can achieve on a paper is 40. Band scores
ranging from Band 1 to Band 9 are awarded to candidates on the basis of their raw scores.
All IELTS test materials are pretested before being used in live tests but there are inevitably
minor differences in the difficulty level across the large number of tests administered each
year. In order to equate different test versions, the band score boundaries are set so that all
candidates’ results relate to the same scale of achievement. This means, for example, that
the Band 6 boundary may be set at slightly different raw scores across test versions.

Table 1 below indicates the average Academic Reading raw scores achieved by candidates
at Bands 5 – 8. It provides an indication of the number of marks typically required to achieve a
particular band score.

Table 1: Average Academic Reading raw scores

Raw score out of 40 Band score

15 5
23 6
30 7
35 8

Within each Academic Reading paper, sections are targeted at different levels of overall
difficulty. A useful indication of the relative difficulty of questions is the facility value: the
proportion of candidates giving the correct answer to a question. Both sample Sections A and
B have appeared in live tests and thus the facility values of their questions can be judged to
be representative of the candidature as a whole. Table 2 below shows the average facility of
each section. These figures show that the candidates found sample Section B more difficult
overall than sample Section A.
Table 2: Average facility of sample Academic Reading sections
Sample Academic Reading
0.56
Section A
Sample Academic Reading 0.37
Section B

Although sample Section B proved more difficult overall, there is a range of questions at
different levels of difficulty within both sample sections.

The question facility values in Tables 3 and 4 show the proportion of candidates who
answered each question correctly; 43% of candidates responded correctly to question 1 on
sample Section A and 25% of candidates responded correctly to question 1 on sample
Section B.

Tables 3 and 4 also give an indication of the relative difficulty of the questions within each
sample section: the most difficult question in sample Section A is question 8 while in sample
Section B question 2 is the most difficult.

IELTS Scores Explained

Page 2 of 2 How to Interpret Scores on the Sample Academic Reading Sections

Table 3: Sample A facility values

Question Facility
1 0.43
2 0.59
3 0.64
4 0.71
5 0.53
6 0.45
7 0.51
8 0.39
9 0.83
10 0.43
11 0.60
12 0.65
13 0.58

Table 4: Sample B facility values

Question Facility
1 0.25
2 0.19
3 0.56
4 0.43
5 0.45
6 0.37
7 0.50
8 0.52
9 0.53
10 0.25
11 0.39
12 0.28
13 0.23
14 0.20

Table 5 below shows the number of questions on a typical Academic Reading section that
candidates at different IELTS bands would be expected to answer correctly.

Table 5: Expected number of correct answers on a typical Academic Reading section

Number of questions answered correctly
Band score
(out of 13 or 14)
1-4 Up to Band 5
5-9 Between Bands 5 and 7
10-13/14 Above Band 7

Further examples of Academic Reading test material can be found in the Official IELTS
Practice Materials. This contains sample practice tests for both the Academic and General
Training modules. Copies are available for purchase from Cambridge ESOL, IDP: IELTS
Australia and IELTS test centres. See www.ielts.org

IELTS Scores Explained