What is 26 out of 40 in IELTS Listening?
Quick answer
A score of 26 to 29 out of 40 sits between two points on IELTS.org's Listening list: 23 marks for band 6 and 30 marks for band 7. IELTS.org prints no mark for the half band in between. The indicative table the site's band calculator uses reads the row as band 6.5, an estimate.
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Part of The IELTS test, answered
None of the four marks in this row is an official point: the row lies in the gap between IELTS.org’s 23 and its 30.
Inside a seven-mark gap
IELTS.org lists the average Listening marks for four bands, and two of them frame this row: band 6 at 23 marks and band 7 at 30. Seven marks separate them, and IELTS.org assigns nothing inside that gap. A score of 26 to 29 can therefore be described officially only as above band 6 and below band 7.
How the 6.5 is reached
To give a figure, the site’s band score calculator uses an indicative table, and its 26 to 29 row reads 6.5. That is an estimate drawn between the published points, not an IELTS.org result. IELTS.org warns that “The precise number of marks needed to achieve these band scores will vary slightly from test version to test version”, so 26 might fall a little lower on one paper and 29 a little higher on another. See what level is IELTS 6.5 for the band’s meaning.
From one skill to the overall
Your Listening band is one of four, and IELTS.org sets the overall as their average rounded to the nearest half band. A 6.5 in Listening against, say, a 6.0 elsewhere averages to a figure the calculator shows at once. Reaching 7.0 from here means 30 marks, which is 4 more than 26 and 1 more than 29.
Practice notes
Take the site’s Listening practice test as a rehearsal: it is marked in the browser and gives an indicative band from the same table. Because one test is one sample, the score is a guide to where you are, not a forecast. Listening is the same test for Academic and General Training, as how the IELTS Listening score is calculated notes.
Which end of the row are you?
The two ends of this row feel very different. A candidate on 26 is only 3 above the band 6 point, while one on 29 is a single answer from band 7. Record the mark, not just the 6.5, and judge progress by the mark across several papers.
What this means for your score
A candidate finishes a timed Listening paper with 28 of 40. That is 5 marks above IELTS.org's band 6 point of 23 and 2 below its band 7 point of 30, so the official description is only "between 6 and 7". The indicative row reads 6.5. At 29 the same candidate is a single mark from the band 7 point.
Frequently asked questions
Is 26 out of 40 a good Listening score?
It reads as 6.5 on the indicative table, comfortably past the band 6 point on IELTS.org's list. Whether it is good enough depends on the band you need, and the requirement of the institution or visa you are applying to is the figure to compare it with.
Which table is the official one?
IELTS.org's scoring page is the official source, and it gives average marks for band 5, 6, 7 and 8 only: 16, 23, 30 and 35. Nothing is published for 6.5. The four-mark row on this page is an estimate, and the marks needed vary slightly between test versions.
How many marks for the next band?
The next indicative row starts at 30 and reads 7.0, so 1 more than 29, or 4 more than 26. That is also the point IELTS.org lists for band 7. After it, IELTS.org's next point is 35 for band 8.
Is Listening the same for Academic and General Training?
Yes, one Listening test and one conversion are used for both. The site's Listening score answer covers it, and Reading is the section that converts separately for each version.
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