IELTS Listening has 40 questions, and each correct answer is worth 1 mark. Your total out of 40 is your raw score, and IELTS converts it to a band score in whole and half bands. As a rough guide, 30 correct answers is band 7, 23 is band 6 and 35 is band 8.
Nobody judges your style in Listening: each answer is either right or wrong, so your number of correct answers gives a fair estimate of your band. Count them on a full practice test, find your row in the table below, and you know roughly where you stand.
IELTS Listening band score table
Find your raw score in the first column. The last column shows how many of the 40 questions you can get wrong and still reach that band.
| Correct answers (out of 40) | Band score | Answers you can miss |
|---|---|---|
| 39–40 | 9 | 0–1 |
| 37–38 | 8.5 | 2–3 |
| 35–36 | 8 | 4–5 |
| 32–34 | 7.5 | 6–8 |
| 30–31 | 7 | 9–10 |
| 26–29 | 6.5 | 11–14 |
| 23–25 | 6 | 15–17 |
| 18–22 | 5.5 | 18–22 |
| 16–17 | 5 | 23–24 |
One answer often decides the band. In 3 in 10 of 21,368 full Listening mocks on GoPrep (28 July to 26 September 2026), one more correct answer would have meant half a band more by the table above: 29 correct is 6.5, 30 is 7. In 6 in 10, one or two more answers would have been enough. So before you work on the hardest questions, make sure you're not giving away easy ones. The sections below show where those marks usually go.
How many correct answers you need for band 6, 7 or 8
- Band 6: 23 correct. You can miss 17.
- Band 6.5: 26 correct. You can miss 14.
- Band 7: 30 correct. You can miss 10.
- Band 7.5: 32 correct. You can miss 8.
- Band 8: 35 correct. You can miss 5.
The steps are not equal. Band 5.5 is the widest row: anything from 18 to 22 correct answers. You can add 4 correct answers and still see 5.5, so track your raw score, not only the band, or you'll miss real progress. From band 7 to band 9, neighbouring thresholds in this table are 2 to 3 correct answers apart. If you are already at the top of a range, one more correct answer can move you up half a band.
Don't use this table for Reading. Reading has its own conversion, and it is different for Academic and General Training: band 5 takes about 15 correct answers in Academic Reading and about 23 in General Training Reading. The full tables are in our guide to the IELTS Reading band score.
Your Listening band is one of four. The overall band is their average, rounded to the nearest half band: see how the IELTS score is calculated.
Where a first Listening test usually lands
If your first full practice test felt low, you're in good company. On GoPrep, the first full Listening mock scored 20 correct answers out of 40 on average, band 5.5. About 1 in 6 scored band 7 or higher on their first attempt.
| First mock result | Correct answers | Share of students |
|---|---|---|
| Below band 5.5 | 17 or fewer | 42% |
| Band 5.5 to 6.5 | 18 to 29 | 41% |
| Band 7 or higher | 30 or more | 17% |
Where the missing marks are at your score
The right next step depends on where you are now. We split 7,545 full Listening mocks by their score and counted, for an average test in each group, how many marks were lost in each half of the test and how many boxes were left empty. IELTS Listening has 4 parts of 10 questions each.
| Correct answers | Lost in Parts 1–2 (of 20) | Lost in Parts 3–4 (of 20) | Boxes left empty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 or fewer | 12.8 | 16.9 | 13.9 |
| 18–22 (band 5.5) | 7.9 | 12.1 | 3.5 |
| 23–25 (band 6) | 6.4 | 9.6 | 1.8 |
| 26–29 (band 6.5) | 4.9 | 7.7 | 1.0 |
| 30–34 (band 7 to 7.5) | 3.1 | 5.0 | 0.5 |
| 35–40 (band 8 and up) | 1.3 | 2.1 | 0.2 |
In every group, Part 1 had the fewest wrong answers and Part 4 the most. What that suggests you check first:
- 17 or fewer: an average test had about 14 empty boxes. Fill every box before anything else: a guess costs nothing.
- 18 to 25: empty boxes drop to 2 to 4, but 6 to 8 marks still go in Parts 1 and 2. Check those answers against the marking rules below.
- 26 to 29: about 5 marks go in Parts 1 and 2, and band 7 needs only 1 to 4 more. The worked example below starts exactly here.
- 30 and above: most of the remaining lost marks are in Parts 3 and 4, which deal with educational and training situations, such as a student discussion and a talk on an academic subject.
For what to practise in each of the 4 parts, see our IELTS Listening tips.
The marking rules that turn a right answer into 0
You can hear the right word and still score nothing. These rules come from IELTS and its partners:
- A wrong answer and a blank both score 0. You only get 1 mark for each correct answer, and nothing is taken away for a wrong one, so a guess can only help.
- Spelling counts. Words with spelling errors are marked incorrect: libary for library scores 0. British and American spellings are both accepted (colour or color), as long as the word is spelled correctly. See which spelling slips cost the most marks.
- Word limits are strict. If the task says NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS, writing extra words makes the answer wrong even if the meaning is right. A hyphenated word such as check-in counts as one word. See how word limits work in form and sentence completion.
- You hear each recording once. There is no second play, so write as you listen.
In GoPrep Listening mocks, 3 in 10 wrong answers were left empty: 59,373 of 206,205 wrong answers, from 442,276 answers in tests with at least one correct answer, unfinished attempts included, 1 to 26 September 2026. Every one of them was a free guess not taken.
Worked example: from 27 to 30
Here is a practice example we wrote to show how three mistakes affect the score. It is not taken from a real test. A student scores 27 out of 40, band 6.5. Checking the answer sheet, three of the lost marks turn out to be answers they actually heard.
| Gap | What you hear | What was written | Why it scored 0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q3. Surname: ______ | "It's Whitfield. W-H-I-T-F-I-E-L-D." | Whitfeld | One letter is missing. A spelling mistake makes the answer wrong. |
| Q7. Class day: ______ | "It's on Tuesday. Oh, sorry, this term it moved to Thursday." | Tuesday | The speaker corrected the day: this term the class moved to Thursday. The answer is Thursday. |
| Q15. Visitors can park in the ______ behind the museum. (NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS) | "There's a free car park right behind the museum." | free car park | Three words break the two-word limit. The answer is car park. |
Fix those three and the same test is 30 out of 40: band 7 by the approximate table. In this example, the three mistakes came from spelling a surname, a speaker correcting the class day, and the word limit. By the data above, at 26 to 29 correct, Parts 1 and 2 still lost about 5 marks per test. Check your own mistakes in those parts: the table does not show their causes.
FAQ
What is 30 out of 40 in IELTS Listening?
About band 7. Band 7.5 starts at around 32 correct answers and band 8 at around 35. The exact number varies slightly between test versions.
What is 27 out of 40 in IELTS Listening?
About band 6.5, which covers roughly 26 to 29 correct answers. You need about 3 more, 30 in total, for band 7. For comparison, 25 out of 40 is about band 6.
What is a good score in IELTS Listening?
The one your university, employer or visa requires, so check their minimum for Listening as well as the overall band. IELTS describes band 7 as a good skill level, band 6 as competent and band 5 as modest; in Listening that is about 30, 23 and 16 correct answers.
Is there negative marking in IELTS Listening?
No. A wrong answer and a blank both score 0, so it always makes sense to write your best guess.
Is IELTS Listening the same for Academic and General Training?
Yes. Academic and General Training candidates take the same Listening test, so the same score table applies.
Do spelling mistakes count in IELTS Listening?
Yes. A misspelled word is marked wrong even if you heard it correctly. British and American spellings are both accepted.
How does the Listening band affect my overall IELTS score?
The overall band is the average of Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. An average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band, and one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band.
What to do with your score
To estimate your band with this table, take a full 40-question test like the real one: audio once, no pauses. Don't leave any box empty, because nothing is taken away for a wrong answer. Then find your row in the table of lost marks above and check that part of your answer sheet first.
If you want a plan to reach the band you need, take the short quiz. You tell it your target score, your exam date and the part of IELTS that feels hardest, and you get a personal study plan built around them.
GoPrep Team
GoPrep guide authors
We write about IELTS preparation using platform data and official exam materials.
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