Grading guide
How to grade yourself
BandTrack just stores your scores — this guide tells you what to score. For Speaking and Writing, self-grade against the official band-descriptor rubric — that's how the real test works. AI grading is offered as a fallback, but read the warning first: it's known to inflate or distort scores. Listening and Reading you grade yourself from the answer key.
Start here
Community-vetted resources
Read these before grading anything. They cover prep material, evaluation methods, and the most common candidate questions for all four sections.
Recommended
Speaking — grade yourself with the rubric
- Record yourself answering one question. Don't re-record — you want an honest snapshot.
- Play it back once straight through, then a second time pausing to mark issues against the checklist below.
- For each of the four criteria (FC, LR, GRA, P), pick the column in the rubric that best matches your performance.
- Log the four bands in Log score. BandTrack averages them into your Speaking band.
| Criterion | Band 5 | Band 6 | Band 7 | Band 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
FC Fluency & Coherence | Frequent pauses & self-correction; only simple linking. | Willing to speak at length, but with repetition and noticeable hesitation. | Speaks at length with only occasional hesitation; ideas connect logically. | Fluent throughout; rare self-correction; coherent and well-developed. |
LR Lexical Resource | Limited vocab; manages basic / familiar topics only. | Enough vocab for most topics, with repetition and some inaccuracy. | Flexible vocab; some less common and idiomatic items; good paraphrasing. | Wide vocab used naturally; skilful paraphrase; only rare slips. |
GRA Grammatical Range & Accuracy | Mostly basic sentences; frequent errors that can confuse the listener. | Mix of simple and complex forms; errors don't usually block meaning. | Range of complex structures; majority of sentences are error-free. | Wide range of structures used flexibly; mostly error-free. |
P Pronunciation | Often unclear; first language strongly affects intelligibility. | Generally clear; some L1 features and mispronounced words. | Mostly clear; sustained features of connected speech (linking, stress). | Easy to understand throughout; flexible intonation, sounds & stress. |
Scoring shortcut
- Pick the column that best fits each criterion.
- Fits perfectly → that band. Partly fits the next column up → add 0.5. Miss one descriptor in your column → drop 0.5.
- Average the four → your Speaking band.
- Pauses longer than ~3 seconds without a purpose? FC −
- Same 2–3 connectors on repeat (and, but, because)? FC / CC −
- Count distinct topic-specific words. Fewer than ~8 in a one-minute answer = LR weak.
- At least 2 complex sentences (relative clause, conditional, passive)? GRA +
- Word endings (
-ed, plural-s) audible? P + - Could a stranger follow the whole answer first try? Yes = P 7+.
BandTrack averages your four criteria into a Speaking band, exactly like the real test.
Recommended
Writing — grade yourself with the rubric
- Underline each part of the original task prompt. Tick each one as you find it addressed in your response.
- Run through the four checklists below, noting issues in the margin ("repeated word", "no topic sentence", "verb tense").
- For each criterion, pick the band column in the rubric that best fits, then log it in Log score.
Note: the rubric below uses Task 2 wording. For Task 1, replace Task Response with Task Achievement — same idea, just check that you covered every feature of the chart / letter / diagram.
| Criterion | Band 5 | Band 6 | Band 7 | Band 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
TR Task Response (Task 1: Task Achievement) | Addresses the task only partially; position unclear; format may be inappropriate. | Addresses all parts, though some more than others; position relevant but not always clear. | Addresses all parts; clear position throughout; ideas extended and supported. | Fully addresses every part; well-developed position; relevant, extended, supported ideas. |
CC Coherence & Cohesion | Some organisation but lacks overall progression; repetitive or faulty linking. | Information arranged coherently; clear overall progression; some linking errors. | Logically organised; clear progression; range of cohesive devices, sometimes over/under-used. | Sequenced logically; skilful paragraphing; cohesion managed so well it's barely noticeable. |
LR Lexical Resource | Limited range; noticeable errors in spelling and word choice that may distract. | Adequate range for the task; some less common vocab; occasional errors. | Sufficient range for flexibility; some less common items; occasional collocation errors. | Wide range used naturally; rare errors only as slips; skilful use of less common items. |
GRA Grammatical Range & Accuracy | Limited range; frequent errors; punctuation often faulty. | Mix of simple and complex forms; errors occur but rarely reduce communication. | Variety of complex structures; majority of sentences error-free; few errors. | Wide range of structures; mostly error-free; only occasional non-systematic errors. |
TR — Task Response
- Did I answer every part of the question?
- Word count ≥ 250 (Task 2) / ≥ 150 (Task 1)? Below = capped at Band 5.
- Clear position in both intro and conclusion?
CC — Coherence & Cohesion
- 4–5 paragraphs, each with one central idea?
- Topic sentence at the start of each body paragraph?
- Linking words used and varied (not just firstly / secondly / finally)?
LR — Lexical Resource
- Highlight the 10 strongest words/phrases. Topic-specific or generic?
- Any key word repeated 4+ times? Swap one for a synonym.
- Spelling and word-form errors? Each one drags the band.
GRA — Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- Count complex sentences (subordinators, relative clauses, conditionals). Aim for ≥ 5.
- Count error-free sentences. Band 7 ≈ "majority error-free"; Band 8 ≈ "wide range, mostly error-free".
- Punctuation consistent (commas, full stops, capitals)?
Self-graded from the key
Listening — count your correct answers
- Take a full 4-part Listening test (Cambridge IELTS books 15–19 are the gold standard).
- Mark it against the official answer key. Count correct answers per part out of 10.
- Log each part separately in Log score (e.g. Part 3 → 7/10). BandTrack converts your raw total to an indicative band using the official IDP / British Council conversion table.
Optional: have AI explain why you missed a question
I'm reviewing IELTS Listening Part [N]. Here is the relevant transcript section, the question, the correct answer, and my answer: Transcript: [...] Question: [...] Correct: [...] Mine: [...] In 2–3 sentences, explain why the right answer is right and which listening skill I missed (paraphrase, distractor, number/spelling, signposting, etc.). Then give one drill I can do this week.
Self-graded from the key
Reading — same idea, three passages
- Time yourself: 60 minutes for all three Academic passages, no extra time for transferring answers.
- Score each passage out of ~13 (Passage 1 & 2) or ~14 (Passage 3) and log each one separately.
- BandTrack converts your raw /40 to a band using the same official Academic Reading table the test uses.
Optional: AI post-mortem on missed questions
I'm reviewing IELTS Academic Reading Passage [N]. For each question I got wrong, here is the question, the correct answer, my answer, and the sentence in the passage that contains the answer: [paste each one here] For every question, tell me in 2 sentences which skill I missed (paraphrase spotting, scanning, T/F/NG logic, matching headings, etc.) and what I should look for next time.
Now what
How to use BandTrack effectively
- 01
Log every attempt — even the bad ones.
Trends matter more than any single score. Skipping a rough day skews your average upward and hides real weaknesses.
- 02
Stay consistent in your source.
Cambridge official tests are calibrated. Random YouTube mocks aren't. Mixing them makes your bands incomparable across weeks.
- 03
Paste AI feedback into the Note field.
For Speaking and Writing, the band number alone is useless three weeks later. The reasoning and the rewritten paragraph are what you'll re-read.
- 04
Check the Dashboard weekly, not after every attempt.
Look at the radar chart and the trend lines, not the last data point. One bad attempt is noise; three in a row is signal.
- 05
Focus on the weakest area card.
Your overall band is dragged down by your lowest section. Writing especially — Task 2 counts double, so a weak Task 2 hurts twice as much.
- 06
Back up at least once a week.
Everything lives in this browser. One cache clear and it's gone. Open Settings → Export and save the file somewhere safe.
- 07
Don't chase 9s on the sliders.
Be honest with the AI's grading — overscoring yourself feels good for a day and hides the work that would actually move your band.