How to improve your IELTS score

The short answer

To improve your IELTS score, stop practising everything equally. Take a timed baseline test, work out which section and which marking criterion is pulling your overall band down, practise that weakness deliberately, check your work against clear feedback, and then retest under exam conditions. Repeat the cycle. Because your overall band is an average of four sections, a half-band gain in your weakest section can sometimes move your overall result more than extra work on a section you are already good at.

How IELTS scores work (and why it matters for improvement)

Each of the four sections — Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking — is reported on a 1–9 band scale, in whole or half bands. Your overall band is the average of the four section bands, rounded to the nearest half band. An average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band, and one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band. So 6.25 becomes 6.5, and 6.75 becomes 7.

Listening and Reading are marked out of 40, one mark per question, and the raw score is converted to a band. Writing and Speaking are assessed by examiners against four criteria each. Knowing which kind of section you are working on tells you how to improve it: in Listening and Reading you need more correct answers; in Writing and Speaking you need to meet the descriptors for a higher band on specific criteria.

Notice that General Training Reading needs more correct answers than Academic Reading for the same band. Make sure you are practising, and converting scores, for the version of the test you will actually sit. Listening and Speaking are the same in both versions; Reading and Writing differ.

Explanation, step by step

Step 1: Get an honest baseline

Sit a full practice test under real timing: about 30 minutes for Listening, 60 minutes for Reading, 60 minutes for Writing and 11–14 minutes for Speaking. Do not pause, look up words or extend the time. A baseline taken in relaxed conditions will flatter you and send you in the wrong direction. Write down a band for every section, then use the official rounding to work out your overall band.

Step 2: Find your weakest section — then your weakest criterion

Your lowest section band is the obvious starting point, but go one level deeper. In Writing, the four criteria are Task Achievement (Task 1) or Task Response (Task 2), Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. In Speaking, they are Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation. In Listening and Reading, look at which parts or question types you lose marks on — for example True/False/Not Given, matching headings, or Listening Part 4, where one person speaks on an academic subject.

Step 3: Do targeted practice

Spend most of your study time on the weakness you identified, using short focused drills rather than only full tests. If matching headings is your problem, do sets of matching-headings questions. If Writing Task Response is your lowest criterion, practise planning and developing ideas for Task 2 prompts before worrying about vocabulary. The skill-by-skill levers below show what to practise for each section.

Step 4: Review with feedback

Practice without review mostly repeats your mistakes. For Reading and Listening, go back to every wrong answer and find the exact words in the text or transcript that gave the answer, then note why you missed it: vocabulary, a paraphrase you did not recognise, or running out of time. For Writing and Speaking, compare your work with the band descriptors line by line, or get feedback organised by criterion so you can see which one is lowest.

Step 5: Retest and recalculate

After a block of targeted practice, sit another timed test in the same conditions as your baseline. Compare section bands, recalculate your overall band, and choose your next weakness. Your weakest criterion will change over time — that is a sign the method is working.

Skill-by-skill improvement levers

Listening

• Count the gap in answers, not bands. On the published table, 23 correct answers is band 6 and 30 is band 7 — so moving from 6 to 7 is roughly seven more correct answers out of 40.
• Know the four parts: Part 1 is an everyday conversation between two speakers, Part 2 one speaker in an everyday situation, Part 3 two main speakers in an educational or training context, and Part 4 one person speaking on an academic subject. Track which part costs you most marks.
• When reviewing, listen again with the transcript and mark where each answer was given and how the question paraphrased it.

Reading

• You have 60 minutes for 40 questions. Academic Reading has three passages totalling 2,150–2,750 words; General Training has three sections of increasing difficulty, from short everyday texts to one longer general-interest text. Practise timing for your version.
• Sort your mistakes by question type: multiple choice, True/False/Not Given, Yes/No/Not Given, matching information, headings, features or sentence endings, completion tasks, diagram labels and short answers. Drill the types you get wrong most often.
• Learn the difference between True/False/Not Given (facts in the text) and Yes/No/Not Given (the writer's views or claims).

Writing

• Prioritise Task 2. It counts twice as much as Task 1, so plan to spend about 40 minutes on it and about 20 minutes on Task 1.
• Meet the word counts: at least 150 words for Task 1 and at least 250 words for Task 2.
• Task Response: the band 6 descriptor says main ideas are relevant but 'some may be insufficiently developed or may lack clarity'. At band 7, 'a clear and developed position is presented' and 'main ideas are extended and supported'. So the lever is developing each main idea with an explanation and a specific example, and keeping your position clear from start to finish.
• Coherence and Cohesion: at band 6, cohesion 'may be faulty or mechanical due to misuse, overuse or omission'. At band 7, there is 'a clear progression throughout' and cohesive devices, 'including reference and substitution', are used flexibly. Use fewer stock linkers and more words like 'this', 'these', 'such' and pronouns to connect ideas.
• Lexical Resource: band 7 shows 'an awareness of style and collocation'. Learn words in the phrases they naturally appear in, not as isolated 'advanced' words.
• Grammatical Range and Accuracy: band 6 uses 'a mix of simple and complex sentence forms' with limited flexibility; at band 7, 'error-free sentences are frequent'. Accuracy matters as much as complexity — check your most frequent error types.

Speaking

• Practise each part to time: Part 1 lasts 4–5 minutes; in Part 2 you get one minute to prepare and speak for up to 2 minutes; Part 3 lasts 4–5 minutes.
• Record yourself and judge the recording against the four criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation. Listening back is the quickest way to spot hesitation, repeated words and recurring grammar slips.
• For Part 2, use your minute of preparation to note a few key points so you can keep talking for the full time.

Worked example

Example 1: Why your weakest section matters most

Imagine a candidate who needs an overall band 7. Their baseline results are Listening 7, Reading 7, Writing 6 and Speaking 6.5.

An average of 6.625 rounds to the nearest half band, 6.5. Raising Writing by just half a band makes the average 6.75, which rounds up to 7 under the official rules. In this case, extra Listening or Reading practice would do less for the overall result than focused Writing work. Every profile is different, so try your own numbers in Stride's free band score calculator, which uses the official rounding.

Example 2: Developing a Task 2 idea

The prompt and sentences below were written by Stride as a study model. They are not official IELTS material and are not band-scored. Prompt: 'Some people believe that cars should be banned from city centres. To what extent do you agree or disagree?'

• Undeveloped idea: 'Banning cars is good for the environment. Also, it is good for health. Furthermore, it is good for shops.' — three ideas, none explained, and the linkers are mechanical.
• Developed idea: 'The strongest argument for a ban is cleaner air. When traffic is removed from a dense centre, the fumes that collect between tall buildings are reduced, and this directly benefits people who live and work there, particularly those with breathing problems.' — one idea, extended with a cause, an effect and who is affected, linked with 'this' rather than a list of connectors.

The second version moves towards the band 7 Task Response wording ('main ideas are extended and supported') and the band 7 Coherence and Cohesion wording (reference used to link ideas). Use this as a model for the process, not as text to memorise.

Common mistakes

• Practising only your favourite section. It feels productive, but the overall band is an average, so a neglected weak section keeps pulling it down.
• Doing test after test without reviewing. Full tests measure progress; review and targeted drills create it.
• Treating Task 1 and Task 2 as equal. Task 2 counts twice as much, so running out of time on it is costly.
• Writing under the word count, or padding to reach it with repetition instead of developed ideas.
• Overusing linking words. The band 6 descriptor specifically mentions cohesion that is 'mechanical due to misuse, overuse or omission'.
• Chasing rare vocabulary. Band 7 asks for awareness of style and collocation; an impressive word in the wrong phrase does not help.
• Using the wrong Reading conversion. Academic and General Training Reading need different numbers of correct answers for the same band.
• Ignoring timing in practice, then running out of time on the day.

How to practise this

1. Take a full timed test and record a band for each section.
2. Calculate your overall band with the official rounding and identify which single section change would move it most.
3. Pick one weak criterion or question type and focus on it for your next block of study.
4. After each practice task, review every error and write down its cause.
5. Retest under the same conditions, compare results and choose your next focus.

If you practise on Stride, the timed Reading tests (Academic and General Training) mark instantly with explained answers, which helps with error review. Writing and Speaking practice are assessed by AI with an estimated band and feedback on the criteria, which can help you spot your weakest criterion — remember these bands are estimates, not official scores. Listening practice is not yet available on Stride, so you will need another source for that section.

Frequently asked questions

Which section should I improve first?

Usually the one with the lowest band, because the overall band is an average of all four. Use the official rounding to check which half-band improvement would change your overall result — sometimes a single half band is enough to cross a rounding threshold.

How is the overall IELTS band rounded?

The average of your four section bands is rounded to the nearest half band. An average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band (6.25 becomes 6.5), and one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band (6.75 becomes 7).

Is Writing Task 2 more important than Task 1?

Yes. In both Academic and General Training, Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1. The suggested timing is about 40 minutes for Task 2 and about 20 minutes for Task 1.

How many more correct answers do I need in Listening to go from band 6 to band 7?

On the conversion published by IELTS, 23 correct answers out of 40 is band 6 and 30 is band 7, so roughly seven more correct answers.

Are the strategies the same for Academic and General Training?

Listening and Speaking are the same in both versions, so the same practice applies. Reading and Writing differ: General Training Reading uses different text types and needs more correct answers for the same band, and General Training Writing Task 1 is a letter rather than a description of visual information.

Can Stride give me my official IELTS score?

No. Stride is not affiliated with the IELTS partners. Its AI-marked Writing and Speaking bands are estimates to guide your practice, not official scores.

Related guides

• How to prepare for IELTS: a step-by-step guide
• Common IELTS mistakes and how to avoid them
• IELTS study plan: 30-day and 8-week timetables
• IELTS tips that actually help on test day