In the previous blog post, I showed how long it might take to increase your IELTS score. This is especially useful to know for students who are around the intermediate (B1) level and want to study in English at university and need an IELTS score of between 6 and 7.
However, it is obviously also useful to know what your current level is now and what kind of score you could expect to achieve if you took the IELTS test tomorrow. This information can help you to decide if you are ready to take the IELTS test. Here are the different steps that can help you decide:
1. Know what your target score is
This includes knowing both the overall score and the minimum requirement in each skill (reading, listening, writing, speaking). If you know that you are particularly weak in one skill, then this might mean you need to wait a little longer before taking the test.
2. Do at least three IELTS test practice reading and listening tests using official IELTS test materials
You will probably not get exactly the same score every time you take a test, so it is better to calculate an average score over a number of tests to be sure what your current level is. I would recommend doing at least three of these tests within a short space of time. The easiest way to do this is to buy (or borrow) one of the official Cambridge practice test books, which each contain four practice tests. For example, the most recent one is ‘IELTS Academic 15 with answers’. It doesn’t need to be the most recent edition, but more recent editions (e.g. 14, 13, 12, etc.) are better than the older editions as there have been some changes in the test over the years. Alternatively, there are also a couple of practice tests available online: here and here, which can be used. Note, that I only recommend doing this for the reading and listening as you can calculate the scores for yourself whereas it is obviously much more difficult to assess yourself accurately for the speaking and writing test.
3. Calculate your scores for the practice reading and listening tests
Once you have completed the practice tests, you can mark the tests* and calculate what band you would be likely get for both the reading and listening parts of the test. You can use an online calculator, such as this one to help you calculate your scores. Make sure that you enter the reading score in correct box (either academic or general training).
* When marking the tests, words spelt wrong should be marked incorrect. Where there are brackets around a word, it does not matter if this word is included to get an answer correct, e.g.
ANSWER: (the) information centre
both ‘the information centre’ and ‘information centre’ would be marked correct. However, ‘the information’ or ‘centre’ would both be marked incorrect as they have an essential word missing.
4. Calculate your average score for the practice tests
Add your scores together and calculate your overall average for both reading and listening, e.g.
Test 1 Reading: 6.0, Test 2 Reading: 6.5, Test 3 Reading: 7.0, READING AVERAGE = 6.5
Test 1 Listening: 6.0, Test 2 Listening: 5.5, Test 3 Listening: 5.5, LISTENING AVERAGE = 5.67
OVERALL AVERAGE (for reading and listening) = 6.085 (6.5+5.67/2)
5. Compare these reading and listening scores with your target score
You can now compare these reading and listening scores with your target score. However, as mentioned before, you need to be aware that you are probably stronger in some skills than other skills. As the table below shows, Taiwanese students tend to score more highly on the reading and listening sections compared to the writing and speaking sections.
Taken from: https://www.ieltstaiwan.org/en/ielts-performance-test-takers-asia-2018/
Therefore, I would suggest that your overall average score for the reading and listening practice tests to be at least 0.5 of a band higher than the overall score that you need. Using the example above, if you need an overall score of 6.0 with at least 5.5 in each skill, then you would probably want to wait a little bit longer before doing the test as the average for reading and listening was only just above 6.0 and most Taiwanese test takers perform worse on the writing and speaking (especially the writing). It is perhaps worth noting that although a score of L:6.0, R:6.0, W:5.5, S:5.5 would be enough to get a 6.0 overall, this is a low scoring 6.0. A score of L:6.0, R:6.5, W:6.0, S:6.0 would also be a 6.0 overall, despite getting a higher score in three of the four skills. See the IELTS website to see how IELTS scores are calculated.
Self-Study English 