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    IELTS Writing Band Score Calculator

    Combine your four Writing criterion scores into a task and overall Writing band.

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    Examiners award whole bands per criterion; the Writing band is their average rounded down to the nearest half band. Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1 in your final Writing score.

    Section band

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    How it works

    1. 1

      Enter the four criterion bands for a task (whole bands, as examiners award them).

    2. 2

      Read the task band, the average rounded down to the nearest half.

    3. 3

      Repeat for your other task and remember Task 2 counts double in the final Writing score.

    4. 4

      Use the Writing checkers under “More free tools” to get criterion-level estimates for real essays.

    Good to know

    How examiners build your Writing band

    Each task is marked on the four criteria with whole bands, which are averaged and rounded down to the nearest half band. Then the two tasks combine with Task 2 at double weight, effectively (Task 1 + 2 × Task 2) ÷ 3. A 6.0 in Task 1 with a 7.0 in Task 2 lands at 6.5; reverse the two and you're stuck at 6.5 as well, but with far more effort wasted on the task that matters less. The practical rule: never let Task 1 overrun 20 minutes.

    The cheapest criterion to raise

    For most candidates, Task Achievement/Response moves fastest: it's about answering the whole question with a clear position and an overview (Task 1), structural habits you can fix in a week, while Lexical Resource and Grammar move on months-long timescales. If your criterion profile is flat (say 6/6/6/6), structure work on TR and CC is the shortest path to 6.5; if it's spiky, the calculator makes obvious which single criterion is dragging the average below a rounding threshold.

    Questions

    Are the four criteria equally weighted?
    Yes. Each contributes 25% of a task's score. The asymmetry is between tasks, not criteria: Task 2 carries twice the weight of Task 1 in your final Writing band.
    Why does the calculator round down?
    Criterion averages that land between half bands resolve downward in Writing and Speaking, so an average of 6.25 reports as 6.0. It's the conservative counterpart to the overall band's round-up rule, and worth knowing when a target sits just above a threshold.
    Can examiners give half bands per criterion?
    No. Criterion scores are whole bands. Half bands appear only after averaging. That's why profiles like 7/6/6/6 (→ 6.0) versus 7/7/6/6 (→ 6.5) matter so much: one criterion band often decides the half-band result.
    Why is Writing usually the lowest IELTS section?
    Global statistics consistently show Writing about half a band below the other sections. It's the only fully productive task under strict format rules, and self-assessment is hardest, which is precisely why criterion-level feedback (rather than a single holistic score) is what moves it.