How scoring works
Last updated November 10, 2026
BandApex gives AI estimates, not official results. This page explains what we score, how your overall score is calculated, and what an estimate cannot tell you.
1. The short version
- We grade your answer against the published band descriptors for your exam and give each criterion a score with a short reason.
- Your overall score comes from those criterion scores, rounded the way the exam rounds.
- For speaking, your report also shows your pace, your pauses and your filler words.
- Your answer is rewritten at two higher levels with your own ideas kept, so you can see exactly what would change.
- Every score is an AI estimate for practice. Only IELTS and ETS issue official results.
2. IELTS Writing
| Criterion | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Task Response | Whether you answer every part of the question, with a clear position and ideas that are developed and supported. For Task 1 this is Task Achievement: an accurate overview, key features selected and compared, and no invented data or opinions. |
| Coherence and Cohesion | Logical progression, paragraphing, referencing, and linking words that are varied rather than mechanical. |
| Lexical Resource | Range, precision, collocation, register and spelling. |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | The range of structures you use, and how often errors occur and get in the way of meaning. |
Each criterion gets a whole band from 0 to 9, as on the official scale. Your overall band is the average of the four, rounded to the nearest half band, with averages ending in .25 or .75 rounded up. For example, 6, 6, 7 and 6 average 6.25, which gives an overall 6.5.
An answer under the word count or off the topic loses marks under Task Response, as the descriptors direct.
3. The free paragraph check
One paragraph can’t show how fully you answer the question or how a whole essay is organised. So the free check estimates Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy only, and gives their average, rounded to the nearest half band, as a language estimate. A full essay is scored on all four criteria.
4. IELTS Speaking
You answer Parts 1 to 3 out loud in your browser and are scored on the four official criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation. Your report also shows your words per minute, your pauses and long pauses, and your filler words, so you can see what to work on.
Pronunciation is an estimate of how clearly you can be understood, and your report says so. It cannot judge accent, stress, intonation or individual sounds.
Your overall band is the average of the four criteria, rounded as for Writing.
5. TOEFL iBT
We cover the Writing tasks and the interview from the TOEFL iBT format introduced in January 2026. Scores run from 1 to 6 in half-point steps and line up with CEFR levels: about 3 is B1, 4 is B2, 5 is C1 and 6 is C2.
| Task | What is scored |
|---|---|
| Build a Sentence | How many sentences you put in a correct order. |
| Write an Email and Academic Discussion | Task fulfillment, organization and development, and language use. |
| Simulated Interview | Delivery, language use and topic development. Your report also shows your pace, pauses and filler words. |
Where a task has several criteria, your score is their average, rounded to the nearest half point.
6. Rewrites and highlighted changes
- IELTS answers are rewritten at Band 7.5 and 9, and TOEFL answers at Level 5 and 6. Build a Sentence has no rewrite.
- You see only the rewrites above your own score, so there is always a level to aim for.
- Rewrites keep your position, arguments and examples and improve the expression.
- Each highlighted change is a grammar fix, a lexical upgrade, or a cohesion and flow change. It is underlined in your answer and in both rewrites, so you can see what replaced what.
- Each criterion’s reason is two or three short sentences in plain English: what worked first, then what to fix.
7. What an estimate cannot tell you
- It is not an official result. An examiner may award a different score.
- Look at the trend across several attempts rather than a single half band.
- Background noise or a weak microphone can affect a speaking result. A quiet room and a headset help.
8. Your answers and recordings
Your audio is not kept after your answer is scored. We keep your transcript and your results so you can review them in your history, and we do not train AI models on your work. See the Privacy Policy for the details.
9. If a score looks wrong
Email support@bandapex.com with the task and what you expected. Every report helps us keep scores in line with the descriptors.