The four Speaking criteria
IELTS assesses Speaking across four equally important areas: fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation.
Fluency & coherence
How continuously and logically you develop ideas.
Lexical resource
How flexibly and appropriately you use vocabulary.
Grammar
The range and control of your sentence structures.
It concerns how understandable your speech is, including individual sounds and features such as stress, rhythm and intonation. You do not need to imitate a particular accent.
Band 6 and Band 7: practical differences
The table below is a plain-English summary of the official public descriptors, not a replacement for them.
| Criterion | Typical Band 6 performance | Typical Band 7 performance |
|---|---|---|
| Fluency & coherence | Can speak at length, though hesitation, repetition or loss of coherence may appear. | Produces longer answers more readily and uses linking flexibly, despite some hesitation or self-correction. |
| Vocabulary | Has enough vocabulary to discuss topics clearly, but flexibility and precision are uneven. | Uses vocabulary more flexibly across topics and shows some ability with less common or idiomatic language. |
| Grammar | Uses a mix of simple and complex structures; complex sentences still contain noticeable errors. | Uses a range of complex structures more flexibly and frequently produces error-free sentences. |
| Pronunciation | Uses a range of pronunciation features with mixed control; generally understandable. | Shows the positive features of Band 6 with stronger, more sustained control and remains easy to understand. |
A self-review checklist
- Did I answer the exact question and develop the idea?
- Can a listener follow the order of my answer?
- Did I choose precise words instead of repeating one general word?
- Did I attempt different sentence structures without losing clarity?
- When I replay the audio, are my words, stress and key ideas easy to understand?
Practice feedback is not an official band score. Transcript analysis can support language review, but it cannot fully judge pronunciation or reproduce an examiner’s complete assessment.
Apply one criterion at a time
Record an answer, choose one criterion to review and make one deliberate second attempt.
Start Speaking practice