How each exam is scored
All seven exams offered on EnglishHub.io.
IELTS Academic
Bands 0–9, half-band steps
- Each skill is scored on the 9-band scale; the overall band is the average of the four skills rounded to the nearest half band.
- Listening and Speaking papers are identical to IELTS General Training; Reading and Writing use academic content.
IELTS General Training
Bands 0–9, half-band steps
- Same 9-band scale and overall-average rule as IELTS Academic.
- Reading and Writing use everyday/workplace content — a Reading or Writing band is not automatically interchangeable with the Academic variant's.
CELPIP General
Levels 1–12 per skill
- Each of the four skills gets its own level 1–12; there is no overall composite score.
- Levels 4 and above correspond one-to-one with the same-numbered CLB level — CELPIP is built on the CLB framework.
- No official CEFR alignment is published for CELPIP.
PTE Academic
10–90 (Global Scale of English)
- Overall score 10–90 plus separate communicative-skill scores (Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing), all on the same 10–90 scale.
- Pearson publishes an official CEFR alignment for PTE Academic.
PTE Core
10–90 (Global Scale of English)
- Same 10–90 scale as PTE Academic but a different test with everyday/workplace content — scores are not interchangeable between the two.
- PTE Core's official equivalency is to the CLB framework (per skill).
TOEFL iBT
1–6 per section, half-band steps
- Since 21 Jan 2026 each section is scored 1–6 in half-band steps; the overall band is the average of the four sections rounded to the nearest half band.
- The 1–6 scale is designed by ETS to align directly with CEFR levels.
- A legacy 0–120 'comparable score' is shown by ETS only during the 2026–2028 transition.
OET
0–500 per sub-test, grades A–E
- Each sub-test (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking) is scored 0–500 in ten-point increments and reported with a letter grade.
- Grade bands: A 450–500 · B 350–440 · C+ 300–340 · C 200–290 · D 100–190 · E 0–90.
- OET publishes no CEFR or CLB alignment; the only recognised comparison is with IELTS (see the OET note).
CEFR-aligned exams
IELTS, TOEFL iBT and PTE Academic each publish an official alignment to the CEFR — so they can be compared through it. IELTS Academic and General Training share one band scale (one column below); their Reading and Writing papers differ in content, so treat cross-variant comparisons of those two skills as approximate.
C2 Mastery
- IELTS (Academic & General)
- 8.5–9.0
- TOEFL iBT (1–6)
- 6.0
- PTE Academic
- 85–90
C1 Advanced
- IELTS (Academic & General)
- 7.0–8.0
- TOEFL iBT (1–6)
- 5.0–5.5
- PTE Academic
- 76–84
B2 Upper-intermediate
- IELTS (Academic & General)
- 5.5–6.5
- TOEFL iBT (1–6)
- 4.0–4.5
- PTE Academic
- 59–75
B1 Intermediate
- IELTS (Academic & General)
- 4.0–5.0
- TOEFL iBT (1–6)
- 3.0–3.5
- PTE Academic
- 43–58
A2 Elementary
- IELTS (Academic & General)
- no official alignment
- TOEFL iBT (1–6)
- 2.0–2.5
- PTE Academic
- 30–42
TOEFL iBT's 1–6 scale is current from 21 Jan 2026; ETS shows the legacy 0–120 total only as a transitional "comparable score" until 2028.
CLB-aligned exams (per skill)
CELPIP is built directly on the Canadian Language Benchmarks, and IELTS General Training and PTE Core have official per-skill CLB equivalency charts. These equivalencies exist per skill only — a single overall score can never be converted to a CLB level, so pick a skill:
CLB 10
- CELPIP General
- 10–12
- IELTS General Training
- 8.5–9.0
- PTE Core
- 89–90
CLB 9
- CELPIP General
- 9
- IELTS General Training
- 8.0
- PTE Core
- 82–88
CLB 8
- CELPIP General
- 8
- IELTS General Training
- 7.5
- PTE Core
- 71–81
CLB 7
- CELPIP General
- 7
- IELTS General Training
- 6.0–7.0
- PTE Core
- 60–70
CLB 6
- CELPIP General
- 6
- IELTS General Training
- 5.5
- PTE Core
- 50–59
CLB 5
- CELPIP General
- 5
- IELTS General Training
- 5.0
- PTE Core
- 39–49
CLB 4
- CELPIP General
- 4
- IELTS General Training
- 4.5
- PTE Core
- 28–38
Listening — score ranges reproduce the official CLB equivalency charts (PTE Core ranges use the official chart's bounds; CELPIP levels 11–12 also correspond to CLB 10).
OET compares only to IELTS — and only approximately
Grade B (350–440)
≈ IELTS 7.0–7.5
Grade C+ (300–340)
≈ IELTS 6.5
These pairings reflect how healthcare regulators that accept both tests typically set their requirements — they are not an official score conversion. Always confirm the exact requirement with the specific regulator or institution.
What this page deliberately doesn't compare
- CELPIP and PTE Core have official equivalencies only within the CLB framework — there is no official basis for comparing them directly to TOEFL, PTE Academic or OET.
- IELTS General Training is the only exam with official alignments in both frameworks (CEFR band scale + CLB chart), which is why it appears in both tables.
- IELTS Academic and General Training share one band scale, but Reading and Writing test different content — treat cross-variant Reading/Writing bands as approximate.
- OET has no official CEFR or CLB alignment; anything beyond the qualified IELTS comparison above would be invented.
- All CLB equivalencies are per skill. A single overall score can never be converted to a CLB level.
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