IELTS Scores and Results 2019 – 2020

Minimum IELTS scores for immigration and student visa for top MS / MBA universities

Once you are done appearing for your IELTS exam, the wait begins for the scores. Chances are you will spend next 13 days’ post taking the exam praying for best scores. Yes, you can get your results in less than two weeks’ time.

To check your scores, you need to visit the website of IDP or British Council through which you booked your test. Keep basic details handy like your test date, date of birth, identification document number, candidate number, passport number, and the like. You will have to punch in these details to preview your scores for the next 28 days, after which these will not be available to view online.

That’s right, preview, for online viewing does not count as official. That’s just to help the candidates see their results before they get an official Test Report Form. The test report form will have detailed scores for all the four sections.

Since only one copy of this form is issued per candidate, so make sure you don’t lose it. There are no replacements for this report.

The test centre also sends five copies to your institute of choice without any extra charge. Alternately, those five recognized institutes will also be able to verify the results online with the scores sent to them.

Make sure you inform the test centre the names of these five institutions.

The test report form sample looks something like this.

IELTS band scores explained

As mentioned above, your test report form will list out your scores for each of the four sections, namely listening, reading, writing and speaking. Your English language skills will be rated on a scale of 1 to 9, with 9 being the highest score.

The IELTS scale looks like this:

Band Score	Skill Level
9	Expert User
8	Very Good User
7	Good User
6	Competent User
5	Modest User
4	Limited User
3	Extremely Limited User
2	Intermittent User
1	Non-User
0	Did Not Attempt The Test

The assessee will get the total score by adding scores in all four sections, divide it by four and get the average of it. That is then rounded off to the next half band or next whole band to arrive at the figure. For instance, if you got 6.5, 6.5, 5 and 7 scores in the four tests respectively, then it comes to a total of 25. Divide it by four, you get 6.25. Round it up to the next half band and your total score is 6.5.

The higher the total score, the better your chances of getting into your dream institution/country.

Detailed break up of what qualifies as a component band score, here’s the link that is helpful.

Minimum IELTS score for immigration

This is a tricky one as there is no one size fits all score. Depending on the country you are targeting to study in or migrate to, the score requirements will vary. First, let’s look at it country by country basis.

Minimum IELTS score for the United Kingdom (UK)

The score for UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI) depends on what kind of visa are you seeking. If it is Tier I or General Visa, then you need to score a minimum of 7.0 overall and in each of the four skills.

For Tier I Exceptional Visa/Tier I Entrepreneur Visa/Tier 2 General Visa/Tier 4 General Student Visa for below degree level and presessional courses, an overall score of 4.0 is valid and same for each of the four skills.

As for Tier 4, General Student Visa for degree level and above, 5.5 overall minimum score is required and the same in each of the four skills.

You would need to find out what kind of visa you need to apply for depending your requirement. More about it here.

The UK government has made it mandatory to take IELTS Life Skills test for speaking and listening. It is to be taken for Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) levels A1 or B1. Check if you’d need to apply for this as well.

Minimum score for Australia

For student visa to Australia, you would need a minimum test score of 5.5, as for immigration purposes, the minimum or competent IELTS score of 6.0 or more is desirable and can go up to a total score of 8.0 and above.

IELTS score for Canada immigration

In this North American country, you would need to check the minimum score requirement with the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB). These are national standards that are used to assess the English language proficiency of immigrants.

A student visa for Canada would need you to score at least 5.5 in each of the four segments with an overall minimum score of 6.0 and above for undergraduate courses.

For graduate courses, the same goes up to 6.5 and above with a minimum of 6.0 score in each of the four tests of IELTS.

Minimum IELTS score for MS MBA student visa in USA

Universities in the US expect you to score a minimum of 6.5 score in the IELTS exam.

Now, here’s a guide to minimum IELTS score requirements for some of the Top MS and MBA universities. The higher the better, but most B-schools will accept your application for admission with a minimum score of 6.5.

Along with this, you need to have scored at least 6.0 in all the four components of the IELTS exam. However, it can go up too for some.

Let’s check out the minimum IELTS score needed for admission to some of these institutes:

Institute	Specialization	Location	Minimum IELTS Score
Harvard Business School	MBA	USA	7.5
London Business School	MBA	UK	7.5
Stanford Graduate School of Business	MBA	USA	7.0
Rotman School of Management	MBA	Canada	7.0
McGill University	MBA	Canada	7.0
Macquarie University	MBA	Australia	6.5
UCLA	MS	USA	7.0
Victoria University	MS	Australia	5.5
University of Wisconsion-Madison	MS	USA	7.0
University of York	MS	UK	6.0 to 6.5
Vancouver Island University	MS	Canada	6.0

This information on this page is only for representation only. Ensure that you get the latest data from the official websites.

Minimum IELTS scores for MS MBA student visa and immigration USA Canada UK