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4 numbers become 1 Overall Band — the exact formula, plus 2 real calibration examples
Your 4 criteria scores average into one Overall Band, shown as a range — and 2 real examples from how this is actually graded show exactly where the line falls.
The formula: average, then round to the nearest 0.5
Overall Band = (Fluency + Lexical Resource + Grammatical Range + Pronunciation) ÷ 4, rounded to the nearest 0.5. The 4 individual criteria show as exact decimals — only the combined Overall Band, and any per-question band, rounds and shows as a range.
Why your band shows as a range, not one number
A band of 6.5 displays as “6.0–7.0” — one number either side. That’s deliberate: it’s shown wherever a score is quoted (a per-question band, the Overall Band), while the 4 criteria bars underneath stay exact, since those are the diagnostic detail worth tracking precisely over time.
Real example: why a messy, hesitant answer can still score 5.0
A real grading example, word for word: “Um, I live in... how you say... a area, is near of the city... I don’t have much things to say about this, is just normal area, is okay for me, I think, yeah.” Scored Fluency 5.0, Lexical Resource 5.0, Grammatical Range 5.0 — not 2 or 3 — because it makes five distinct, followable points despite constant hesitation and frequent basic errors. Frequent errors and hesitation alone never justify scoring below 4.0 when real multi-point content is present.
Real example: what a genuine Band 9 sounds like
Also real: “I actually have two pets, um, they’re both cats... Nina kind of describes me as a person, like we kind of share the same behaviours, so she’s very lazy, sometimes she’s also introverted...” Casual, filler-heavy, and still a genuine Band 9 — register isn’t scored. What matters is whether each criterion’s checklist is genuinely met.
DEB
4 things to know about how your band is calculated