Student Learning Support

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ELSA: How is ELSA graded?

There are no ‘Pass’ or ‘Fail’ grades in ELSA. Each student is awarded a band score of 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 for each section. In calculating the candidate’s overall band score, Section 1 is weighted 1, while Sections 2 and 3 are each weighted 2. In other words, Sections 2 and 3 are each worth twice as much as Section 1.

ELSA test score is recorded as four separate Band Scores, and one Overall Band Score. 

• Section 1 is recorded as a single band score.
• Section 2 is recorded as a single band score which has been doubled – ie.  if your reading score was 3 it will be recorded as 6, or double the original score. 
• Section 3 is given a separate band score for the two tasks included
• The total of all weighted band scores are divided by 5 as the total score consists of 4 individual band scores, but the reading score has been doubled in value.  See the example below for clarification:

	Mark	Band	Weighted Band
Vocab/Grammar	6 / 20	1	(1) 1
Reading	10 / 30	2	(2) 4
Report	3 / 5	3	(1) 3
Essay	3 / 5	3	(1) 3
		Total	11
		/ 5	2.2
Overall Band Score			2