What Is a Good IB Score? Averages, Percentiles and University Requirements

Quick answer: A good IB score is 35 or above. That puts you in the top 30% of IB students worldwide. The global average IB score is 30.88 points out of 45 (May 2026 session), so anything above 31 is already above average. A score of 40 or more puts you in the top 10%, and most competitive universities ask for somewhere between 36 and 42 points.

So what is a good IB score, really? Most articles answer this with a shrug and a number someone remembered. This one uses the actual numbers the International Baccalaureate publishes every year — how many students land in each band, what the pass rate is, and what universities put in writing.

Here is the honest version. "Good" depends on three things: the global spread, the school you are in, and the course you want. We will go through all three, with real figures, and then tell you exactly where a score of 30, 34, 38 or 42 places you.

What is a good IB score? The one-table answer

A good IB score is one that beats the global average of 30.88 and clears the entry bar for the courses you want. Here is where each band actually sits.

If you want one number to carry around: 35 is the line where a score starts being called good, and 40 is the line where it starts being called outstanding.

The average IB score is 30.88 points

The global average IB Diploma score for the May 2026 session was 30.88 points out of 45. That is the number the International Baccalaureate published on results day, 6 July 2026.

Here is what else came with it:

• 209,607 students worldwide received Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme results — a 3.7% rise on 2025.

• The global pass rate was 82.61%.

• The average subject grade was 4.93 out of 7.

• 10,526 students scored over 40 points.

• 3,442 schools entered candidates, across 159 countries.

The average has been creeping up. It was 30.58 in May 2025 and 30.32 in May 2024. Before that, the pandemic years ran much hotter — 33.0 in 2021 and 32.0 in 2022, when exams were cancelled or adapted in many places. Those two years are not a fair benchmark, and you should ignore anyone comparing your score to them.

The takeaway: the IB has settled back to a mean of roughly 30–31 and a pass rate of about 82%. That is the world you are being measured against.

What the IB score distribution actually looks like

This is the table almost nobody shows you, and it is the one that answers the question properly. The IB publishes the share of diploma candidates in each five-point band in its statistical bulletin. Here are the last five May sessions.

Look at the bottom row. In 2021, nearly one student in five scored 40 or more. By 2025 it was fewer than one in ten. The top of the scale got roughly twice as hard to reach in four years.

That matters when you hear an older sibling, a teacher or a school prospectus talk about what a "normal" top score looks like. The 2021 and 2022 numbers were inflated by pandemic assessment. The 2023–2025 numbers are the real IB.

Your IB score percentile, worked out

Add the bands up and you get a percentile. Here is where each score threshold actually places you, using the May 2025 distribution.

Three things worth saying plainly about this table.

A 30 is genuinely middle-of-the-road. It sits almost exactly at the median. Not a bad score, not a strong one.

A 35 is a much bigger jump than it looks. Five points takes you from the middle to the top third. In percentile terms it is the single most valuable stretch on the whole scale.

Going from 40 to 43 barely moves your percentile but changes who reads your application. Above 40 you are already in the top 10%. The extra points matter for specific course offers, not for bragging rights.

If you want to see how your own subject grades and core points add up, our free IB score calculator does the arithmetic for you, including the TOK and extended essay bonus.

A good IB score depends on where you sit

Here is the part that trips parents up. The 30.88 global average includes every country, every school type and every cohort. If your child is at an international school in Hong Kong or Singapore, the average around them is nowhere near 30.

The IB released country figures for May 2026. Compare them.

A 34 is comfortably above the world average. In a Hong Kong cohort it is three points below the local average. Same score, two very different conversations at the dinner table.

So when you ask what a good IB score is, ask a second question straight after: good compared to whom? For a university, the global picture is what counts, because that is the pool they are choosing from. For your child's confidence, the school cohort is what they feel every day. Both are real. Neither should be the only one you use.

One more figure from the UK: of the 5,108 students who sat the DP there in May 2026, 926 scored over 40 points. That is about 18% — nearly double the global rate. The UK pass rate was 94.8%, against 82.61% worldwide.

Passing is not the same as scoring well

You need 24 points to pass the IB. But 24 points on its own does not get you the diploma, and this is where a surprising number of students come unstuck.

To be awarded the IB Diploma you need at least 24 points and you must clear a list of conditions. The key ones:

• At least 12 points across your Higher Level subjects.

• At least 9 points across your Standard Level subjects.

• No more than two grade 2s across all subjects.

• CAS completed — Creativity, Activity, Service is not graded, but skipping it blocks the diploma.

• No grade E in Theory of Knowledge or the extended essay. An E in either is a failing condition on its own.

Now look at what that does in practice. In the May 2025 session, 102,233 second-year diploma students got results. Of those, 83,703 were awarded the diploma and 18,530 were not — the 81.9% pass rate.

Here is the sting. 3,592 of the students who did not get the diploma had scored 24 points or more. Another 106 had scored between 30 and 34 and still went home without it. They had the points. They tripped a condition.

The core is usually the culprit. In May 2025, 666 students were awarded a grade E for the extended essay and 178 got an E in TOK. An E in either one is a failing condition. A student can score 32 points, feel fine, and lose the diploma over a 4,000-word essay they left too late.

That is worth repeating to any Year 12 student who thinks the extended essay is the thing you do after exams. If you want the mechanics of how points are built, we have written them up in full in our guide to how the IB points system works.

The core points are the quietest three points on the scale

Up to 3 points come from the combination of your Theory of Knowledge grade and your extended essay grade. The other 42 come from your six subjects.

The average student earns 1.5 core points. That is the mean across the whole cohort, and it has barely moved in five years.

Here is why that number matters. The gap between a student who earns 3 core points and one who earns 0 is three full points — the same as lifting three separate subjects from a 5 to a 6. And the core is far more controllable. It is two pieces of written work with published criteria, done over months, with a supervisor. Most students spend a fraction of the effort on it that they spend on a single exam paper.

The May 2025 grade spread shows how much room there is:

Four in ten students land on a C in both. Moving both from C to B is often the cheapest two points in the entire diploma.

What IB score do universities actually ask for?

Now the practical question. Here is what selective universities put in writing. These are published entry requirements, not estimates.

A few notes that matter more than the numbers.

The HL grades are often the real hurdle. Cambridge asking for 776 at Higher Level is a tougher condition than the total. A student on 41 points with 766 at HL misses a 776 offer even though the total is fine. Choosing HL subjects you can actually score 7s in is a strategic decision, not a preference — we cover the trade-off in our guide to HL versus SL.

Oxford does not accept the Career-related Programme. If the CP is on the table at your school, check this before committing.

Course matters more than university. Oxford Economics asks 38 with 666 at HL. Oxford Physics asks 39 with 766, and the 7 must be in Physics or Maths. Two courses, same university, different bars.

US universities work differently. They do not publish IB cut-offs. Admissions are holistic — essays, activities, recommendations and grades together. Where IB scores do have a fixed role in the US is course credit: most universities that give credit want a 5, 6 or 7 in a Higher Level subject, and Standard Level rarely counts. So in the US your HL grades can be worth actual money and time, separately from admission.

Most universities in the world are not selective. It is easy to read a list like the one above and conclude that anything under 38 is a failure. Roughly 90% of IB students score under 40, and they go to good universities every year. The bar you need is the bar for your course, not the highest bar you can find.

Is 30 a good IB score? Band by band

Here is the direct answer for each score people actually search for.

Is 24 a good IB score? It is a pass, and that is a real achievement — 14.5% of candidates do not get there. It is not competitive for selective courses. Many universities in Europe, Canada and Asia accept it for a range of programmes.

Is 28 a good IB score? Below average, but a solid pass with the diploma. Plenty of options remain, especially outside the most selective institutions.

Is 30 a good IB score? It is right at the global median, just under the 30.88 average. Not weak, not strong. It clears the door at a wide range of universities.

Is 32 a good IB score? Above average and comfortably clear of the pass line. It sits in the same band as the average student who is actually awarded the diploma — that group averages 32.7 points.

Is 34 a good IB score? Good. Top 35% or so globally, and enough for a broad set of respectable courses. One point short of the band most people mean when they say "strong".

Is 35 a good IB score? Yes. This is the threshold. Top 30% worldwide, and the entry point for most competitive UK and European offers.

Is 37 a good IB score? Strong. It clears LSE's standard range and is within reach of Oxford's lower course requirements, subject to HL grades.

Is 38 a good IB score? Excellent. It meets Oxford's requirement for several courses and sits well inside the top 15%.

Is 40 a good IB score? Outstanding. Top 10% globally. Cambridge and Imperial territory, provided the HL grades line up.

Is 42 a good IB score? Exceptional. Above the top of Cambridge's usual range. Very few students score here.

Is 45 a good IB score? It is the maximum — seven in every subject and all three core points. The IB stopped publishing how many students achieve it in 2023, so any specific number you see quoted for recent years is a guess.

Why nobody can tell you how many students got 45

This one comes up constantly, so it is worth clearing up. From the May 2023 session onwards, the IB deliberately stopped reporting the number of students who score 45 points. The organisation said it wanted to focus on the achievements of all students, and that publishing results in bands of five gives enough information.

So if you read a 2026 article confidently stating that "X students worldwide got a perfect 45", treat it with caution. Individual schools and countries still announce their own 45s. The global figure is simply no longer published.

How to move up a band

If your predicted grades put you a band below where you want to be, here is where the points usually come from, in order of how cheap they are.

1. The core. Two points from moving TOK and the extended essay from C to B. This is almost always the least contested ground, because most students under-invest in it. Start the EE early and treat the supervisor meetings as real deadlines.

2. One HL subject, one grade. Moving a single HL from 5 to 6 is one point, and it often has a knock-on effect because HL subjects carry the university conditions too. Pick the subject where you are closest to the boundary, not the one you like most.

3. The subject you have quietly given up on. Most students carry one subject they have decided is a lost cause. That subject is often sitting on a 3 or 4 with a lot of easy marks available, precisely because nobody has looked at it properly in months.

4. Exam technique, not more content. Grade boundaries in the IB are close together. Command terms, mark allocation and timing move more marks per hour of effort than re-reading notes does. Our guide on how to score a 7 in IB goes through what a 7-level answer actually looks like.

Two to four points is a realistic target for a student with two terms left and a plan. Ten points is not. Be honest about the gap before you set the goal, because an unrealistic target is the fastest way to make a student stop trying.

What parents should take from all this

If you are reading this after a report card, here are the five things worth holding on to.

The average is about 31. If your child is above that, they are above average — whatever the school cohort suggests.

A single number hides a lot. A 33 built on strong HLs is a better platform for university than a 35 built on strong SLs, because offers are usually written in HL grades.

Predicted grades are not final grades. They are a teacher's forecast, and the gap in either direction is normal. If you want to understand how they work and how much weight they carry, that is a separate conversation worth having with the school.

The core is the most fixable part. It is worth three points and most families never discuss it.

Compare to the offer, not to the neighbours. The only score that matters is the one the course your child wants asks for. Everything else is noise.

If you want the mechanics of how the 45 points are put together — subjects, grades, the core matrix and the failing conditions — our full explainer on the IB scoring system covers it step by step.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good IB score out of 45?

A good IB score is 35 or above out of 45. That places you in the top 30% of candidates worldwide. The global average is 30.88 points (May 2026 session), so anything above 31 is above average, and 40 or more puts you in the top 10%.

The honest answer also depends on your target course. For a competitive UK university you generally need 36 to 42. For a less selective programme, a solid pass in the high 20s or low 30s is enough.

What is the average IB score?

The global average IB Diploma score for the May 2026 session was 30.88 points out of 45. It was 30.58 in May 2025 and 30.32 in May 2024, so the average has risen slightly for two years running.

Country averages vary a lot. In May 2026 the UK averaged 35.11, the UAE 34.5, Singapore 35.67 and Hong Kong 37.02 — all well above the global figure.

Is 30 a good IB score?

A 30 sits almost exactly at the global median, just below the 30.88 average. It is a genuine pass with the full diploma and it keeps a wide range of universities open, but it will not meet the entry requirements at highly selective institutions.

If you are aiming for a course that asks for 36 or more, a 30 means you have real ground to make up — usually two to four points across the core and one or two subjects.

Is 40 a good IB score?

Yes. A 40 puts you in the top 10% of IB students worldwide. In May 2026, only 10,526 of 209,607 students scored over 40 points.

At that level you meet the total-points requirement for Oxford, Imperial and the lower end of Cambridge's range. Whether you get an offer then depends on your Higher Level grades, since those conditions are often the harder part.

What is the lowest IB score you can pass with?

You need at least 24 points to be awarded the IB Diploma, and you must also meet the conditions: at least 12 points at Higher Level, at least 9 at Standard Level, no more than two grade 2s, CAS completed, and no grade E in TOK or the extended essay.

Points alone are not enough. In May 2025, 3,592 students scored 24 or more and still did not receive the diploma because they failed one of these conditions.

What is the IB pass rate?

The global IB Diploma pass rate for the May 2026 session was 82.61%. It was 81.9% in May 2025 and 80.5% in May 2024.

Pass rates are much higher in some countries. The UK recorded 94.8% and the UAE 98.32% in May 2026.

How many points is a good IB score for university?

For most competitive universities, 36 to 42 points is the working range. Published requirements include 40–42 with 776 at Higher Level for Cambridge, 38–40 including core for Oxford, 37–39 with 666 or 766 at HL for LSE, and 36–40 for UCL depending on the course.

Your Higher Level grades matter as much as the total. A student on 41 points with 766 at HL will miss an offer that requires 776, even though the overall score looks comfortable.

Is 35 points good in IB?

Yes, 35 is a good IB score. It is roughly four points above the global average and puts you in the top 30% of candidates worldwide.

It is also the practical entry point for competitive applications. Below 35 the number of selective courses available drops sharply; at 35 and above, most doors are at least open.

How many students get 45 in the IB?

The IB stopped publishing this figure from the May 2023 session onwards. It decided to report results in bands of five instead, saying it wanted to recognise the achievements of all students equally.

What is published is the top band: 9.8% of candidates scored 40–45 in May 2025. Individual schools and some countries still announce their own 45-point students, but there is no official global count for recent years.

Do universities look at the total score or the subject grades?

Both, and the subject grades are often the deciding condition. UK offers are typically written as a total plus a Higher Level requirement — 40 points with 776 at HL, for example. You have to meet both parts.

In the United States, admissions are holistic and no minimum IB score is published, but Higher Level grades of 5, 6 or 7 are what earn course credit once you arrive. Standard Level rarely counts.

How much do the TOK and extended essay points matter?

They are worth up to 3 points out of 45, and the average student earns 1.5 of them. That gap is the same size as lifting three separate subjects by one grade each.

They are also the most controllable points on the scale, because both are coursework written over months with published criteria. Moving both TOK and the extended essay from a C to a B is worth two points and is usually easier than raising an exam grade.

Can a bad extended essay cost you the diploma?

Yes. A grade E in the extended essay is a failing condition, which means it blocks the diploma on its own regardless of how many points you have scored. The same applies to a grade E in Theory of Knowledge.

In May 2025, 666 students were awarded an E for the extended essay and 178 received an E in TOK. That is a small share of the cohort, but every one of those students lost the diploma over a piece of work that had months of runway.

Written by the Educifly team. Educifly is a boutique 1-on-1 online tutoring practice for IB Diploma, IB MYP and Cambridge/Edexcel IGCSE students, founded in 2018. If your child is working toward a specific IB target, you can book a free trial class with a subject specialist.