There’s a variety of language tests out there that may boggle your mind. Knowing how they align with Canadian Language Benchmark can help you understand what your target score should be. So whichever test you decide to give, learn more about how it compares with the CLB. We gave the IELTS test, which is one of the most popular ones for English Language assessment and here we will be talking a bit about that.
What’s the use of CLB
Since each language test is conducted in a different way, a score of one test cannot be equated with a score of a different test. For example, TOEFL has a scoring range from 0 to 120 while IELTS scores from 0 to 9. A score of 9 in TOEFL means your English is miserable, while a score of 9 in IELTS means your English is perfect.
In Canada, we use Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) to compare results of one test from another in a simplified way. CLB ranges from 0 to 12 and each CLB point corresponds to a certain IELTS score.
Relation between CLB and IELTS
IELTS has 4 sections – Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. In each of these sections, you can get anywhere from Band 0 to Band 9 depending on your performance. This table shows the relation between CLB levels and IELTS bands.
To achieve a particular CLB level, you need to match or score above the minimum required IELTS band in each section for the corresponding CLB level. For example, if you score Band 9 each in Listening, Reading and Write and Band 6.5 in Speaking, then your CLB level will be 8, not 12.
| CLB level | Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 |
| 11 | 9.0 | 8.5 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| 10 | 8.5 | 8.0 | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| 9 | 8.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| 8 | 7.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| 7 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| 6 | 5.5 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 |
| 5 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| 4 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| 3 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| 2 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
For immigration purposes, only IELTS and CELPIP are considered for English language testing and for French, TEF Canada and TCF Canada are used.
Related Topics
Language assessment (IELTS)
Educational Credential Assessment (ECA)
Process of PR application