If you thought language assessment is cakewalk then, oh boy! You’ve got your head in the clouds. Scores from language assessment play the biggest role in getting a good or a bad overall score. Your language scores can vary a lot depending on how well you perform in your test and they can greatly affect your final CRS Scores. You can’t do much about your age, education and work experience. It is what it is! But with language assessment you can really prepare well and ensure that you get a good score.
Canada’s official languages are English and French and you can choose to take a language test for any of these two, or even both! Here, we’ll focus more on English, especially the IELTS test because that’s the most common English knowledge test for immigration. CELPIP is another option for English language testing.
About IELTS – Academic vs General
Those applying through the Express Entry or any other immigration program for Canada must take the IELTS General test. This helps in establishing that you have the required English language skills to survive in this country.
On the other hand, those who wish to study – join an undergraduate or postgraduate program in Canada – must take the IELTS Academic test. This one is to establish that you are able to study and learn with English as the language medium.
IELTS test format
There are four distinct sections in the IELTS test – Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. While the first three happen together in an examination setting, Speaking happens separately (usually on a different day) in a one-on-one interview style.
1. Listening
This section is divided into 4 sub-sections and they will play a different audio clip in each of those sub-sections. You will need to listen very attentively and respond to questions at the same time. The audio clips will typically have an ordinary conversation between two or three people or even a monologue. You will need to fill in the blanks or mark on a map while listening to the conversation.
There will be 40 questions in this section and each one carries 1 mark. This section will last around 30 minutes.
2. Reading
This section includes extracts from books, newspapers, advertisements, etc. These topics usually relate to what you may encounter on a daily basis in an English-speaking environment. There are 3 sub-sections here, each with a different text and you will be asked to answer simple questions such as multiple choice questions, sentence completion, matching information, etc.
This section has 40 questions as well with each answer carrying 1 mark. However, this section is 60 minutes long so you will have enough time to read and write your answers.
3. Writing
In this section, you will need to complete two writing tasks. In Task 1, you will be asked to write a letter at least 150 words long and requesting information or explaining the situation. In Task 2, you will be asked to write an essay that is at least 250 words long. This section, unlike listening and reading, is very subjective and there are no right or wrong answers and you are dependent on how your examiner marks your test.
This section is 60 minutes long and you are expected to spend around 20 minutes on Task 1 and remaining to Task 2.
4. Speaking
This section assesses your use of spoken English and it’s conducted in an one-on-one interview style with an examiner. There are 3 parts in this section. In the first part, the examiner will ask you general questions about common topics such as your family, hobbies, etc. In the second part, the examiner will give you a topic to speak on. You will be given one minute to think and prepare and then you will need to speak for two minutes on that topic. In the third part, the examiner will ask you some questions on the topic that you were given.
Just like Writing, this section is subjective and it depends on how well you speak as well as how impressed the examiner is with your speaking. This section lasts 11 to 14 minutes.
Booking an IELTS test
Agencies such as British Council and IDP conduct IELTS tests. There is no difference in test formats or scoring whichever agency you choose. It all depends on which test centre or dates are more convenient for you.
You can visit IELTS website to book your test. You will be asked to choose your country and city or state. You can then choose your dates and your test format (paper based or computer based). Remember to book the General Training test. The Academic test is for those who are planning to study abroad. The test usually costs around $300 and the price can vary from country to country.
IELTS Scoring
All 4 sections of the test are scored in the form of bands with Band 0 being the lowest and Band 9 being the highest. You will also get an overall Band averaging your scores from all 4 sections. For example, if you scored Band 9 in Listening and Reading and Band 7 in Speaking and Writing, then your overall score will be Band 8. For the purpose of immigration, we don’t really need the overall band. It’s the bands for each individual section that we will need.
It is fairly easy to calculate your band in Listening and Reading if you know how many answers you got right. Check the tables below because you will need them once you start practicing for your test.
Scoring for the Listening section
| Correct Answers | IELTS Band |
|---|---|
| 39 to 40 | 9 |
| 37 to 38 | 8.5 |
| 35 to 36 | 8 |
| 32 to 34 | 7.5 |
| 30 to 31 | 7 |
| 26 to 29 | 6.5 |
| 23 to 25 | 6 |
| 18 to 22 | 5.5 |
| 16 to 17 | 5 |
| 13 to 15 | 4.5 |
| 11 to 12 | 4 |
Scoring for the Reading section
| Correct Answers | IELTS Band |
|---|---|
| 40 | 9 |
| 39 | 8.5 |
| 37 to 38 | 8 |
| 36 | 7.5 |
| 34 to 35 | 7 |
| 32 to 33 | 6.5 |
| 30 to 31 | 6 |
| 27 to 29 | 5.5 |
| 23 to 26 | 5 |
| 19 to 22 | 4.5 |
| 15 to 18 | 4 |
Writing and Speaking are very subjective and you can’t score yourself. You are left at the mercy of your examiner. But you can watch online videos to see how someone with, let’s say Band 8 in Speaking performed in their IELTS test. You can also check online for Writing samples for each band. That will give you an idea how you compare with those individuals and if you would perform better or worse than they did.
IELTS and CRS Scores
We talked about IELTS scores here but the story isn’t over yet. Your IELTS score gets used to finally calculate your CRS Score which is why you appeared for the IELTS test in the first place. The better you score in IELTS, the higher your CRS score will be. You can get up to 136 CRS points from the language assessment. Try this CRS Calculator, alter the IELTS scores and see what kind of CRS score you can get with that.
More importantly, if you score at least CLB level 9, you can get up to 100 additional CRS points under the Skills Transferability section we explained on this page. These 100 points can decide whether you will get your PR or not.
Note that CLB level and IELTS bands are not the same thing. See the table below to know the relation between IELTS and CLB. As you can see, to achieve CLB 9, you’ll need Band 8 in Listening and Band 7 in the other 3 sections in your IELTS test. Just remember this golden number 8, 7, 7, 7 (8 in Listening and 7 in the rest). This should be your target. Even if you score Band 9 in three sections and 6.5 in the fourth section, you will lose those precious 100 points. You can’t change your age or education but you can make a lot of difference by scoring well on IELTS. So, remember this golden number.
Relation between CLB and IELTS
| 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 |
The maximum CRS points that you can score on language ends at CLB 10. There are no extra points for getting CLB 11 or 12. You will get CLB 10 if you score Band 8.5 in Listening, Band 8 in Reading, and Band 7.5 in Writing and Speaking. So you don’t have to aim for Band 9 in every section.
Preparing for IELTS test
There are several free resources that you can use to prepare for your IELTS test and there are some paid courses as well. We believe that the free resources will be more than enough to prepare. The key to success here is practice, nothing else. Prepare for a month at least, just to be on the safer side. Many people get poor results not because of their English skills but because of their overconfidence. Read our tips on getting a good IELTS score.
Some resources:
Sample questions at ielts.org
Practice tests at British Council
Preparation tips and material at ielts.com
You can simply search on Google and you will get tons of free resources. Just remember to check for General Training, not Academic.