How Important is Improving Your IELTS Scores?

Published on: September 12th, 2020
Last updated: February 16th, 2023

One of the most important part of your Canadian immigration file is your IELTS score. Scores from IELTS or other accepted language tests are required for all of Canada’s economic immigration streams. Improving your IELTS scores by just a little bit can give you a huge boost in your CRS score.

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It’s hard to overestimate the positive impact that improving your IELTS scores can have on your Express Entry profile. Raising your IELTS scores by just one or two points can give you a higher Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) score. CLB scores are used to equate different scoring systems from various language tests. The Canadian government will convert your IELTS scores into CLB scores to determine how many CRS points your Express Entry profile will receive.

What can higher IELTS scores do?

Getting a higher CLB score can make an incredible difference in your CRS score for Express Entry. Combined with your other skill transferability factors, like education, a slight increase in your CLB score could result in an increase of close to 100 CRS points. Take a look at these two hypothetical Express Entry profiles:

PROFILE 1

  • A single applicant
  • Age 30
  • Holder of a Bachelor’s degree or a three-year diploma
  • Three or more years of skilled work experience outside of Canada
  • Close relative residing in Canada
  • Obtain language test results to support a CLB 7

Total CRS Points: 346

PROFILE 2

  • A single applicant
  • Age 30
  • Holder of a Bachelor’s degree or a three-year diploma
  • Three or more years of skilled work experience outside of Canada
  • Close relative residing in Canada
  • Obtain language test results to support a CLB 9

Total CRS Points: 439

As you can see, there is almost a 100 point difference between these two nearly identical candidates.

What is the difference?

The second profile has a CLB score that is two points higher than the first. In order for the first candidate to improve their language score and get that huge CRS boost, they would only need to score one or two points higher on each section of the IELTS.

CategoryCLB 7CLB 9
Speaking6.07.0
Reading6.07.0
Writing6.07.0
Listening6.08.0

 

This is why it is so important to train for the IELTS. Just a small improvement can help improve your chances of receiving an invitation to apply for permanent residence.

If you are a Canadim client, we will provide you with resources to get you a better score on the IELTS. This extra bit of preparation might just be what pushes your application over the cut off score!

Find out if you are eligible to immigrate to Canada by completing our free online assessment! A member of the Canadim Team will review your eligibility and contact you to discuss your immigration options.

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