One of the most important parts of your Canadian Immigration application is you IELTS score. Scores from IELTS or other accepted language tests are required for all of Canadas immigration streams. Whats more, Improving your IELTS score, even a little bit, can make a big difference in your CRS score.
What is your CRS score?
CRS stands for Comprehensive Ranking System and it is how candidates are ranked against each other when they enter the Express Entry Pool. The Express Entry Pool assigns a score out of 1200 to every candidate. A good score will lead you to become a top ranking candidate where, periodically, invitations to apply for permanent residence are issued.
The positive impact of improving you IELTS scores carries a big advantage on your Express Entry profile. Raising your IELTS categories score by one or two points can you give you a higher Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) score. The Canadian Government will convert you ILETS scores to CLB scores to determine how many CRS points your Express Entry profile will receive.
What can a higher IELTS score do? A lot!
Heres an example. Take a look a the difference between 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 in terms of IELTS scores for each candidate ? 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 boost in CRS they would only need to score one or two points on each section of their IELTS
| Category | CLB 7 | CLB 9 |
|---|---|---|
| Speaking | 6.0 | 7.0 |
| Reading | 6.0 | 7.0 |
| Writing | 6.0 | 7.0 |
| Listening | 6.0 | 8.0 |
This is why it is so important to train for the IELTS. Just a small improvement can you get closer to an invitation to apply for permanent residence.