Kirsty John and Dominic

Hi

After just finding out about the English test needed for PR application I'm not a happy camper to be honest another expense in the lengthy costly process.

I would like some advise as to weather its just the principal applicant, applicant and spouse or whole family that needs to do this including our 10 year old son? Has anyone taken this test yet? What does it entail?

Also which test do we need to take we are English born and bread do we need to take the English Language international Test? What does the Canadian English Language Proficiency Programme Index?

Any help would be appreciated as we would like to submit our application ASAP without any further set backs and it being returned to us for not being complete.

Thanks

Kirsty

PMM

Hi

1. Just the principal applicant.
2. Your choice, either IELTs or CELPIP although you may find difficulty in locating a center for CELPIP.
3. As either test is geared for ESL you should go on line and do a couple of practise tests to get the feel for the test procedure.

Kirsty John and Dominic

Thanks PMM for you response

After spending a great deal of time today finding out information etc I have found the soonest I can sit this test is November 20th so if any of you need to do this then early booking is advised while gathering final documents, to avoid delay while waiting for the IELTS test date.

Kirsty

helcat12

I expected this when OH did his early August. There were only about 30-35 people on that day and only three native English speakers.
I posted the same advice then and predicted that IELTS would be booking into next year before long and it seems I was right. There just isn't the capacity currently offered by the test centres to absorb all the new native English-speaking applicants that have been generated by this new ruling.The wait will probably get longer still in the near future, sadly.
If you will need one, book it now!

Kirsty John and Dominic

Thanks you for your reply. I assume from your response that only your OH had to take the test as the principal applicant and you didn't need to sit it? Was it very difficult or not I don't know too much about it.

Thanks in advance for your reply helcat.

helcat12

It wasn't hard, but get some test materials - the listening test is fast and practice is helpful. The marking is also a bit odd and worth knowing what they accept and what they don't. The recording of the answers on the question paper is also a bit strange and being familiar with it is a good idea before you go. Just OH needed to do it - I went to see the dolphins at New Quay!!

Just to add for other readers, the General test (which is the one required) is not run every week at most centres. At many UK venues, the General test is only offered once a month or at most, once a fortnight. We had to travel from Derbyshire to Aberystwyth for ours and that was the first week of August, before many people had go the message about this requirement.
If you find on your chosen venue website that the date is marked as full, it is worth telephoning to ask - we found there were 3 spaces left just 2 weeks before the test and bagged one! Sometimes people cancel!

Kirsty John and Dominic

Thanks so much for your reply I do have web addresses for the tests free online so I'll try some of those out first, I had a quick flick through the information and it seems to be fussy with the requirements for the answers. I suppose some of that comes down to read/listen to the question dolphin watching sounds preferable to sitting the test though.

Thanks again

Kirsty

helcat12

Yes, the dolphins were great! I had a lovely day I needed to go because of the driving - it's long way from here!
As a teacher, I thought the marking scheme very unfair as it would mark wrong answers that were correct in content just because they contained extra information or too many words!
For instance, if the answer they required was "headphones", they would accept something like "special headphones" but would mark incorrect the response, "special headphones for the hearing impaired". This is rubbish IMO, as the substance of the answer is clearly correct. I think many people would be likely to write more than they thought was required for an answer in a test, just to be on the safe side, but their mark scheme penalises you for this. Worth checking the practice the mark scheme to see for yourself what they will accept. Good Luck!

sudha

Huh... that explains something for me. I recently took the test, I havent practiced or researched anything before taking the test. I thoght the test was easy and I would easily get the top marks.... When answering I thought more is good, but I was wrong.... ,... I did get a decent score of 7.5, but thought I should have got more.. may be this is the answer. Thanks.

powerwrap

Did all those that took test apply after 26th June 2010??

I have read other threads which state that pre 26th June you could provide an 'attestation' letter, and it was those that applied after the 26th June that had to provide the language proficiency test???

M

CanadaJimmy

Yes, you are correct.