PMM

Hi

14 points

CanadaJimmy

How bizarre. The instruction guide states that 6.5 or higher is considered High Proficiency: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kit...mm0008egen.pdf

Check out page 9. Page 35 of op06 states that 7.5 or higher is needed. Getting a bit tired of CIC continuously contradicting themselves since these new rules came in.

PMM

Hi

No it doesn't, listening for high is 7.5 http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/EG7.pdf page 9,

CanadaJimmy

Oh sorry you're right. I guess I just "saw" all of them as 6.5 on the EG7. Also I linked to the wrong file. I'll just move along now...

mojovibe

Listening = 7 = moderate

Reading = 6.5 = proficient

Writing = 6.5 = proficient

Speaking = 9.0 proficient.

Before I did this exam I spoke English with no problems whatsoever, now I don't know if I speak it fluently or not. If the Canadian immigration think that this score is not good enough to emmigrate as an English speaking skilled native, and it might cause prospective Canadian employers to have problems communicating with me. The I hope that when the British immigration bring this same requirement in for immigrants coming into Britain, this doesn't mean that I will lose my job to someone who gets higher marks than what I did, and being classed as being more fluent than me.

Anyway I did the self assessment test again bearing the scores in mind in section 12.9, and scored just 67 points. I now need to find out whether or not I started infant school in 69 or 70, I know I left in 81 and did 6 years in college part time day and evening. So I can't decide whether I've done 11 or 12 years in school plus 6 years college. Resulting in me having 3 or more years in full time studies/further education non university, (if they class it as full time study), and either 11 or 12 years in school. I was born in April 65 so I think I might have started in 69. But if I started in 70, I haven't completed 12 years in full time education and won't get enough points. I'll have to ring the council tommorow and see if they have archives that go back that far.

Waggle

We are still awaiting our IELTS results for my wife, due end of this week.

You are getting me worried now! She said her reading and listening were fine, but speaking (because she gets nervous at these sort of things) and writing (because she is dyslexic) were a bit wobbly.

AFAIK as a base minimum the CIC insist that all applicants have at least moderate level in all categories. This means at least 5.5, except reading which can be 5.

Then of course it depends how many points you need from your language to hit the 67 points. Seems like these results have made you borderline which is a bit ridiculous that a native English speaker's language results can cast their application into doubt! Thankfully we have 67 points without any points from language so we just need to get at least 5.5 in everything. But now I am worried even about that!

Ah well, just have to see what comes back at the end of this week. When we first heard about these test I would have expected any native English speaker to ace these. Now I'll just be grateful if we make the minimum grade!

Wayne.

Katya_T

OMG, relax, you will be fine. I am not a native speaker. In fact, I have never been to any English-speaking country. Nevertheles my IELTS results (British Council) are as follows:
Listenig - 9.0
Writing - 6.5
Reading - 7.5 (T/F/Not Given just drive me crazy )
Speaking - 7.5
Overall - 7.5
So, I have 16 maximum points according to CIO. So, don't worry - you'll get your "VO points"

cityhog

Even if you're a native speaker, you should prepare for the test, i.e. you should get yourself familiar with the format of the test and the types of questions. You should be able to quickly respond to the questions, which is like a motor skill learned by practice. It also requires time management skill and concetration.

fledermaus

Do they worry about split infinitives, comma splices, inappropriate use of commas, omitted commas, and typos?

Jim Humphries

It is a demanding test. They do not worry about it they mark it.

mojovibe

No, there isn't even any spelling, grammar, punctuation, or any type of English that you got tested on when you were at school. Its a test to trip you up on stupid things like the different use of words missing from a sentence that have the same meaning as the ones being spoke. And the choice of answers of the missing words are worded differently in the listening test. But you only have so long to listen to the sentence and decide which words to put in.

The reading, writing, and speaking tests are much more straight forward, although I was suprised I only scored 6.5/10 in the reading and writing test. I write out job sheets and read instructions for jobs everyday as part of my job. And I listen to the problems what the customers are experiencing on the sites that I visit. And in turn consult with them on a laymans or technical level, and offer the best course of action to be taken to remedy the problem. But according to the results that I got, this could prove a difference to me executing my duties at work in an efficient and highly proffesional manor.

But then again it isn't there to prove you have mastered the English language, or indeed prove your a native speaker. But to see if you can pass a test set for non English speaking immigrants coming into the UK for college/university education. And it would seem that the Canadian immigration don't know of any other way of testing your English speaking capability. I would say to anyone taking the test not to worry about it, just make sure that you read the practice material before you sit the exam. This will help you pick up on the tricky points that they try to trip you up on. It's only like the test you did at school when you were about fourteen years old, but without concentrating on puncuation, spelling, or grammar, .... the type of things you would expect an English exam to contain. Except the time allowed to answer the sections is much tighter.

CanadaJimmy

Yeah, there's an emphasis on giving you as little time as possible to answer each part. I guess this is to check that a non-native speaker can react and provide an answer without delay.

And yeah the practice material tells you everything you need to know. I would've really messed up the writing if I hadn't prepared my imagination for it.

Jim Humphries

In some ways it is like the test that potential lawyers take which is designed to show that you can understand the meaning of complex English statements both written and oral. There used to be two other tests one could take to satisfy this requirement but IELTS seems to have won out because it is given all over the world.

cityhog

You have to take LSAT to get into law school, MCAT to enter MBA programs. TOEFL is more popular than IELTS because the US is the most popular destination for international students. Americans get used to this kind of English tests from early age. They have to take SAT for college admission and GRE for graduate school. There are also GRE subject tests. The US has all these required standardized tests for college & grad school admission but it doesn't have one for immigration.

cityhog

I was wrong. MCAT is for medical school, GMAT for business school.