Why Improve Your IELTS Score for Canadian Immigration

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.

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

If you look closely, there’s a big 100-point difference in the Total CRS Points between two very similar candidates. They’re the same age, have the same education, work experience, and a close family member in Canada. The only difference is the second candidate did a bit better on the IELTS exam. That bumped up their CLB score by two levels, giving them an extra 100 points in the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) for the Express Entry profile.