Hi everyone so I am in a dilemma right now and need your experienced opinion. I am at 438 currently and missed CLB10 by half point as I got 7.0 instead of 7.5 in writing. Do you think I should go for a remark on my writing? The reason I ask now is my result came out on April 23rd which means I have two weeks until I can't ask for a re-score. It seems like the way the point is decreasing it will be a while since I can get an ITA especially with the Tie-Breaker rule since I entered the pool on April 24th. Do you think its a better option to just go for a re-score to see if I can get an increase in point on writing?
Thanks
Exactly the same case with me, although it was way back in Feb when I made the profile with CLB 9 and missed 10 by that dreaded 0.5 band in writing. I always thought it would bite me later if I missed the ITA at 441 which I could have gotten with a CLB 10. Anyways, time went by and the scores swung from 442 to 456 and then finally steadied at 441. It seemed back in Feb'18 that 438 would be achievable in a month before everything went sour. Long story short, I opted for acceptance of NOI from OINP to be on the safe side and now waiting for a nomination. I am anticipating the score to hit 438 by end June of Mid July which will be the time I am expecting the nomination from OINP as well.
Since you don't have the option of OINP you may wanna opt for re-appearance in IELTS to boost your score to the Max i.e. CLB 10. Re-checking won't be a wise choice as IELTS seldom increase the score and it will result in time loss as well. This would increase your chances in case of a tie-break at 440 later, else you can wait out for 2 more months and bet on the scores to slip.
In the end there is always a calculate risk in whatever way you choose. For me, opting for a retry at IELTS might have increased my score to CLB 10 but I would have missed my 45 days NOI window and cursed myself for the next 2.5 months for doing so. On the other hand I would have gotten an ITA this draw and saved $1500 - 238 = $1262