IELTS CLB Level 9

[mira_johnson]

Hello,

I have just received my IELTS results and my scores were the following:
Listening: 7
Reading: 8
Writing: 7.5
Speaking: 7.5
Average band score: 7.5

I converted my band scores to CLB levels via these two links: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/language/charts.asp
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-language-converter.html

My goal is to reach a CLB level 9 score because I need the extra points to acquire sufficient CRS points in the express entry pool.
According to these links I only reach a 7, solely because my Listening was too low. For all the other sections, 7 is a sufficient score to achieve a CLB level 9, but for some unknown reason, they seem to have increased the requirement for Listening- which is set on IELTS band score '8'.

• Have I interpreted/calculated the scores correctly?

• Do I really need to redo the entire IELTS test again to reach my band 9 goal, or can I only retake the one section for "Listening"?

Responses are greatly appreciated!

 

[scylla]

No - you can't just retake one section to increase your listening score. You must re-do the entire exam.

 

[747-captain]

Hello,

I have just received my IELTS results and my scores were the following:
Listening: 7
Reading: 8
Writing: 7.5
Speaking: 7.5
Average band score: 7.5

I converted my band scores to CLB levels via these two links: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/language/charts.asp
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-language-converter.html

My goal is to reach a CLB level 9 score because I need the extra points to acquire sufficient CRS points in the express entry pool.
According to these links I only reach a 7, solely because my Listening was too low. For all the other sections, 7 is a sufficient score to achieve a CLB level 9, but for some unknown reason, they seem to have increased the requirement for Listening- which is set on IELTS band score '8'.

• Have I interpreted/calculated the scores correctly?

• Do I really need to redo the entire IELTS test again to reach my band 9 goal, or can I only retake the one section for "Listening"?

Responses are greatly appreciated!

As scylla has stated above, one needs to take the entire exam again. I had to do this in spite of being a NATIVE english speaker : .

Although I'm of Indian origin I was raised in the US since the age of 7. So even though I'm somewhat bilingual, I don't even speak the language of my parents homeland that well. Shockingly on my first try I got a 7.5 for listening, 8.5 reading, 8.5 writing and 9 for speaking. I needed to get an 8 in the listening section, to get the max points and qualify (this would put me exactly at the 67 pass mark).

The problem is, the listening part of the exam is designed very badly. It's more like a MEMORY test, rather than a test designed to evaluate one's comprehension level, and I have a terrible memory. So you will need to use some tricks. You will find a lot of tips on these on YOUTUBE.

One trick I used (that was suggested) was to read ahead and "anticipate" what is going to be asked during the time they give you to "check answers" and it helped me tremendously. Using these I was able to score an 8.5/8.5/8.5/9 on the 2nd try.

Good luck!

 

[mira_johnson]

Thank you. I truly agree that the listening test is a test for your memory and attention skills, not solely your English. Also the topics and conversations were completely unfamiliar to me, it almost seemed outdated to me.
Anyway I guess I will just have to keep calm and carry on!

One last question: One of the IELTS teacher told me that some organizations may let you pick your best score from all of your IELTS tests, I wonder if Can government would let us do this? Say I sit the test again, score a higher level on the listening but this time scores lower on the other sections... Could I then pick the results of my listening from the new test, with the scores for writing, speaking and reading from my old test?

Thank you