Is Tofel/ielts needed?

[kishore11]

Hi all this is kishore.

I have done my masters in US and presently working in US. Is it a must that I have to take Tofel/Ielts again and send the scores thru ETS for a proof of language proficiency?

Or is it OK if submit the notarized copies? heared from a freind that as i did MS here no need of language proficiency proof. is that true?

please advice

 

[rupeshhari]

its your choice. they do say that you can write a letter describing your proficiency in english. But this is not recommended because then you are at the mercy of the IO to give you points and they could give you 0. With IELTS, you know exactly how much you get. Good luck.

 

[Leon]

If you have an IELTS and it's less than a year old, you can use it for your application. If you have an IELTS that is older or a TOEFL, you can use it with your letter of proficiency but if you do a letter, the immigration officer decides how many points you get. Many people have been given less points than they asked for and some have even been given zero. Immigration strongly advices people to take IELTS unless English is their mother tongue.

 

[kishore11]

Thanks rupesh,

I have IELTS written, but it was 4 yrs ago. will that count? and should i have to send it offcially (thru IELTS) or can notarize and send with application?

 

[Leon]

You can include your 4 year old IELTS as a part of the proficiency package if you decide to do a written submission but they can disregard it and give you whatever points anyway because it's old. Nobody can tell you how likely it is that you will get full points for an old IELTS. It totally depends on the immigration officer. If you want to make sure how many points you are getting for English, get a new IELTS.

 

[Moonwalk]

IELTS is generally valid for 2 years. Even after writing a letter saying you have studied in US and you are proficient in english they can ask you to complete IELTS.

Good Luck!

 

[PMM]

Hi

IELTS is generally valid for 2 years. Even after writing a letter saying you have studied in US and you are proficient in english they can ask you to complete IELTS.

Good Luck!

1 year for Canada Immigration purposes.

PMM

 

[reachmenow]

Kishore,

i suggest you to take this IELTS test , to us indians its actually a waste of money as we study english from childhood and proving efficiency makes no sense specially for IT engineers.
but again rules are rules so better not to leave it to the mood of Visa officer.

I took it 2 weeks back and it was fairly simple , i am expecting my results this week.

Thanks,

 

[rajnik1976]

Yes Kishor IELTS is recommended so don't take chance otherwise you will be on mercy of Immigration Officer and it's bad sometime.

 

[New2Canada]

Kishore,

i suggest you to take this IELTS test , to us indians its actually a waste of money as we study english from childhood and proving efficiency makes no sense specially for IT engineers.
but again rules are rules so better not to leave it to the mood of Visa officer.

I took it 2 weeks back and it was fairly simple , i am expecting my results this week.

Thanks,

It is a myth that people who come from countries where English is taught all their lives are good at English (unless it is mother tongue).

Some people come from countries where they learn English all their lives like India, Sri lanka, etc and some people come from countries where they hardly learn English until a late age or never learn English at school like in Germany, Brazil, Russia, Poland. According to IELTS general statistics, people from some of the latter countries are doing better than people from some of the countries where English is taught. This means it is hard for CIC to gauge how good people are in English proficiency. Why doesn't CIC use these statistics and exempt people from Nigeria, Zimbabwe and South Africa from doing IELTS because they seem to be doing really well and clearly better than people from India, Sri Lanka, etc


Here is the statistics: http://www.ielts.org/researchers/analysis_of_test_data.aspx

 

[maple]

Although I am not from English speaking countries,I learned English later in school, I was not asked to take IELTS, I did my master in Canada and I just submitted my TOEFL report, letter of proficiency, my master project, and reference letters from my Canadian professors indicating my ability in English and my contributions in the academic English environment.
In my point of view, I think it is different from one person to another to learn a second language and master it in a way that you are clear to speakers of that language and in a way that you communicate easily and fluently with them, and this is what immigration officers want to make sure of.
I think that immigration officers require IELTS even from those who come from English - speaking countries because the speaking (pronunciation) is not that clear for native English speakers . This is what I conclude from my own experience in how to study/learn a second language.
Eventually, I advise all those who want to apply to present either TOEFL or IELTS in their application so they waste no time.

 

[kishore11]

now i am scoring 58 with out language proficiency. any idea of how much i have to score in IELTS to reach 67? way back (4 yrs ago) I got around 6/10). not sure that would qualify me

 

[Leon]

now i am scoring 58 with out language proficiency. any idea of how much i have to score in IELTS to reach 67? way back (4 yrs ago) I got around 6/10). not sure that would qualify me

You can see the scores translated to points at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/EG72.asp

If you had 6 in all categories, you would get 8 points.

 

[pv]

This is how you can arrive at points in Language after IELTS exam

Reading - 6.5/10 ( marks obtained in IELTS test) = 4
Writing - 6.5/10 = 4
Speaking - 6.5/10 = 4
Listening - 7.5/10 = 4

If you score exactly as above then you total is 16 ( In your case total marks would be 58+16 = 74)

Good Luck