IELTS Exam Experiences and Details

Express Entry
21

I gave my IELTS on 01/20 and got my results 02/05.
Had to book at ELS in Manhattan, which is the only authorized center for all of NYC!
My experience was exactly the same as @anon25417004.
Rather annoying and makes you feel like a schoolboy!
But it was pretty easy, save for the writing, which is pencil-based! I bet it was my horrible handwriting that cost me the writing score.
I mean come on! Wish they let us use computers, especially for us developers!!

Order of sections:
// Speaking (scheduled the day before, which is a good thing for manhattan ELS)
Listening
Reading
Writing

So hereā€™s my result:
Writing: 7.0
Speaking: 7.5
Reading: 8.0
Listening: 8.5
Overall: 8.0

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22

I gave my IELTS on the 20th as well and got my result on Feb 2. Honestly, I came close to collapsing out of boredom for most of the test. My center was CSU East Bay at Hayward, and itā€™s probably the most convenient Bay Area center for the South and East Bay, with tons of parking and a pretty nice drive up.

Listening was surprisingly good. I was a little concerned about the lack of headphones, but we were in a lecture hall which had fantastic acoustics and the sound was very clear. I almost missed a phone number question because I didnā€™t realize it was important, but luckily I was reflexively jotting down anything that sounded important, and managed to get that right.

Reading was the most boring section for me, so I was shocked I lost half a point. Maybe because I overthought one answer? Not sure. I finished way too early and took a bathroom break and got super bored watching the minutes tick slowly by.

Writing was great. To pad the time, I wrote way more than I should have for both tasks. The letter topic was to help a friend settle into your hometown, and the essay topic was an opinion piece on whether people buy too many material goods these days.

My speaking test was around 2 hours after my writing test, which gave me time to go off campus, grab a bite, and just take a walk around CSU. Speaking was pretty relaxed, I was asked about my hometown, what I like to do, my thoughts on computers, the internet. Task 2 was about a tourist location that isnā€™t visited very frequently, and then transitioned into a conversation about tourism and space tourism. I made a few puns and Iā€™m guessing that helped quite a bit. Pretty good experience overall.

Got my score on the 2nd. L9, R8.5, W9, S9, Overall 9. Got the max CRS points, which is all I wanted, so no complaints :smiley:

4 Likes
23

Wow @anurag.rb10 thatā€™s some serious score also youā€™re lucky to get that location. It was booked up when I tried had to drive 3 hours to central cali for my test. It was a beautiful drive with the early morning fog but even then.

I was asked about music choices etc and the lady had clearly never heard good trace music so I ended up throwing in Beatles and Springsteen just to keep her happy.

1 Like
24

Appeared for the exam on 20th Jan, 2018 in Bengaluru, India.
The process was smooth but reminded me of school days.

Order was
Listening: Had headphones. Initially, found it pretty simple. But, the speed picked up all of a sudden, and I missed couple of pointers.
Reading: It was pretty simple.
Writing: The most difficult one. Had barely written anything since years, and mis-managed time. Got the feeling that I screwed it.
Speaking: Was a pretty normal discussion, but I realised that I spoke too much, too fast.

Score was expected on 2nd Feb, but I got a mail that it will be delayed and they are doing a quality check. Researched about it and found that this could happen, if there is a difference of 2 or more points between the score of any two sections. It could also be because of more sinister reasons, but there is nothing one can do, but wait.

Finally, got the results on 13th Feb.
Listening: 8
Reading: 9
Writing: 7
Speaking: 7
Overall: 8

The test is easy in general, and one can easily score the highest possible CRS score, which I fell short of.
One should prepare a little. My overall prep was googling some FAQ/expert advice, during the 30 mins cab ride. At least, practice some amount of writing. Holding a pencil all of a sudden and with the clock running, things do get a little tight. Also, in the speaking test, donā€™t go too fast and speak clearly.

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25

Anyone here knows if this is possible?

the result is not showing up on results page of BC India websiteā€¦
but when i log in to my BC online account then it shows result thereā€¦
is that my real result or showing some dummy resultsā€¦

26

Ok guysā€¦ so now i am able to see results even on BC results pageā€¦
I got L8.5, R7, S7, W7

  1. I have masters but i need help from you all guys now to prove my experience of college teachingā€¦ Is teaching good to go for PR?
  2. my ECA probably will come in another 10-15 days from WESā€¦
    but my husband still going to appear for ielts and will take perhaps 2months more to get his ECAā€¦
    so can i create only my EE profile for only me?
    and later we add husband or create his profile separately a new one laterā€¦
    i am alone getting approx 441-442 pointsā€¦ last cutoff was 456 sadly increased too muchā€¦what do you suggest?
  3. Is there any scope to increase my CRS score by improving IELTS score more?

@anon25417004 @avj and others anyone.
please suggest

27

IELTS will help improve your own crs score.
You can create and submit EE profile and wait. Maybe cutoff will drop below your score. But Iā€™d recommend if your husband gets better crs score then cancel and submit new EE profile with him as principal applicant.

28

yes thats the planā€¦ if he gets required 8777 score then he will be primary as he has more experience than meā€¦ but my question was that can i create EE profile for me only without including himā€¦ as it will drop my score if i include him without his ECA (which will take abt 2 months more) and add him later after 2 monthsā€¦ what if i get ita within these 2 monthsā€¦ can i add him after itaā€¦ or can we have two separed EE profilesā€¦ one for me now and one for him after 2 monthsā€¦

29

If youā€™re married and did not declare that you have a spouse, in your application then that is misrepresentation. If you try to add him later they will know you were married when you submitted EE and will definitely charge you with misrepresentation. You need to submit marriage certificate and all that when you submit final documentation.

These things should be obvious.

Do not submit your profile. You should modify/create a new one and add ALL the information truthfully. Any misrepresentation can result in a 5 year ban from Canada and will affect all future applications.

1 Like
30

Sorry but how is it misrepresentationā€¦
we can simply declare i am marriedā€¦ but to the question about if spouse is going to travel with me to Canada, we can simply select No.

So in future this can be changed to Yes because then spouse would change his mind and will come to Canada with meā€¦ or if we still keep it No and spouse can create his own application laterā€¦
is anything wrong here?

31

Ok then it should be fine as long as youā€™re declaring that you have a spouse. I thought you meant not declaring him at all.

In this case you should add him later with his ielts and ECA and hopefully that will increase your score. In an earlier post it was also discussed that your score shouldnā€™t reduce below threshold (of when you got ITA) after you add spouse (with or without credentials and ielts score), else your ITA can be canceled/you should decline it.

If you add him later and the above condition holds then youā€™re fine. If not then you can do the landing and become a PR and then sponsor him in family based track (this will obviously take longer for him to arrive in Canada). @anon25417004 this is correct?

Note that a PR has to be physically in Canada when sponsoring family members; only Citizens can sponsor from abroad. They also have to show that they have the financial means (a.k.a. a job) to support them.

It might just be quicker to have both on the same application (with accompanying spouse) and both will get PR at same time with a couple of monthsā€™ delay.

1 Like
32

thanksā€¦ by sponsoring you mean my spouse will not need CRS score or ITA process etc. when you said PR needs to be physically in Canada when sponsoring family membersā€¦ or sill same CRS cutoff etc. he has to go through and he will just get 15 points extra because of me being a PR that timeā€¦ ?

yeah. right ā€¦best is to apply both togetherā€¦ i was just getting concerned of missing many draws if we wait for his eca etc. and without eca he reduces my pointsā€¦ :slight_smile:

33

Yes I mean completely different track: family based immigration. In that case youā€™ve to show relation, proof of funds to support family members etc.

I donā€™t really know what happens or what the procedure is if youā€™re a PR in Canada and he decides to still go through the EE path.

34

I did some more reading on google and it seems that both the husband and wife can create separate EE profiles with all the correct information. If both get the ITA then you decide whose profile is stronger and use that person as principle applicant and do the final submission with one profile.

1 Like
35

thats great information anshulā€¦ thanks for verifying thatā€¦

so both EE profiles can co-exist at the same time and be part of draws?

Another questionā€¦ can i add spouse education as bachelors for the beginning (as WES is quicker) but later update it to Masters (after we receive his masters ECA from IQAS or ICAS in few months)ā€¦

thanks again

36

Yes but then youā€™ve to decline one ITA if both of you get it.

If his bachelors eca gives you more points then sure.

37

It seems it will not workā€¦someone mentioned:

"You can edit your post ITA profile to indicate that your spouse is accompanying - a short LoE would be in order to explain this change. Remember that your score will be recalculated if your spouse is ā€˜accompanyingā€™ and your ITA will be void if the recalculated score falls below that drawā€™s cutoff.

Also remember that while recalculating the score, IRCC would consider as valid only those elements of your application which were in place as on the date of the draw - your spouseā€™s IELTS and ECA wouldnā€™t add to your recalculated score if they were received AFTER the draw date. In such a scenario, your spouseā€™s inclusion would reduce your overall score."

38

Guysā€¦ What documents are required to be taken to exam in USā€¦?
just passport?

what about any printout for any confirmation email or any other document?
also do they give pencils/eraser/sharpener there or should we need to take ours?

39

Just your passport is enough. You donā€™t need anything else take a bottle of water along itā€™ll take most of your day. Also no phones are allowed inside and itā€™s possible they donā€™t provide you storage either. I left my locked in the car so keep that in mind.

1 Like
40

Passport is a must.
They give you pencils etc, you can take your own if youā€™d like.
Very strict about water bottles - should be clear+transparent, i.e no colored plastics and no labels which sounds ridiculous but it is what it is.
The more stuff you leave in your car the less you will have to leave in the ā€œlockersā€ they provide (they are more like storage bins than lockers with tag that they give you in which they put your personal belongings).