The applicants are tested on their English proficiency on a scale from 1â€“9 in four skills: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. The test will be done at an official British Council IELTS test centre and the duration of the test is 2 hours and 45 minutes long.
IELTS uses a 9-band scoring system to measure and report test scores. Applicants will receive individual band scores for listening, reading, writing and speaking and an Overall Band Score on a band scale from one to nine.
Once the applicant has received their score it will need to be converted to the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) as this is what is used on their visa application. The CLB describes 12 levels of language ability in each of the four skills mentioned above. The CLB has three stages, they are:
â€¢ Stage 1 covers basic language ability (benchmarks 1 to 4);
â€¢ Stage 2 covers intermediate language ability (benchmarks 5 to 8); and
â€¢ Stage 3 covers advanced language ability (benchmarks 9 to 12).