CELPIP, IELTS or PTE Core for Canada: same CLB, three different tests

IRCC publishes one chart per test. Read across a row: these are the minimum scores IRCC lists for each CLB, in reading / writing / listening / speaking. CELPIP needs no conversion: its level is the CLB.

The chart stops at CLB 10 for all three tests. CELPIP's own scale runs to 12, but IRCC's chart lists nothing above 10 for any English test.

IELTS listening jumps 1.5 bands between CLB 7 and CLB 8: 6.0 is enough for CLB 7, but CLB 8 needs 7.5. No other step in IRCC's IELTS chart is that wide. A candidate who is comfortable at 6.0 in listening and needs CLB 8 has much further to go on IELTS than the CLB numbers suggest.

PTE Core writing is the steepest column at the top: CLB 9 needs 88 and CLB 10 needs 90, the maximum score. On PTE Core, speaking and writing also sit higher than listening and reading at every level from CLB 4 up: CLB 7 is 60 in listening and reading, but 68 in speaking and 69 in writing.

CELPIP has no conversion at all. Level 7 in a skill is CLB 7 in that skill. What it does have is a raw-score chart for listening and reading, out of 38, that celpip.ca says shifts slightly between test forms.

Our reading: because IRCC sets its minimums per skill, the useful comparison is not which test is easier overall but where your weakest skill sits on each chart. A strong listener aiming for CLB 8 may find the CELPIP or PTE Core step smaller than IELTS's 6.0-to-7.5 jump; someone whose writing is the weak skill should look hard at PTE Core's writing column before booking it.

CELPIP-General is one sitting of about 2 hours 50 minutes with no separate speaking day, and human raters, three to six per performance, score speaking and writing. Results in 2 to 4 business days. celpip.ca lists it at $299 plus applicable taxes.

PTE Core is about 2 hours, at a test centre, and scored entirely by computer, with no human examiner at any point. Results usually within two business days, up to five. Pearson sets the price by country and shows it in its price finder.

IELTS General Training is the only IELTS version IRCC accepts for Express Entry or citizenship; IELTS Academic is refused. Release times differ by format; our IELTS guide sets them out from IELTS's own pages.

Express Entry: IRCC says results must be less than 2 years old when you complete your profile and again when you submit your permanent residence application, whichever test you took.

Citizenship: IRCC asks applicants aged 18 to 54 for listening and speaking at CLB 4 and accepts results even if they are expired. CELPIP also sells a cheaper listening-and-speaking test, CELPIP-General LS at $199, which celpip.ca says is used for citizenship applications. The full list of accepted proofs is in our Canadian citizenship language proof guide.