Which English or French Test Should I Take for Express Entry?

For English: CELPIP-General, IELTS General Training, and PTE Core. For French: TEF Canada and TCF Canada. That is the whole list. Every one of them tests all four abilities, and IRCC converts each to CLB or NCLC levels with its own tables.

IELTS Academic. Many people take it for university admission and assume it carries over. It does not. Express Entry needs the General Training version.

IELTS One Skill Retake. IRCC says it does not accept this for Express Entry, so if one ability came up short you sit the whole test again.

PTE Academic. Only PTE Core is accepted. And for CELPIP, IRCC says you must take the General test, which covers all four abilities.

Taking the wrong version is an expensive mistake, because the fee is gone and the profile cannot be built until you sit the right one.

IRCC treats them equally once converted to CLB, so the choice comes down to practical things. Which one has a seat near you soonest. And how each test's scale maps to the CLB level you need, because the conversion tables are not identical across tests.

Run your practice scores through our CLB converter before you book. It uses IRCC's tables for all five tests, so you can see which one gets you to CLB 7 or CLB 9 with the least distance to cover.

You book the test with an agency approved by IRCC and pay the fee yourself. When you build your Express Entry profile you enter the results, and the certificate number and test PIN if the system asks for them. IRCC verifies the results you submit.

Results must be under two years old when you complete your profile and when you submit the application for permanent residence. If they will expire before you can apply, IRCC gives three choices: test again, apply before the expiry date, or decline the invitation and return to the pool. An application filed with expired results is refused.

You can submit results in English and French. Under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, at least CLB 5 in all four abilities in your second language earns 4 selection factor points. The CRS grid also awards points for a second official language. If you have real ability in both, the second test is often worth booking.

Before anyone books, we check which version of which test they need, what CLB level their target program requires, and how far their practice scores are from it. In our experience, a test booked with that in hand rarely has to be repeated.