IELTS:ACADEMIC VS GENERAL

[Leon]

dude, you are advising people to do academic for their immigration if they wish to do studies in Canada later but this is dangerous thinking since CIC clearly asks for general training. Just because your IO accepted your academic doesn't mean that they have to. It's very clear in the CIC rules. They can refuse it if they want to. Please to not advise people to go against the application guides as posted by CIC.

 

[vamsi001]

Thanks Leon
Some people don't know how grievous it could be to misinform other people. It is better not to say anything than to MISINFORM people on the forum.
This happened to me personally, I was not aware of this forum when i applied. I sat for academic ielts and had 7.0.
My application was not refused but they wrote to me to go and re-do ielts and specifically informed me to do general.
I also scored 7.0 there. Truly, academic is tougher than general but for immigration, according to their website,they want us to
do general. Some people have been lucky to get away with it by doing academic instead of general. I was unlucky so it is not fair
to advise people to do academic when cic say they want general ielts.

To Avtandyl,
check this link, it is from the cic website where it says you must do general ielts for immigration
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http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/language-testing.asp
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[dude]

I was not advising anybody, I just told what happened with me. According to the site and the link which you have put, hereafter we must not do the Academic IELTS. When I had applied in April 2009 the same page did'nt have that particular sentence exactly "Note: IELTS has two options for the reading and writing tests: General Training and Academic. You must take the General Training option." They might have updated it recently. I am having emails sent by different embassy people telling me that academic will be accepted, even many CSIC members also told me the same during that time.

Everyone must read the CIC website regularly because they keep on changing many things. I guess some people like me got through with the academic score because they might have given points for other two topics except Reading and Writing. Since I had scored max points as per their table for other two (I got 4 points each for that) I still managed to have more than 67 points. My intention was never to give any misleading information or to advice anybody. In a forum, people will share different views but ultimately its the responsibility of each applicant to read official documents and file their application.

I still have a doubt that if somebody requires only points from Listening and Speaking alone to get 67 points they may use the academic TRF. In their document they have mentioned general training in two columns only. If all topic points must be from General training TRF then they need not specifically mention GT just for two of them. Please refer the IELTS related table in this link http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/EG72.asp.

If there is a chance to use academic TRF for people who have already done it, need not unnecessarily do IELTS again, so if you both can clarify the above mentioned doubt then it could be useful for people who have accidentally done academic. I hope nobody will do academic again because now it is clearly told in their website.

 

[Leon]

If you read the post above yours, you see the guy saying he did Academic and they made him take General Training anyway. I think it depends on the IO. You can get lucky with an IO who is not very picky or is having a good day or you could get unlucky and get a picky one.

 

[adamgt4]

I just told my case and if the whole process is transparent i believe everyone should be treated the same. I guess i didnt advice anybody to take Academic and for your information i had read CIC instructions before sending my application and the IO gave me 14 points for Academic. I shared that info with others thats all. Academic is more tough exam and if people wish to do it, what is wrong in it? They want to do some course after immigration, for which academic is necessary so if Academic is a superior exam then why not accept it ? That maybe the reason why it is being accepted. A person having sense can't reject a superior test ...its like saying ur being rejected cuz ur over qualified. I dont hav anything to say to such people. I believe, all applicants will read the instructions of CIC and file their application. So if somebody thought like me and wanted to do academic they should know there are people like me who got accepted by taking academic. For them only I shared my case, rest of the people can go ahead with general. Anyways general is less tough exam than academic so go for it guys who don't wish to do studies after reaching there.

I am an Immigration Consultant and i have filed all my cases with academic IELTS and i had no problem whatsoever.

 

[adamgt4]

I am an Immigration Consultant and I have filed cases with academic with no problems whatsoever.

 

[adamgt4]

Thanks Leon
Some people don't know how grievous it could be to misinform other people. It is better not to say anything than to MISINFORM people on the forum.
This happened to me personally, I was not aware of this forum when i applied. I sat for academic ielts and had 7.0.
My application was not refused but they wrote to me to go and re-do ielts and specifically informed me to do general.
I also scored 7.0 there. Truly, academic is tougher than general but for immigration, according to their website,they want us to
do general. Some people have been lucky to get away with it by doing academic instead of general. I was unlucky so it is not fair
to advise people to do academic when cic say they want general ielts.

it is possible that your test had expired thats the only
they CANNOT refuse ur application because of Academic IELTS

 

[Leon]

If you look at the operational manual for skilled worker at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op06-eng.pdf you will find on pages 3 and 4 some lists of updates. You will find there that on April 1, 2010, they decided that both academic and general training were acceptable but on July 26, 2010, they decided again that only general training is acceptable. Before, the visa officer could consider other evidence of language proficiency like written submissions or other language tests but they don't do that any more so if somebody has the absolute urge to apply with something other than general training IELTS, it is your risk to take.