Hi,
I'd like to share some inputs from someone coming from the same country.
APPLICATION:
>> No proof of funds needed during application, it comes after ITA.
>> Based on your timeline, you don't need to gather your financial data now, what you need to do is start saving so you can meet the minimum monetary requirements and have some left over, I think it's about 14,000 CAD this year (show money if you will). Get the bank accounts later.
>> I do not have immigration consultant. Based on the IRCC's website it seems you don't need one, assuming you're confident enough with your points.
IELTS:
>> I took my IELTS with British Council in BGC last March. CLB10 in speaking, writing and reading, CLB9 in listening. Personally I am happy with their service.
>> When you take either British Council or IDP, they will provide FREE online content and seminars and workshops, and when you attend those, they tend to focus a lot in writing; according to British Council statistically us Filipinos find writing the most difficult. Me personally, I find listening the most challenging simply because it tests not only your English skills but also focusing skills. Then again I have a good affinity for English even when I was young, so take it as it is.
>> As for training: listening and reading is something you can train for yourself, there are a lot of online content available for this, not just sample tests, but podcasts and articles to test your English comprehension. But for speaking and writing, I suggest to have your skills professionally evaluated. I took a few writing and speaking evaluations online, and my recommendation would be to go for ipassielts, they are not the cheapest out there but they are not the most expensive either, and I find their evaluations reasonably priced and very close to my final score. It took me 3 months to prepare for my exam. At the end of the day though, practice is the key.
EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT:
>> I paid for my WES assessment September last year, sent the transcripts in October and got my result in December. There's COVID these days so your mileage may vary.
>> WES has an online assessment tool, so you can preview what would the result be even before you send it.
https://applications.wes.org/ca/degree-equivalency-tool/
>> I got my Master's Degree from Mapua, and WES accredited it as a Master's Equivalent in Canada. My Bachelor's Degree from UST was also accredited as Bachelor's Equivalent in Canada. I've checked both with WES by the way even before sending my transcripts, so I'm confident of my evaluation even before the final assessment arrived.
Unfortunately, I didn't make it in the last round of invitations though, my EE profile was created in March, and the cut-off was February. Anyway good luck to us.
