People have a lot of reasons for wanting to come to Canada. Some want to immigrate, become permanent residents and eventually become Canadian citizens. Others may want to come to Canada to study and learn at one of the many high-caliber post-secondary education institutions. In both of these cases, taking an English language test is part of the application process to come to Canada.
The CELPIP test is one of only two tests approved for English language standards by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for immigration applications. Alternatively, the CAEL test is for potential students who are not Canadian citizens and are planning on studying at a Canadian post-secondary institution. Both of these tests have multiple components to assess the English language skills of the applicant.
Doing well on these exams is important because the language skills test will result in a point value that contributes to the overall points for an immigration application. Therefore applicants must ensure they do their best within each section of their exam in order to obtain the best score possible. That’s why CAEL preparation and CELPIP preparation are so important, the results of the exam directly adds to the ability to immigrate to, or study in, Canada.
Prepare for Your English Language Test
No matter if you are doing CAEL preparation or CELPIP preparation, there are two key points to keep in mind. First is to identify your weaknesses, second is to plan your studying.
Knowing your weaknesses with the English language is a great way to identify where to put your efforts and will actually help you with planning. Each exam consists of four sections: reading, writing, listening and speaking. You will want to study for each section, but by identifying which section is the most challenging for you will allow you to commit more time to it.
For example, speaking is often one of the hardest sections for people. It can be difficult putting thoughts together and speaking clearly about them within a time limit.
What you need to know for the speaking section
When it comes to the speaking proficiency portion of the test, there are a few methods you can use to study and improve your skills.
- Practice with someone who speaks English and have everyday conversations. Ask the other person if your thoughts are coming across clearly and if your word use is correct.
- Ask that same person to provide you with a short article or story in English. Read it through and then tell them what you think the piece was about. Again, ask for their feedback.
- Practice speaking into a microphone on your computer because both exams are fully computer-based. Record yourself, then listen to what you’ve said or have someone else listen. Alternatively, you can put the recording through transcriber software then copy and paste it into a word-processing tool to see where the errors are.
- Listen to a wide range of English-spoken recordings and pay close attention to the way words are pronounced and how sentences are structured.
- Read aloud from English materials.
Plan Your Studying
Once you have identified the areas where you need to spend more time, you can make a choice about how you want to approach your studying. Some people prefer to take CAEL preparation courses or CELPIP preparation courses. Other individuals would rather study on their own.
The benefit of a course is that the structure is already in place. For those studying on their own, there is a need to block time off in the calendar and determine which components of the exam will be focused on when. Ideally, you will want a few weeks of studying before you take the exam, so plan to practice your skills several hours a week. Each week may look different, but for example, if speaking requires more attention, spend 3 hours a week on speaking and one hour on each of the other sections for a total of six hours each week.
Before booking your CAEL or CELPIP exam, be sure to plan your studying to help you obtain the best result possible.
