NCLC or CLB? The IELTS, CELPIP, PTE Core and TCF Canada score for levels 4 to 10

NCLC or CLB, the same scale

CLB stands for Canadian Language Benchmarks and NCLC for Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens, its French twin. IRCC says it uses CLB for English and NCLC for French. A French test gives you an NCLC level, an English test a CLB level, and IRCC sets its minimums with the same numbers, for example CLB 7 or NCLC 7 in all four abilities for the Federal Skilled Worker Program. There is no conversion to do between NCLC and CLB, only between a test score and a level. More on the scale in what NCLC is.

Which tests

IRCC accepts only these versions. IELTS General Training (not Academic), CELPIP-General and PTE Core (not PTE Academic). In French, TCF Canada and TEF Canada.

CELPIP-General

CELPIP is the simplest. Your score in each skill is your CLB level, from 4 to 9, and a score of 10 or more gives CLB 10 and above.

Listening

Level	IELTS GT	PTE Core	TCF Canada
10+	8.5 or more	89+	549–699
9	8.0	82–88	523–548
8	7.5	71–81	503–522
7	6.0	60–70	458–502
6	5.5	50–59	398–457
5	5.0	39–49	369–397
4	4.5	28–38	331–368

Reading

Level	IELTS GT	PTE Core	TCF Canada
10+	8.0 or more	88+	549–699
9	7.0	78–87	524–548
8	6.5	69–77	499–523
7	6.0	60–68	453–498
6	5.0	51–59	406–452
5	4.0	42–50	375–405
4	3.5	33–41	342–374

Writing

Level	IELTS GT	PTE Core	TCF Canada
10+	7.5 or more	90+	16–20
9	7.0	88–89	14–15
8	6.5	79–87	12–13
7	6.0	69–78	10–11
6	5.5	60–68	7–9
5	5.0	51–59	6
4	4.0	41–50	4–5

Speaking

Level	IELTS GT	PTE Core	TCF Canada
10+	7.5 or more	89+	16–20
9	7.0	84–88	14–15
8	6.5	76–83	12–13
7	6.0	68–75	10–11
6	5.5	59–67	7–9
5	5.0	51–58	6
4	4.0	42–50	4–5

TCF Canada listening and reading are scored out of 699, writing and speaking out of 20. IELTS is given as IRCC prints it, one band per level and a range for level 10. For TEF Canada, IRCC uses the “Équivalence ancien score” column of your results, and those bands are in the TCF and TEF conversion table.

Reading these tables well

• Each skill is converted on its own. Your level is not an average. A program that asks for level 7 wants 7 in each of the four skills.
• The same number does not mean the same score. Level 7 is 6.0 in IELTS reading but 453 in TCF Canada reading. Each test has its own scale, which is why IRCC publishes a table per test rather than a table between tests.
• What the level is worth. In the CRS, points depend on the level and on whether the language is your first or second official language, see CRS points for French.

If your target is NCLC 7 in French, that means 10 out of 20 in TCF Canada writing. Write one task and see where your estimated mark sits.