Visa Screen: Which English Exam Should I Choose?
October 05, 2022
Previously, the IELTS and TOEFL iBT were the only English Exams that were accepted by agencies like CGFNS International for the purposes of obtaining a Visa Screen for Immigration processing. As of August 1, 2022, there are now more English Exams that are being accepted alongside IELTS and TOEFL iBT for the purposes of Visa Screening.
This news is exciting because it provides healthcare professionals with even more options for meeting their English Exam requirement for obtaining their Visa Screen and moving forward with their Immigration process. At the same time, with several new English Exam options come several new variables to consider when deciding on which exam to take.
Learning, understanding, and weighing all these different variables may seem challenging or confusing at first. In this post, we will help by giving an overview of each English Exam accepted for Visa Screen and presenting some key variables to consider when deciding which English Exam is right for you to take to earn your required English scores.
Which English Exams are Accepted for the Purposes of the Visa Screen?
CGFNS and Josef Silny will accept passing, non-expired scores from the following English Exams for the purposes of Visa Screening:
- IELTS
- TOEFL iBT (Internet-Based Test)
- Cambridge Assessment English
- TOEIC
- Michigan English Test (MET)
- Occupational English Test (OET)
- Pearson Academic Test (PTE)
Will Avant Healthcare Professionals Require Me to Take a Specific English Exam?
No. The decision of which exam to take to meet the requirements for Visa Screening is up to you. However, we do encourage our healthcare professionals to consider the variables mentioned below when making their decision.
What Variables Should I Consider When Making My Choice?
Several variables could be considered when determining which English Exam will serve your needs. Let’s walk through some of these variables to consider when making this choice.
To begin, take a look at the chart below. In this cart, we compare some key variables that our healthcare professionals often ask about when determining which exam is right for them.
Considerations for Immigration.
As you may know, obtaining your VisaScreen certificate is a required part of the Immigration process. You will be required to present your VisaScreen during your Exit Interview. To get to your Exit Interview and arrive to the U.S. faster, in addition to completing all your requirements for the Immigration Team, you will need to obtain your VisaScreen with the help of the Credentialing and Avant English Program Teams.
Non-expired English proficiency test results that meet the requirements specified by the federal government are one of the required items for obtaining a VisaScreen. Please see the chart above for the current Required Scores on each English Exam accepted for the purposes of VisaScreening.
When choosing an exam, it is important to understand that it is in your best interest to earn your required English scores ASAP so you can get your VisaScreen, progress through the Immigration process, and arrive to the U.S. sooner.
With this information in mind, we advise asking yourself this question: Do I think I will be able to earn my required scores on this exam in a 1 to 4-month timeframe? Our goal is for Avant nurses to earn their required English scores within this timeframe, and the Avant English Program is designed to help Avant nurses accomplish this goal with any English Exam they choose to take.
What are your strengths and weaknesses in English testing?
Now that there are more options available for English testing, you can select an exam that will allow you to maximize on your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses in English testing. This means that an important question you will want to ask yourself when deciding which exam to take is: Which exam format gives me the most opportunity to utilize my strengths and compensate for my weaknesses in English testing?
To help you answer this question, consider the following:
- What is your level of comfortability with technology? Do you prefer to take paper-based exams or computer-based exams?
- If you prefer paper-based exams, you may want to steer away from options like TOEFL or PTE, which are 100% computer-based.
- How confident are you when speaking to a person face-to-face in English?
- If you are confident doing this and even prefer this option, then OET or IELTS may be good for you, as both tests have a face-to-face Speaking test.
- If you are not confident doing this, then perhaps a test like PTE or TOEFL with a computer-based Speaking test may be a good fit.
- Where do your greatest strengths lie in terms of vocabulary and fluency?
- Are your generalized academic vocabulary skills stronger than your medical English skills? If so, taking an Academic English test like IELTS, TOEFL, or PTE may be a good choice.
- Are you much more fluent when speaking in medial terms specifically? If so, then the OET may be a great option.
- Test taking anxiety is a real challenge that can prevent people from earning their required scores. What kind of testing environment do you need to help you feel comfortable and confident?
- If you are easily distracted by other people and noises or get nervous taking a test in a room full of people – especially a Speaking test – then options such as TOEFL or PTE may not be the right fit. These Speaking tests are taken in a room with other test takers who may be speaking at different times.
- If you get nervous knowing that your rater is in front of you during a Speaking test, then this could present some anxiety during the IELTS exam, where one of your raters is conducting the test with you.
- If you get nervous using English outside of your professional comfort zone, then maybe an Academic English test like IELTS, TOEFL, or PTE may not be a good option, and a nursing-focused exam like OET would be more of a natural fit.
How much time have you invested in preparing for a particular exam?
Preparing to earn required scores on an English proficiency exam is no easy task, and it often takes a while (from several weeks to several months) to build familiarity with the format, question types, language skills, and test-taking strategies needed to earn target scores.
With that in mind, it is important to consider how much experience and familiarity you have with a particular English Exam. The more knowledge, experience, and familiarity you have with an exam, the more likely you may be to achieve the required scores within a shorter timeframe.
For instance, if you have been studying for the IELTS exam for 5 months, this means you have 5 months’ worth of knowledge, experience, skills, and strategies needed to earn target scores on the exam.
Some questions you should ask yourself (and discuss with the Avant English Program Team) when evaluating whether it is worth switching to a new exam are:
- Does it make sense to learn a new exam from the ground up?
- How much time would it take you to learn the new exam?
- How much of a delay would learning a new exam create in your Immigration process?
- Do you have access to resources to learn this new exam?
- The Avant English Program provides free resources for IELTS, TOEFL, OET, and PTE preparation, and all these resources were developed in-house by our team of English Instructors with over 50 years of combined experience in English Exam teaching.
- How confident are you in your ability to earn required scores on the first try on a new exam? What is your confidence based on?
- How much more time could be added to your Immigration timeline if you didn’t get your required scores on the first try?
- Do not make decisions based on what your friends say. Make decisions based on an honest evaluation of your personal strengths and weaknesses in the English language and the aspects of each Exam that can lead you to maximize on your strengths and persevere through your weaknesses.
Financial resources for investing in your English Exam.
As shown in the chart above, not all English Exams come with the same price tag. Some exams start as low as $150 USD, while some can range to as high as $450 USD (depending on where you are testing).
Currently, Avant Healthcare Professionals does not cover the cost of English Exams. Therefore, it is important that you take stock of your financial resources and goals to invest in an English Exam. We advise planning with the idea that you may need to take more than 1 English Exam and/or choose to request remarks to achieve your required scores. We also advise keeping in mind that the more money you can save and bring with you to the United States, the more it may help you during your transition period later down the road.
If this is your second exam, how did you do on your last test?
If you have already taken an English Exam and did not receive the required scores, that is okay! If you do not earn the required scores on your first exam attempt, then it is a good idea to take a step back and analyze what happened, as well as what more you need to do to earn the required scores on the second try.
To give an example, if you took the IELTS exam and received an Overall score of 6.5 and a Speaking score of 6.5, then you know you would only be 0.5 bands away from getting your 7.0 Speaking score. After understanding this, what you should do next is ask this question: What more do I need to be able to do to reach my desired score, and how quickly can I do what is necessary to make that happen?
For someone who is only 0.5 bands away from the target score of 7.0 in Speaking, this may mean completing 1-on-1 coaching with an Avant English Program Instructor on a study schedule for a period of 1 to 2 months to further sharpen the needed skills for earning the 7.0 Speaking score, which is a plan that leads many nurses with this score profile to success in a shorter timeframe.
However, if you took IELTS and got an Overall and Speaking score of 6.0, then this means you would be 0.5 bands away from getting your Overall score and 1 full band away from getting your Speaking score. To make up for this gap in performance, you may need to go back and improve in various skill areas (Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking), and you may need to spend more time working with an Avant English Program Instructor 1-on-1 before you start demonstrating the skills needed to earn a 7.0 in Speaking.
At this point, it would be a good idea for you to consider your Immigration timeline and if re-taking the same exam is the best option from this perspective. The farther away you are from meeting your score requirements, the more generally advisable it may be to consider other testing options – especially a testing option that has some degree of overlap in terms of exam format, needed test taking strategies, needed language competencies, scoring practices and measurements, etc.
If you are just a short way away from getting your required scores, then it may be helpful to remember that all English proficiency exams are standardized tests. A standardized test is created to be administered and scored in a consistent, “standard” manner, and the scoring procedures are conducted so exams are graded the same way for everyone. When it comes to the statistics of standardized language tests, there is a well-known trend that you are statistically more likely to increase your scores each time you take a standardized language test. This is because you build more familiarity/experience with an exam’s “standard” format and scoring procedures each time you take it. With this knowledge, you can tailor your performance to meet the criteria for earning the needed scores.
How will the Exam prepare you for life on the job in the United States?
Finally, it is important to remember that the reason you are taking an English Exam is to prove that you have the advanced English language skills required to care for real U.S. patients with a variety of health-related needs safely and effectively.
As nurses, you know firsthand how important communication is for the patient experience. For you to be successful on your new assignment in the United States, it is important that you feel confident and linguistically ready to care for all kinds of patients in the U.S. in English. Preparing for an English Exam is the first step in this process, and the benefits of preparing for an English Exam will extend far beyond the VisaScreening process and into your new life and career in the U.S.
Be honest with yourself and ask what skills you need to ensure you have the advanced language skills that will be necessary to practice safely, confidently, and successfully in English.
Do you need an exam that will strengthen your overall medical English skills? Then perhaps OET is the way to go.
Do you need one that will expose you to a wide range of conversation topics that will prepare you to talk about many things with your colleagues and community outside of work? Then maybe IELTS is right for you.
Do you need to push yourself out of your comfort zone and get comfortable with speaking English face-to-face rather than in front of a computer? Then maybe you should avoid exams like PTE, TOEFL, MET, or TOEIC which have computer-based Speaking tests rather than in-person Speaking tests.
Do you struggle with anxiety and low confidence when speaking English with native speakers face-to-face? Then maybe it’s time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and challenge yourself to take an exam with a face-to-face speaking component like OET or IELTS.
Be honest with yourself about what you need to be successful in English in the long term. Then, use your English Exam preparation time as an opportunity to invest in your own success and professional development. We guarantee that you will thank yourself later!
Conclusion
We hope that reading this post has helped to give you some clarity and variables to consider when deciding which English Exam will meet your needs for Visa Screening and beyond. If you have any additional questions, please contact us!
Avant Healthcare Professionals is the premier recruiting and staffing specialist for internationally educated healthcare professionals. When you join the Avant Healthcare Professionals program, you have entire teams of experts who are dedicated to your success in the USA! Take the first step toward your new life and a new career. Apply today to find out if you qualify to be part of this exclusive program!. You could be working in the U.S. in as little as 12 months!
