This week I looked at what tests are accepted at the twenty Canadian colleges that received the most study permit approvals in 2023. Obviously these guys took a big hit in 2024, but they are still bringing in huge numbers of students. More than most of the major Canadian universities. They remain very important to the bottom lines of our favorite test companies.
I originally intended to list only 10 schools, but this was such an amusing exercise that I kept going. Just keep in mind that most of these schools have dreadful websites with information that is sometimes contradictory (and possibly incomplete). On top of that, they frequently claim to accept tests that are no longer offered. St. Lawrence College wins the grand prize in that regard: they still list the TOEFL CBT, which was discontinued 19 long years ago.
So please forgive me for any errors. This was sometimes tough going.
Here’s a list of which tests are accepted, and how frequently. Scroll down for a few observations.
- TOEFL: 20 schools
- IELTS: 20 schools
- DET: 18 schools
- CAEL: 17 schools
- PTE: 17 schools
- Cambridge exams: 14 schools
- MET: 5 schools
- LanguageCert: 4 schools
- iTEP: 4 schools
- Password: 2 schools
- Oxford ELLT: 2 schools
- OOPT: 1 schools
- CELPIP: 1 school
- TOEIC: 1 school
- EIKEN: 1 school
- CLBPT: 1 school
- CLBA: 1 school
In addition, Conestoga and George Brown have in-house tests students can use.
A few observations are worth making:
- The mighty Conestoga College stopped listing the DET as an acceptable test sometime in February of 2025. I bet there’s a story to be told. Could it be that Conestoga prefers that its in-house test be the only low-cost option?
- Lambton College says that Indian students can ONLY submit IELTS scores.
- Algonquin College accepts the TOEFL, but not the home edition.
- St. Lawrence college accepts the EIKEN, MET and DET… but not from Indians.
- I can’t find a single scrap of information about the in-house Conestoga test. But if I can crowdsource $95, I’ll take the frigging thing myself.
Find the complete list in this LinkedIn post.