CELPIP & IELTS General · for Canadian immigration
Richmond — former IELTS examiner
I marked IELTS for fifteen years. Now I help people pass it.
I was an IELTS examiner for fifteen years and I've spent eighteen years teaching IELTS and CELPIP — two of the tests that decide your CLB score, and with it your immigration application.
Most people who come to me are stuck: a band short, a second attempt looming, no clear idea what's actually costing them marks. I know what's costing them marks, because I spent fifteen years deciding.
The Canadian Language Benchmarks run 1–12. Your immigration program sets the number you need — CLB 9 is shown here only as an example. Everything I do is built backward from your target.
15 years marking IELTS as an examiner
18 years teaching IELTS and CELPIP
17,042 lessons taught
139 student reviews
Who is marking your work
A former examiner, not a marking service.
For fifteen years I was an IELTS examiner — applying the band descriptors to real scripts, over and over. For eighteen I've taught IELTS and CELPIP. I read your actual writing and tell you exactly where the marks are going.
I'm not an app and I'm not an AI marking service. What none of those can do is look at your Task 2 and name the habit — often carried over from your first language — that's kept you stuck at CLB 7 for a year. That's the part I do.
Where to start
Each one is a defined piece of work with a fixed price.
Not hours on a clock — a named deliverable you can hold. Pick the one that fits where you are.
Writing Feedback
US$25Sent back within 24 hours
Upload two writing tasks. Get marked feedback with a CLB estimate for each task, back within 24 hours.
Pay US$25 and upload →Full Diagnostic
US$4560 minutes, live
You send both writing tasks at least 24 hours ahead and I mark them before we meet. The 60-minute session is live: what's costing you marks and exactly how to fix it, plus a short speaking check. A written report follows within 24 hours — a CLB estimate per skill, what to work on first, and a study plan to your test date.
See the diagnostic →Speaking Simulation
US$3545 minutes, live
A full CELPIP or IELTS speaking simulation under timed conditions, live over video with a former IELTS examiner — followed by specific feedback on what's costing you marks and a CLB estimate.
See speaking practice →Session packages
4 to 16 sessions
A bundle of 60-minute live sessions to spend however you need them — speaking, writing, or test technique — on a schedule built to your test date.
See the packages →You can buy a practice test anywhere. What's hard to find is someone who has sat on the other side of the table and can tell you, specifically, why your writing is a 7 and not a 9.
Preparing for IELTS Academic instead? I coach that too →
Results
What students have said
6 in every section → Listening 11, Reading 9, Writing 8, Speaking 7 — first attempt
“Just don't waste time and book the lesson! I had barely 6 in each section of Celpip and after only 4 months I passed my exam from the very first attempt (Listening 11, Reading 9, Writing 8, Speaking 7)”
8.5 overall — L9.0 · R8.5 · W7.5 · S9.0
“Richmond is an amazing tutor that helped me to prepare for the IELTS test! Having experience of a former IELTS examiner, Richmond taught me the hacks and tricks on how to perform during the exam, and I passed with 8.5 score (C2) with 9.0 for Listening, 8.5 for Reading, 7.5 for Writing and 9.0 for Speaking!”
Speaking 5.5 → 7
“Richmond is an excellent teacher. After his coaching in my IELTS speaking, my score improved from 5.5 to 7.”
Reviews from my tutoring profile, where I've taught 17,042 lessons.
See more student results →Founding students
I'm opening with founding-student pricing for the first ten students, in exchange for a testimonial and permission to publish the result. Their results will be published here, with permission.