I just want to clear up a few things here, as people are becoming confused. I turned 33 on 5th May 2016 and now have 60 points for occupation Developer Programmer. I was never told about there being a 'pass mark of 65', just that I needed to achieve 60 points for the 189 visa. After getting my IELTS appeal, I had 65 points and therefore thought I have done very well and would be well along the way to being invited. My agent even congratulated me at this point. Along with the fact I had 65 points for the invitation on 27th April and still it wasn't good enough!
I received my INCORRECT IELTS exam result back in early February 2016. Therefore, even if I had taken the next IELTS exam in late February and managed to score level 8s (which is damn hard - it took me 3 attempts), after waiting 13 days and allowing a few days for the certificate to be posted through, I would have been struggling to make the cut off date of 8th March for 23rd March invitation round:
http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Skil/23-march-2016-round-results
http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Skil/27-april-2015-round-results
(Correct link despite the incorrect date. This is the round I had 65 points for but didn't make the cut off. I hope this explains my situation better, it is all incredibly complex and distressing).
I am just disappointed that I was not informed earlier of all these things because I could of planned my application better had I been told the critical details of the application process back in the beginning of the journey, such as a 'pass mark' for the 189 and that the chances on a 190 are low. I think from what I have been told, the process has been tightened right up over the past year, especially for the 190 selections. I'm guessing that a year ago when I began all this, I would have got in OK with the points I have now!?
CiderDrinkingCoder.. do you also have 60 points as a Developer Programmer for the 189? Thanks again guys for your comments I am new to this site.