IELTS or TOEFL: what to choose?

Today we publish the latest article from the IELTS test series . We touched upon all the main questions concerning this exam, - we talked about the general features of IELTS, about its structure and grading system, about how the registration and taking the test are going, and talked about preparing for IELTS. All 4 publications are available on our blog .

Today, we would like to consider the similarities and differences between the IELTS and TOEFL tests - after all, until the last few candidates can not decide which test is better for them. We will try to answer this question - not putting forward any value judgments, but objectively analyzing the characteristics of each test and their similarities, which, of course, are many.
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Recently, studying abroad has become very popular. This is an opportunity to improve the level of the language being studied, to gain experience of living in another country and to get acquainted with its culture. A prerequisite is to confirm the level of language proficiency, for which you need to provide a certificate with the results of the international exam. In this regard, applicants often have a question, which test to choose: IELTS or TOEFL .

Of course, first of all, it depends on the requirements that the educational institution makes. Most American universities and colleges recognize the TOEFL certificate, although some IELTS consider it an equivalent alternative. In this case, choosing between the delivery of IELTS or TOEFL, you should focus on the specific advantages and disadvantages of each of them.

Similarities exams

These two popular tests have a lot in common. First, both TOEFL and IELTS assess foreigners' knowledge of English. Secondly, their results are used not only for admission to universities, but also for many other purposes. For example, immigration, employment, internship or applying to any foreign organization. Thirdly, the structure of the IELTS test and TOEFL is almost identical.

Each of the tests consists of four sections: Reading - helps assess reading skills, Listening - the ability to perceive information by ear, Speaking - evaluates oral speech, and Writing - written. There is no rigorous assessment of grammatical norms in any test. Compliance with the rules is assessed by the answers that the subject gives in the Speaking and Writing sections.



Differences

The main difference between these tests is that TOEFL assesses the American dialect of English, and IELTS - British. And although the differences between these adverbs are not significant, yet some phonetic and grammatical aspects can cause difficulties even for those who are fluent in the language.

TOEFL is usually taken electronically, and IELTS test is performed on paper. Oral speech in the Speaking section of the TOEFL test is recorded on a microphone and then sent to a special center where the test is carried out. And passing an IELTS interview involves personal contact with the examiner.

While taking the test in the TOEFL exam, the subject is invited to listen to the passage, making the necessary notes, and only then questions will appear that need to be answered. In a similar section of the IELTS test, you can immediately see a list of questions. This will allow the candidate to catch the necessary information in time in those parts of the recording, where there are answers to the questions posed.



Also, tests have a different rating system: for example, the IELTS calculates the arithmetic average of the total points received by the subjects for all four sections. Thus, the assessment range is from 0 to 9, in increments of 0.5 points. And the evaluation of the results in TOEFL is the sum of the points scored for all sections of the test, with the maximum score that the subject can receive is 120.

As for the exam duration, IELTS lasts about 3 hours, and TOEFL lasts about 4 hours.

Next time we will begin the TOEFL publication cycle and tell you in detail about the features of this test.

The author of the article is Vyacheslav Davidenko, founder of MBA Consult