Difference between TOEFL and IELTS

Difference between TOEFL and IELTS

If you applying for a university particularly in an English speaking country. English is the language which is not native language of half of the world. It is a binding force which connects so many regions sand people together. Consider, if English is not your first language, in this case when you will apply for a university your college or university will take at test that may be ielts and toefl.

In this tunnel, there are two kinds of test that are mainly related to the English language. And these are the tests which are accepted by the universities globally. These are two tests which assess the person’s proficiency. But there is a problem which most of the students face is that which is one the better suitable option for us? Either IETS or TOFEL? To wipe out the confusion, let’s go through the difference between TOEFL and IELTS.

What is TOEFL

TOEFL says Test of English as a Foreign Language.

What is IELTS

IELTS stands for English Language Testing Service.

TOEFL vs IELTS

What are the basics? It is obvious that both are designed to the test the proficiency of your English language. More specifically it checks your ability to take an interaction, your communication ability and how you are more serious in an English speaking culture. It is usually a requirement for those students whom native language is not English but they all need it to pass out their test. In many countries these test are conducted for the visa. At the same time, high scores in the standardized tests – SAT/GRE or a English-heavy course curriculum at the high-school or Bachelor’s degree level (for students applying for Master’s and PhD’s abroad) may exempt you from these requirements, though this is the exception, not the norm. In 90% cases, you will be required to take either the IELTS or TOEFL.

What they test? As far as both are concerned, they both are divided into four sections:

Reading: This section is more closely related to check the reading abilities of yours. In this section, there will be 3 or may sometimes 4 passages in front of you.

Listening: In this section your listening ability will be checked, as the lectures would be involved in it. It is a difficult part of your test but will give you social as well as academic success in your career. You will asked to listen the recordings and few questions will be solved by your listening ability.

Writing: In this section, your writing abilities would be a major focus. You will ask to write a summary of an academic discussion, and also expresses an opinion about it, in short, the feedback also requires in it.

Speaking: This section checks your speaking proficiency it means how much you are fluent in speaking. Some of them interviews as the basics and some of them do conduct it in the form of discussion or any topic.

What would be the major differences in both these?

• A Question of Acceptance!

As far as IELTS is concerned, it is a British test, it is mostly accepted in the common wealth, the counties and the colleges which are involved in this acceptance is Britain, Canada, new Zealand and Australia. Also, it is to be noted that many American universities accept ielts as well.

When we keep in mind about toefl, it was mainly developed by Centre of applied linguistics. It has a wide acceptance in US universities. But keep in mind, every college will accept IELTS though they don’t ask for that to pass out.

Here, you need to consult the testing center, they will definitely guide more effectively. If you are going to apply for colleges in the British common wealth, then it is a sincere advice to go for IELTS.

• Which one has a greater Availability?

Because TOEFL is an older test than IELTS, and because more students apply for universities in US than Australia or Britain, TOEFL boasts a higher number of test centers as well: 4,500 centers spread across 165 countries.

IELTS, on the other hand, has only 900 centers all over the world, though this shouldn’t be an issue as they have a center in pretty much every major international city.Both IELTS and TOEFL are offered 48 times per year.

• What are numerous types of IELTS?

When we talk about TOFEL, it offers one kind of test that is TOFEL IBT which mainly stands for internet based test. Some centers also offer the paper based test PBT which is more similar to iBT.

On the other hand, IELTS offer two kinds of tests one is academic and the other one is general:

• Academic: As far as the academic one is concerned, this test is harder and need to be passed as the university requirement is associated with it.
• General: This is a kind of general test that is basically required for visa requirements. It is used in case of immigration to a country.

The IELTs test takers is almost equally divided in 50% academic and also 50% general test takers.

Switching to the cost! When it comes to the fee criteria of both tests it mainly varies from $150-$250. It mainly depends on the type of the test and the location where you are giving the whole test.

Finally, a fear of scoring! In toefl, there is a notion of 120 points where when it comes to the scoring of IELTS, they are based on the 9 points with half point increments. Mostly students prefer TOFEL over IELTS because IELTS is more risky if you come across various mistakes.

Final words- Conclusion of discussion! There are differences though but they are not in a big pack. The major key difference is between the locations, exactly where you want to study- US or Australia/UK. It depends on your choice. As far as the cost, acceptance, validity is concerned, they all are almost same.