Difference between TOEFL and IELTS

If you apply for an academy particularly in an English speaking country. English is the language which is not the local language of half of the world. It is a binding force which connects so many regions and 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 the test that may be IELTS and TOEFL. 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?

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 a communication. your communication ability and how you are more serious in an English speaking culture. It is usually a requirement for those students whom national language is not English but they all need it to pass out their test. In many countries, these tests are conducted for the visa.

What about the test?  They both are divided into four sections:

Reading: This section is 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 lecture 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 be asked to listen to the recordings and few questions will be solved by your listening ability.

Writing: In this part, your writing abilities would be a major focus. You will ask to write an outline 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 skill it means how much you are confident in speaking. Some of them interviews as the essentials and some of them do conduct it in the form of discussion or any topic.

What would be the major differences in both?

• A Question of Acceptance!

As far as IELTS is concerned, it is a British test, it is mostly accepted in the commonwealth, the counties and the colleges which are involved in this taking is Britain, Canada, and Australia. Also, it to be noted that various American universities allow IELTS as well.

When we keep in mind about TOEFL, it was mainly developed by Centre of applied linguistics. It has a wide approval 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 talk to the testing center, they will definitely guide more effectively. If you are going to apply for colleges in the British Commonwealth, then it is a straight advice to go for IELTS.

• 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 the internet based test. various 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: academic section is an important one, this test is harder and needs 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 colonization to a country.

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

Switching to the cost!  After 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 belief 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 choose TOFEL over IELTS because IELTS is riskier if you come across various mistakes.

Conclusion: There are differences though but they are not in a huge collection. The major key difference is between the locations, exactly where you want to study- the US or Australia/UK. It depends on your choice. As extreme as the cost, acceptance, validity is concerned, they all are almost same.