to study in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom or United States

and English is not your native language then you have to take a test to assess your English

language proficiency. TOEFL and IELTS are

the tests used for this purpose and right now we compare them side by

side. TOEFL stands for Test Of English

as a Foreign Language.

This test originated in the US and run by a Educational Testing Service. The

most common format of TOEFL is internet-based test or TOEFL iBT.

In a very limited number of locations without internet access paper-based test

or TOEFL PBT is still available.

In the following sections when I say TOEFL I will mean TOEFL iBT.

IELTS stands for International English Language Test System

and is jointly run by Cambridge English Language Assessment,

British Council and International Development Programs of Australian

Universities and Colleges.

There are two versions of IELTS: Academic and General Training.

Admission to undergraduate and graduate programs is based on the Academic test.

General Training test may be sufficient for immigration and working.

The major difference between the two tests.

While both TOEFL and Academic IELTS measure English language proficiency

needed for an academic learning environment the major difference lies in formats of the tests.

TOEFL iBT is a completely computerized test

and a test taker uses computer keyboard, mouse

and a headset microphone

to input his or her answers to the test questions. Although making notes is allowed.

Testing center provides

a pencil and a paper for that. that paper for

IELTS is a paper based test

and there is a live person who speaks with a test taker in the Speaking

module. The test designed so that the test taker should give handwritten

answers to the questions. This means spelling matters and counted for the test

results.

Test structure. In both TOEFL and IELTS test takers must complete four pieces

measuring one of the basic language skills: Listening, Reading,

Speaking, and Writing,

although order of the pieces is different in TOEFL and IELTS.

For TOEFL this is Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing,

and for IELTS the order is Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. TOEFL

test is conducted as a single session with a ten minute mandatory break between

Listening and Speaking sections.

Total length of the test is about 4 hours. colors

Listening, Reading and Writing modules of IELTS have total duration about 2

hours and 45 minutes with no break in between.

The Speaking module may be taken, at the discretion of the testing center,

in the period of up to 7 days before or after the other Modules. Let's go

through each particular test component

and start from Reading. Reading

The TOEFL reading section consists of 3 to

5 passages.

The duration of the section is from 60 to 100 minutes, and

the number of questions

is 36 to 70.

IELTS reading module also consists of 3 passages normally followed by

13 to 14 questions each

for a total of 40 questions overall. The duration of the module is 60

minutes.

Listening. The duration of TOEFL Listening section is from 60 to 90

minutes.

Each test taker will individually listen by headphones to lectures,

classroom discussions, and campus conversations then will answer questions.

There are from 34 to 51 questions in total. The duration of IELTS

is 30 minutes.

At that time four recorded monologues

and conversations played centrally to all test takers.

There are total of 40 questions to answer while listening to the audio.

Writing. In TOEFL the section duration is 50 minutes. Test taker

has to write 2 essays based on reading and listening provided in the section.

In IELTS the section duration is 60 minutes.

The test taker has to write 2 essays based on the information

presented.

In case of Academic test in the first task there will be

a graph, chart, table

or diagram.

In case of General Training test there will be a situation presented. The second task is similar in both versions

and includes an essay in response to a point of view, argument

or problem.

Speaking

In TOEFL the section duration is 20 minutes and includes 6 tasks.

Test taker will have to express an opinion on a familiar topic and speak

based on reading and listening tasks.

The test taker speaks to a computer headset microphone.

In IELTS it takes from 11 to 14 minutes to complete the speaking component.

Test taker speaks with an examiner and the test is recorded. The tasks

include answering short questions,

speaking about a familiar topic and a discussion.

Scoring

TOEFL scoring system based on scoring each particular section of the test

from 0 to 30

and the total score is a sum from 0 to 120.

In IELTS candidates are graded on their performance in the test,

using scores from 1 to 9 for each part of the test. The results from

the four parts then produce an overall Band Score also from one

to nine.

All parts of the test and the Overall Band Score can be reported in whole and half bands

for example 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0.

We hope this screen cast will help you to understand similarity and difference

of TOEFL and IELTS. To learn more

visit our site askaboutadmissions.com. Thanks for watching and see you next

time. This was Valery Leletko.