IELTS Vs TOEFL

Both, IELTS (International English Language Testing Service) and TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language) test english skills of students aspiring to get admissions in foreign universities. While IELTS is mostly a British test, TOEFL has a wide acceptance in US Universities. Almost every American college will accept TOEFL score, though that can’t be said for IELTS.

Candidates must check requirements of their targeted Universities and learn difference between IELTS and TOEFL. Broadly speaking, if you’re applying for colleges in the British Commonwealth, go with IELTS. Otherwise, take TOEFL. It isn’t uncommon for colleges to accept either scores, regardless of what testing requirements state.

Since, TOEFL Exam is older than IELTS and mostly students prefer US than any other country to study abroad, it has higher number of test centers, approximately 4500 spread across 165 countries. IELTS has 900 centers, all situated in major international city. Both exams are conducted 48 times in a year.

 

Types of IELTS and TOEFL exam:

IELTS offers two modes of exam: Academic and General. Academics IELTS Exam is taken by students who want to study in foreign country and level of this exam is difficult. It is due the fact that the student must be able to understand english in order to perform academically well. On the other hand, General IELTS Exam is to meet visa requirements, when one wishes to migrate to other country.

TOEFL Exam is only internet based, also labeled as TOEFL iBT (Internet-Based Test). Some centers, however, offer paper-based test (PBT) which is just a paper version of iBT.

Test Fee
The cost of IELTS Exam as of September 2016 is Rupees. 11,300 and of TOEFL Exam is Rupees. 11,378.

Section-wise Differences

Field	TOEFL Exam	IELTS Exam (Academic)
Accent	Mostly North American English	Range Of International Accents
Total length of test	4 hours	2 hours and 45 minutes
Reading Section	Time allotted to this section is 60-80 minutes. Academic English Passages are given (all of same level of difficulty). Multiple-choice questions based on them are to be answered.	60 minutes are allotted during which three passages are given. These passages are taken from books, magazines and newspapers (all academic english).
Listening Section	Length of this test is 40-60 minutes and content is that of campus conversations/ lectures. It covers approximately 2-3 long conversations and 4-6 lectures that are always related to University situation. All questions are multiple choice based on tone, important details and references.	Only 30 minutes are assigned to this section which has questions based on both real-life and academic situations that revolve around a student’s life. One question is related to transactional conversational while others can either be academic lecture or context.
Speaking Section	Speaking test lasts for 20 minutes in which you are asked questions and your answers are recorded.Two questions will be on familiar topics, other based on some conversation and two more based on a short conversation. Examiner awards marks after the test.	IELTS speaking test lasts for about 12-15 minutes. It may be held on the same day or within a week. Here, Part 1 is based on introductory and familiar topics, Part 2 on a specific topic that you will get after picking a card and Part 3, you will be asked questions based on Part 2.
Writing Section	This test lasts about 50 minutes consisting of two questions. In first question, you are given a short passage to read and also listen a short 2-3 minutes lecture over it. You must write down key points to make your answer more impressionable on what you heard and listened.	Students are given one hour to complete two tasks. Task one is of describing information in a graph, table or diagram. Task 2 is of writing an essay on the given topic.

Students choose to get proper TOEFL and IELTS coaching before sitting for any of these exams so as to get an idea about the pattern, study material and tips.