Which is Better: TOEFL or IELTS?

Which is better-IELTS or TOEFL?

• which one of these two is better recognized, and more advantageous test to take

• Answer:

  IELTS is the top ESL test for the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and from 2007 it's been widely accepted in the States, including the Ivy League. That means that it's truly international. TOEFL may have been better known during the past decade, but it's not at all more 'global'; still, it's accepted in other territories besides North America, but mostly on countries where English isn't the official language. For instance, if you're doing a post-graduate in Japan and it includes English modules, they'll most likely require TOEFL rather than IELTS (although both are valid, at the end of the day). Same if you want to become an MD in Colombia, TOEFL is usually more prestigious to validate the English credits. Having said that, both IELTS and TOEFL are about the same in terms of difficulty: on the speaking sections, IELTS covers a much broader range of accents (educated and uneducated, and from several parts of the world) while TOEFL is 'limited' to academic-level American (Standard) English. So, if you're the sort of person who speaks American and who understands mostly American, then TOEFL may be easier since it doesn't include Jamaican, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, English, New Zealand, Indian or Australian accents (as the IELTS does). Last time I sat both exams (February 2008) I had the impression that the essays required for TOEFL were more related to college-like situations (e.g. talking for a minute or two about a biology or psychology subtopic), while IELTS covered other miliei (e.g. talking about birthday presents you've given or been given). Neither approach is 'better' or 'worse' than the other, but they're surely very different, and some people may find one harder than the other. An advantage IELTS has is that they accept both Commonwealth and American spelling; TOEFL, AFAIK, only accepts American. OTOH TOEFL is a bit cheaper and results get quicker, so at the end of the day it's up to you.