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IELTS vs TOEFL ! Which one is more difficult


In the journey of studying abroad, IELTS or TOEFL is the choice that everyone must make, and as the two "big names" of language examination, the relationship between the two is somewhat delicate.


At least, IELTS has always claimed to be the most recognized language test in the world, while TOEFL has a strong North American market and boasts a long history.


In fact, for the broad masses of the people, there is an ultimate question, is it IELTS or TOEFL?


But we thinks it's not so simple. First of all, IELTS students suffer a lot from the comparison card. Mingming 7 is not a low grade, but it only reaches the level of TOEFL 101. This comparison of scores alone is not enough to explain the situation.


For IELTS difficulty or TOEFL difficulty, Xiaobian felt that they can be fixed from the four test listening, speaking, reading, writing to do the evaluation, the following is Xiaobian's real experience, absolutely reliable, can be used as a reference for everyone to choose the test!


Reading - IELTS Difficulty


In fact, reading is similar in terms of both the number of articles and the number of questions. TOEFL is an hour to solve 42 questions, IELTS is 40 questions.


However, the reason why IELTS reading is more difficult is that IELTS pays more attention to the details, and the details are relatively difficult to answer. Especially the annual T/F/NG questions, even the old driver has to fall down. When confronted with the choice questions, it is necessary to find a corresponding answer for each option, and the time cost is relatively high.


TOEFL reading does not fill in the blanks, all for the choice questions, and there will be a special paragraph marker on the computer. Each question only examines one paragraph or several paragraphs. It will directly tell you which paragraph, the details of the less questions, most of the general idea, synonymous choice or ask you "which word can be replaced by the following words" (voiceover: this is a sub-question).


In addition, there is another advantage of TOEFL, that is, you don't have to turn the papers back and forth (because on the computer), to know that I was really tired of turning the papers when I took IELTS (obsessive-compulsive disorder patients).




Listening - IELTS Difficulty


Listening, I'm going to vote for IELTS, too. First of all, IELTS listening is divided into four sections, a total of 40 topics, two dialogues and two lectures; TOEFL listening is divided into two sections, but each section has one dialogue and two lectures, a total of 34 topics.


Many people think that TOEFL is a little more difficult because it does not show the topic beforehand, but I think it is more scientific, because it succeeds in making candidates want to understand without speculation and ingenuity, and it also exercises the ability to take notes. In fact, it is closer to the real situation of going abroad.


In addition, I think TOEFL's listening is easier to get high marks than IELTS's because it does not give questions beforehand, does not take details, only examines the general idea, the main idea and the mood tendency, does not take names or numbers at all, and does not require you to spell words.


In addition, IELTS listening uses a lot of English pronunciation, but in fact, we are more exposed to American pronunciation, so in fact, when listening to TOEFL, I personally feel that it is relatively effortless.

Oral English-TOEFL Difficulty


IELTS spoken language is divided into three parts, the basic expression of the Part1 test, the monologue of the part2 test and the dialectical thinking of the Part3 test. But from beginning to end, there is a face-to-face communication between the examiners. Of course, Xiaobian has been speculating that this may be the reason why IELTS is so valuable as to lead the world.


In contrast, there are six tasks in TOEFL spoken language. Throughout the whole process, speaking to the computer, Task1 is similar to the part 1 in IELTS, task2 is similar to the part 3 in IELTS, but since task3, it is totally unreasonable!


Task 3's tasks are called integrated tasks. Either you listen to a conversation and then repeat it, or you read an article and then listen to a lecture. Then you talk about why this lecture supports this article. There are also two students who are discussing a problem. They should take notes of the solution to the problem and then say which task you agree with.


In a word, TOEFL oral English really simulates many aspects of foreign life, but also tests your listening and speaking. Believe me, I think it's more difficult than I say, because it takes more time and brings all the points to you within the prescribed time. So in this round, whether from the number of tasks or the dimension of comprehensive investigation, I think TOEFL wins.


Writing - It's hard to tell the difference


IELTS writing is divided into big and small compositions. Small compositions are the representation and analysis of data charts. Big compositions are argumentative papers. They are written in 60 minutes.


TOEFL writing is also two parts, but separately timed, one part should be combined with reading and listening, and finally write a refutation paper, which is 20 minutes; the other part is argumentation, which is also 30 minutes.


Looking at the argumentative papers with relatively small differences, this difference can be said to be very small, because the small editor's TOEFL title: "About young people should not change jobs frequently (instead of always doing a job)".


This is an IELTS composition question, but TOEFL has no page restrictions and encourages writing as much as possible. So the editor wrote more than 500 words at that time. This is impossible in IELTS field. First, it is because of speed, but because of paper restrictions.


Then I will talk about the difference between short essays, which is also quite different, because they all have similarities because the short essays are actually completely based on string, data and information are given, if it is more thorough than I think the information of TOEFL, and do not analyze, but at the same time, TOEFL also examines your reading and listening ability, so it is difficult to say which one is more difficult.


However, TOEFL writing gives a higher score more comfortable, at least I know a few people have a full score of writing (30), but for Chinese candidates, IELTS writing score of 9 is almost impossible.

In fact, from the total score, TOEFL is a point-by-point increase, IELTS is a Grade-by-Grade calculation.


This will lead, on the contrary, to a higher score candidate who wants to break through the IELTS level, may be dragged down by the average, while the lower level candidate will get a good grade because of the hierarchy, so my feeling is that if you want to brush the score, it will be more immediate.


However, both TOEFL and IELTS are just ways. Before choosing, the most important thing is to see what language requirements are required by the preferred areas and schools.