Hello!
I hope you guys are doing well. I am an international student and I have to clear one of the tests mentioned above but I don’t know which one to choose. I hope you guys can answer the following questions:
Which one is easier and requires less time to prepare?
Plus what are the pros and cons of attending IELTS and TOEFL exam respectively?
Plus I am also preparing for the GRE test. So, I have to allocate time for GRE too.
Thanks for any help that you can provide!
It’s a personal preference to some extent. For some people, taking the speaking test in front of a computer can feel weird. That’s why they choose IELTS over TOEFL. Other than that both of them are way easier than the GRE, based on feedback from my peers.
Hello, the first thing you should do is take an official practice test for each exam. The result you get at that moment is not important, what you should do is focus on which test you felt most comfortable with during its performance. This process must be completely honest with yourself.
You must identify your strengths and weaknesses for each section and for each exam. Let me explain, if you feel that your reading skills are not the best and you have heard that the IELTS has less academic topics than the TOEFL, it does not necessarily mean that you should take the IELTS. The TOEFL reading questions are more structured and predictable (easier to study) and come in order (unlike some IELTS questions), which in a scenario of stress and pressure can be flattering. IELTS can offer you many types of questions where you need to learn many strategies for each one, additionally some questions ask to be completed by writing something specific which is not always the most pleasant if you are short on time.
The previous one is a somewhat superficial example, but I mention it because it is an exercise that you must do with each section of the exam, at the end you make a comparison matrix and you decide on your option. (remember to do several practice tests to check your position this time checking the scores)
Under normal conditions the preparation for the TOEFL/IELTS is much less in time and concentration than the GRE/GMAT because I would prioritize the English test.