What is IELTS?

[jupiter]

Hi everybody

It seems to be a new world to me to join the site. everybody talk about IELTS and share their score in ielts exam. So could anyone let me know the difference between IELTS and TOEFL? i am familiar with TOEFL but not IELTS. if i want to take TOEFL or IELTS exam, what should i do? Go to ACE or else? Hey, what is the highest score in IELTS? and what is the lowest? Do u think i am a stupid person who don't know anythink (ielts)?
Share ya point of view right now, esp.Paul, i can't wait to get ur fantatic notion!    thanks

[prince_charming]

Hi ,

I guess i can only tell u the full name of IELTS: International English Language Testing System.

For TOEFL, i guess i'd better let Paul to distinguish it from IELTS for you.

So long,.....

[Paul Brown (MA CELTA)]

hey guys,  

 okay basic differences between IELTS and TOEFL....

 Basically TOEFL is more grammar and IELTS is more communication skills based. TOEFL has a sentence correction part, which is connected to understanding of grammar and IELTS does not have this part.TOEFL is accepted by more Universities in USA and JAPAN, although this is changing as IELTS is becoming acceptable to some Universities in US and also JAPAN too. In the past more students took TOEFL on a worldwide scale, but now there are more students taking IELTS as a global statistic.

They are similar in that they both have reading, listening and speaking
( speaking, I believe,will be added to the CBT in Cambodia by the next test date in January 2006 ). The listening in TOEFL is based on knowledge of American idiom and is therefore a bit harder than the IELTS listening which has 4 sections which get increasingly harder but are based on being able to answer the different question types rather than specific idiom knowledge. The reading is different in that IELTS has 3 readings in one hour where again the emphasis is answering the different question types and not so much on full comprehension of the passage. In the TOEFL reading however the questions are more detailed and depend on more understanding on what you have read. The speaking is different, IELTS has 3 sections in the speaking test. TOEFL will, from what i understand, just use the 155 TWE writing topics and you will have to speak about that topic, but that is still to be confirmed. The IELTS speaking you are face to face with an examiner, but the TOEFL speaking it seems you will speak into a microphone on a computer, so it is more impersonal.

The differences in the writing are below, although the difference here is that for IELTS writing is necessary, but for TOEFL, the TWE, the written essay is an option. Many Cambodian students decide not to take TWE, but if you do here is a comparison.

IELTS actually has 6 types of essay which will also be outlined on this website once i have time to develop the elearning modules for writing. However, the "smoking should be banned"Do you agree type is the most common on the IELTS test, although beware occasionally you do get one of the other five, so you need to know the structure of all 6 types!

The big differences between IELTS writing and TWE writing are

1.TWE publishes the full list of the 155 topics and you will be asked one, this list will be uploaded onto the TWE content section of this site soon as well as some model essays written by students to show the difference between a band 0 through to a band 6, which is the top score. On the other hand, IELTS do not give the list and most students who do ielts find that even though they know a lot about writing stucture, they dont do as well as they should because they have difficulty with the ideas, as they are seeing the exam question on the day itself. As TWE publishes the possible essay titles, if you are properly prepared you should have some ideas about all the topics. So that is a kind of advantage in some ways.

2. The TWE is more personal style of writing, hence most of the 155 questions include the pronoun YOU to indicate that you should personalise your answer.For example, "Some people prefer eating at restaurants while others prefer eating at home, which do YOU prefer", in this way the structure words you can use are expanded to mean that you can use personal opinion structures much more than you can in IELTS.

3. TWE is in cambodia a written test ( not yet available on computer ), this is the same as IELTS except that TWE is 30 mins and IELTS is 40 mins, so this makes knowing structure and being able to use it quickly much more important in TWE.

Hope this helps, for more information on IELTS and a general introduction on IELTS, click on IELTS link on the homepage and there is basic information about the test there.  

have more soon,

have fun,  :wink:

Paul

[Cardamom]

Hi all,

After reading paul repsond, one question has came up to my head  :?: . the question is that if one have taken IELTS course and exam before and s/he wants to take TOEFL without studying TOEFL, Could it be possible to get the high score? According to Paul explanation I think IELTS and TOEFL are similar. It only just TOEFL is more gramatic. If you take IELTS it means you have studied english and learnt grammar well. For idiom we can learn by praticing it with everyday life.

Personally, IELTS speaking test is better than TOEFL for your examiner is face to face with you. It make you feel easier to talk to human than with that non-linving microphone material.

Correct me if I am wronge. Please everybody who happen to browse this page and read my text.

What is TWE writing?

Cheer,

Cardamom

[jupiter]

Hi cardamon

great for sharing ur ideas here! as u know Paul wrote that IELTS and TOEFL are the same but different!  anyway, one have taken IELTS but not TOEFL and they want to take TOEFL without studying it ! I think they can't get high score ! Why? because they do not familiar with it, esp. the direction. As u wrote it's easier to speak face to face than speak by microphone, so how can u get high score in speaking when it's not easy for u to speak by microphone? how can u write TOEFL essay well, if u don't know what is TWE? TWE is short for Test of Written English.
Do u feel confident with urself to take TOEFL even u don't study it?

I am familiar with TOEFL but not IELTS so if i take IELTS now, do u think which score i should get? high score or low score?
Hey preparation is the best way to do before any exam, right?
so if u and others plan to take TOEFL, don't forget TOEFL Preparaton :!:

hope to be excellent one day  
jupiter

[Cardamom]

Hi jupiter,

It is great to read your idea. I agree with you. Preperation test course is importance no matter it is IELTS or TOEFL. I do not know how well you have done with TOEFL. I took IELTS once and believe it or not I took TOEFL without going thought the preperation course. I'd never even read TOEFL book or any related traning materials. Of course i did not get high score. But I learnt my weaknees during the test.

I decided not to practice before i took the test for i want to know my ability in the real test. Maybe you and other folks here think this is not a good way to take the test. But i do learn what i need to improve before i am serious in the next test.

But now I am quite busy so I do not have much time to practice. I know BUSY is not a good excuse or i should admit that i am lazy. This website is awesome especially for a kind of person like me. I can both learn and have fun at the same time. Most of all i can share and listen what other peopel want to say.

Cheer,

Cardamom

[Paul Brown (MA CELTA)]

hey guys,  

 Well it is true that TOEFL is more grammar based than IELTS, but to be honest, the Listening is awkward for a lot of students as it is totally different to the IELTS listening. There is a LOT of specifically North American English idioms used in the listening and the answer is a mulitiple choice. So you have to be able to get the context quickly and interpret the idiom depending on the situation. So it is harder in my view than the IELTS listening which at least has the different question types, so you can concentrate your practice on specific question types you have a problem identifying.  

 However, it is not impossible to practise the listening with self-study, but for exams I think you guys also know it is preppin that makes the difference in the grade you get. What I mean is that you have some English skills but the training with a qualified guide makes the knowledge you have exam specific. The 5steps2TOEFL is currently under preparation and will be available sometime early next year hopefully as an online course. This is the same for 5steps2IELTS, the material for that book I have already written and I am busy putting it into online content and lesson format at the moment.The grammar section to help students with sentence correction is finished, and I am just finishing the Reading and Listening strategies as they are under completion at the moment.

TWE is optional in the TOEFL and many places which prep TOEFL in Cambodia DO NOT prepare the students for the writing at all. I think they would  run courses which are usually based on Heineman TOEFL and the students work through it with a non-native language teacher or sometimes a native speaker. This is all good and something is better than nothing   , but the KEY to test prep is being prepared by someone who can get a very high score on that test themselves. So if you cannot achieve a very high score on TOEFL yourself, how can you successfully train someone else to do what you cannot do?

 The specific tips and techniques for an exam is what will help you change a good score into a very good score, and this is only possible from experienced test takers. I have personally taken all the tests I teach, and only when I have fully researched the exam and prepped myself and got a high score, do I go and teach it as a teaching method to pass an exam.

Remember, passing exams and test prep is not the same as General English, it does require specific skills which come only by following a successful method of someone who understands the test completely and can take it himself and achieve a very high score. I trained myself to teach GMAT and GRE the same way. I first analysed the test, studied it and ONLY when I could pass the test myself by using the method of prep I developed by prepping myself, did I go and teach the method I used with GMAT University students in Thailand. GMAT is a native speakers exam, so it is extremely hard to do well on the English section for a second language learner. TOEFL is a second language exam, but you still need an experience test prepper on your side if you want to achieve the best possible result you can.

TWE is 'The written essay' and is mainly required for students who wish to go to study abroad, who do not wish to undertake English training at a University abroad before they take the academic course they have been accepted on. I have recently trained some Korean students who had been studying TWE alone and even these great students still needed some assistance with writing a piece of examination writing in 30 minutes. They were very happy with my training and were on the radio last month to talk about it with me. The scores on TWE are between 0-6, and a 5steps2TWE course has already been developed by me and will also be part of this website hopefully in the new year.

So I have a wide experience as a test prepper for TOEFL, IELTS, GMAT, GRE, and SAT. I am therefore very happy to have this forum with you guys to share ideas and teaching ideas and methods which I have been developing over the last 6 years of my career as an English teacher.
Very happy that you find the 5steps student portal helpful to you, and by next year we hope to have developed the portal to include ''5steps2TOEFL'', ''5steps2IELTS'', ''5steps2TWE'' and ''5steps to effective speaking'' developed as part of the online English language educational content for the site.

Thanks for the support guys and I hope this answers you question!  
Prepping is a bit like coaching, that is why the best football managers are usually former players, as they have the personal experience and can actually do the things they are training others to do themselves!  :lol:

have fun,  :wink:

Paul