If you are a new listener to this podcast, welcome! I’m Craig. This is Reza, and we are going to help you take it to the next level.

With over 40 years of teaching between us, we’ll help you improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.

In this episode: the TOEFL and IELTS test

Feedback: email from Antonio Tenorio (who also nominated us for the UK podcasters’ award).
I’ve been looking for a way to learn English through listening to podcasts and I found this one which is helping me a lot because it’s the best I ever met (heard). Reza and Craig are very skillful in (at) teaching English and they create all their podcasts in order to convey the best to their listeners. I send you a big hug and please keep pushing and helping us to learn your great language. Thank you.

We spoke about IELTS in Episode 15,  and compared IELTS to Cambridge exams (FCE, CAE etc) in Episode 24.

IELTS  

IELTS is the International English Language Testing System A collaboration between the British Council (the UK govt.’s cultural body and most important English language teaching org.);
IDP: IELTS Australia (Australian universities and recruitment/employment agency); Cambridge English Language Assessment.

Test overview
In IELTS, there are four papers: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. There are two different IELTS modules: Academic and General Training.
The Speaking and Listening tests are the same in both modules, but the Reading and Writing tests are different.

Academic module
Choose this if you wish to study at undergraduate or postgraduate levels, or if you are seeking professional registration, e.g. doctors and nurses.

General Training module
Choose this if you wish to migrate to an English-speaking country, (e.g. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, or also USA) or if you wish to train or study at below degree level.

IELTS FORMAT – ON PAPER, not computer
Each skill is tested separately.

Listening – 40 questions, 4 sections, a variety of question types – 30 mins. approx.

Reading – 40 questions, 3 texts, a variety of question types – 60 mins. Academic module has more academic texts, whereas General module has non-academic texts.

Writing – 2 tasks, 60 mins.
Academic Q1: write about a diagram(s) incl. some statistics. General Q1: letter responding to a situation. Q2: an essay giving your opinion on a topic.

Speaking – 3 parts: personal info; responding to a prompt card about a topic with three bullet points to talk about; conversation with examiner connected to prompt card topic – 11-14 minutes. One examiner talks to one candidate in a room. It is recorded.

Price: approximately £115 (€190, $200)

We’d like to say Thank you to our wonderful sponsor italki 

Find a teacher and improve your speaking with italki

IELTS Links:

http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/ielts/why-take-the-test/

http://www.ielts.org/

http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/

https://www.ets.org/

Free or longer paid version for practice:
http://www.roadtoielts.com/testdrive/

Free apps:
http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/prepare-your-test/1001-ways-app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ubl.ielts&feature=search_result

TOEFL – Test of English as a Foreign Language

TOEFL iBT (computer) test. There is also a pBT (paper) version, but only available in very very few countries.
Who accepts TOEFL?

More than 9,000 colleges, agencies and other institutions in over 130 countries accept TOEFL scores. Other organizations rely on TOEFL scores as well:

Immigration departments use them to issue residential and work visas
Medical and licensing agencies use them for professional certification purposes
Individuals use them to measure their progress in learning English

TOEFL FORMAT – ON COMPUTER, not paper
During the test, you are asked to perform tasks that combine/integrate more than one skill, such as:

Read, listen and then speak in response to a question
Listen and then speak in response to a question
Read, listen and then write in response to a question
Reading – 60–80 minutes – 36–56 questions
Read 3 or 4 passages from academic texts and answer questions.

Listening – 60–90 minutes – 34–51 questions
Listen to lectures, classroom discussions and conversations, then answer questions.

Break – 10 minutes

Speaking – 20 minutes – 6 tasks
Express an opinion on a familiar topic; speak based on reading and listening tasks about campus situations & academic situations.

Writing – 50 minutes – 2 tasks
Question 1: Write essay response based on reading and listening tasks; Question 2: support an opinion on a topic.
It takes approximately 10 days to get the results from the TOEFL test.

It can cost between $150 – $225, although it usually costs about $160 – $180.

Links:

General info:
http://www.ets.org/s/toefl/flash/17494/TOEFL_Resources_Web_Video.htm

Pearson Exams:
http://www.pearsonlongman.com/examsplace/?WT.ac=GHomeExamsPlace1907

Test overview:
http://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/about/content/

What happens at test centre:
http://www.ets.org/s/toefl/flash/15571_toefl_prometric.HTML

Overview of each part of test, with a few simple questions:
http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEFL/tour/highrez/start-web_content.HTML

Writing & Speaking video tutorial:
http://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/about/video_library/

DOWNLOADBALE OFFICIAL free test practice:
http://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/prepare/toefl_interactive_sampler/

There’s some free practice here, inc. Speaking, (and a lot more if you pay):
TOEFL NETWORK-
http://www.toeflnetwork.com/#/page/5
Send us an email, or record your voice and send us a sound file, with a comment or question to [email protected] or [email protected].
On next week’s episode: Telephone English

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’