People who require services in countries where English is the first language are often required to provide proof of English proficiency. The required service/opportunities may include employment, studies and so on.  There are three major tests that used to assess English proficiency and they are Pearson Test for English (PTE), International English Language Testing System TOEFL (IELTS) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).

This article compares IELTS and PTE exams.

International English Language Testing System

IELTS is divided into two formats namely IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training. The choice depends on where the English proof certificate is required. It assesses four sections namely listening, writing, reading and writing. The test duration is 3 hours long and there is an option to take the test on different days in some location.

Listening

In this section, there are four audios from which the test taker is expected to answer 40 questions. It is allocated 30 minutes with an additional 10 minutes for transferring answers from practice booklet to answer booklet.  The questions include multiple choice, matching, labelling, diagrams, summary and sentence completion.

Reading

The test taker is required to read three passage and answer 40 questions. This section is 60 minutes long and the question format includes filling the missing words, match words to diagrams or charts, complete sentences and provide short questions and so on.

Writing

There are two tasks for the writing section. Task 1 is allocated 20 minutes with a length of 150 words. For this task, the test taker has to give a clear description of a diagram, image, table or chart. Task 2 is 60 minutes long and it assesses essay writing which is 250 words long.

Reading

 This section involves an interaction with the examiner and it consists of three parts. Part 1 is the introduction of both the examiner and the test take to one another. The examiner asks questions to familiarize himself/herself with the test taker such as home, work interest and so on. In part 2, the examiner gives the test taker any topic which needs description. There are 1-2 minutes of preparation. Finally, in part 3 the examiner asks more questions based on a question in part2. The duration of this section is 11-14 minutes.

Pearson Test for English

Pearson Test for English

The test is structured in three categories namely speaking and writing (together), listening and reading. It takes 3 hours with a 10 minutes optional break. Therefore the sections of the PTE Academic are assessed as thus:

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Speaking and writing

This section which 60-90 minutes long assesses the test taker’s ability to communicate in a professional academic manner. This means both oral and written communication have to fit in the academic environment. It should be noted that there are various countries speaking in which English is the first language therefore during the tests the variation of the language is noted and the test taker is allowed to use any form of English preferred however consistency must be adhered to throughout the test.

The speaking and writing sections questions include read out loud, repeat the sentence, describe an image, re-tell the lecture, answer short question summarizing written text and essay.

• Read out loud assesses speaking and reading. The test taker has to read a text of up to 60 words within 30-40 seconds.
• Repeating the sentence is assessed by listening to the sentence and repeating it. The sentence takes 3-5 seconds and the test taker needs to repeat it in the same amount of time. NB!! Pausing for longer than 3 seconds leads to getting no score.

• Describe image takes approximately 40 sec

• Summarize written text requires a summary from the written text of 300 words. It is allocated 10 minutes

• The essay requires a test taker to write an essay of length 200-300 words on a given topic. The time allocated in this instance is 20 minutes.

Reading

This section assesses reading skills. It also includes multiple choice questions, filling in the missing words, reorder paragraphs which involve arranging randomly placed paragraphs on one column to match the correct answers on the opposite column. Reading is allocated 32-41 minutes and the test taker is required to answer 15-20 questions. The tasks in this section are timed individually but the task taker has to be aware of that time is not carried over to other tasks

Listening

It is the final section of the test. The test taker is tasked with listening to the audio or video that plays automatically and answer the question based on the audio. The question format includes summarizing the content of the audio, multiple choice question, and filling in the missing words, highlighting the missing words and etc. It is divided into 8 sections and allocated 10 minutes. The test taker has to manage the time as each section is not timed. The audio plays once and if the student misses parts of the audio there is no second chance to listen to the audio again.

Below is a comparison between the two tests.

• PTE examination is computer based. This means the questions and answers are communicated through a computer. The student is provided with a pair of headsets for speaking and listening tasks.

IELTS, on the other hand, are paper-based. In all the sections the test taker has to manually   write down answers

• In PTE, the test is divided into 4 sections namely speaking, Writing, reading and listening with the duration of 3 hours. The sections are each allocated time and there is 10 minutes break.

IELTS is still divided into the same sections as the PTE with a duration of approximately 2hr 45min, however, there is an option to take the speaking section on a different day. The test taker has an option to take the speaking section on the same day or within 7 days of the original test. 

• In case of cancellation or rescheduling the test date, PTE allows cancellation with a partial refund without any hassle. The refund depends on the number of days the test taker cancels before examination time. The maximum refund is 50% of the test fee.

IELTS cancellation or request is subject to medical certificates failing which, the test taker forfeit test fee. If the medical fee is present the refund goes to a maximum of 25% of the test fee.

• As it has been said before PTE is computerised which means the test taker only has an interaction with the computer in all the sections. The test is assessed by the software created by Pearson

With the IELTS the test takers interact with professional examiners. This means there will be a conversation between the two especially on tasks such as speaking and image description.

• PTE has resources for preparations such as mock test and scored mock test for practice. IELTS, on the other hand, doesn’t provide the student with mock tests.

• Booking a date for both tests depends on the writing centres and location in addition booking is done two months prior to the official test dates.