When seeking opportunities in countries which English is the first language it is normally a requirement to provide proof of English knowledge. The opportunities can be study, employment and so on.  There are three major tests that are 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).

The tests differ vastly even though they share minor similarities. This article provides you with PTE vs TOEFL information.

Test of English as a Foreign Language

There are two categories for these test namely TOEFL IBT (Internet-based Test) and TOEFL PBT (paper-based test). PBT test is still offered but now majority focus on IBT and so does this article and it will be referred to as TOEFL from this point onwards. TOEFL assesses four sections namely listening, writing, reading and speaking allocated approximately 60-90 minutes, 50 minutes, 60-80 minutes and 20 minutes consecutively. The exam duration is 4 hours with a mandatory 10 minutes break.

Reading

The first section of the TOEFL exam is reading. There are 36-42 questions allocated 60-80 minutes depending on the test structure. It can have experimental questions or the experimental questions may be omitted.  The test taker is provided with a passage of about 700 words from which 12-14 questions need to be answered. There are 3-4 passages each with its own set of questions.

The type of questions for the reading section are multiple choice, fill in the missing sentence and reading to learn which involves summarizing the main points of the chart or passage.

Listening

The time allocated to this section is 60-90 minutes depending on the length and number of questions. The typical number of questions is 34-52. There are 6 audios with a duration of three to five minutes in total which the test taker must listen to and each audio has 6 questions. The type of questions for this section are multiple choice.

Speaking

This section is 20 minutes long with 6 tasks. The first two tasks which are referred to as independent tasks take 45 seconds long. They are answered by selecting questions based on familiar topics. The last four tasks called integrated task requires the integration of reading, writing and speaking.

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Writing

In this section, the test taker is expected to write two essays namely independent and integrated essays in 50 minutes. The integrated essay which has the length of 150-225 words involves answering a question based on 300 words passage. The independent essay on the other prompts the test taker to write 300 words on a given topic/subject.

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:

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.