Which Test Is Better: TOEIC or TOEFL?
The answer to this question depends on why you want to study. If you are planning to go to university then IELTS or possibly TOEFL is a good choice. However, if you just want to improve your English skill, then TOEIC or maybe IELTS general is the best exam for you. There are several reasons for this:
1. For TOEIC you have to learn useful English
Studying vocabulary for TOEIC is very useful, because around 95% of the words which are commonly tested in TOEIC are also commonly used in general English. Studying vocabulary for TOEFL, on the other hand, is rarely useful. The reason is that around 95% of TOEFL vocabulary is only common in advanced, academic English. In other words, TOEFL vocabulary will not improve your general English, but TOEIC vocabulary will.
2. TOEIC questions are based on everyday English
The TOEIC test includes questions from a wide variety of different reading and listening topics, including medical, business, social, legal, and even residential. All of these situations are common in everyday life, so understanding these kinds of topics will be useful for you every day. With TOEFL, however, the topics are always about something academic. Because most people do not live at university for more than a few years, these academic topics are not very useful.
3. TOEIC is a fair exam, TOEFL is an unfair one
With TOEIC, students who score 800 one month will usually score close to 800 the next month. In other words, TOEIC scores are generally consistent. In contrast, it is common for students who take TOEFL to have very different scores each month. For example, one former Higher Score at LSC Language Studies Canada student, whose level was very high, scored 24 one month for reading but only 14 the next month. Obviously this student's reading ability did not decrease in one month, so the only reason for this decline is that TOEFL is not a well-designed or fair test.
4. TOEIC tests all skills, including grammar and vocabulary
Together TOEIC and the new TOEIC speaking and writing exam directly test the following skills: reading, listening, speaking, writing, grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. So, if you study TOEIC, you can improve in every aspect of English. TOEFL, on the contrary, only tests four skills directly: reading, listening, speaking and writing. In addition, TOEFL only tests these skills for academic English, but TOEIC tests them for general and business English. So, TOEIC is a much more useful exam.
Overall, if you do not need to study academic English, then TOEIC is a much better choice than TOEFL. If you do need to study academic English, IELTS is probably a better choice than TOEFL.
I took TOEIC full-time course for 1 week and TOEFL full-time course for 3 weeks to prepare for a college admission test. The teachers were very considerate and advised us logically how to achieve our goals for short term. Especially the writing techniques I learned at Higher Score were very helpful. I achieved 825 for TOEIC and passed the admission test. Not only English skills, but also I gained confidence in my English. I strongly recommend Higher Score if you want to achieve your goal.
 Ai, Japan