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.
775 to 885 points 106 points up in 8 weeks. I got a lot of
useful strategies about TOEIC, they made me improve English
a lot. Both teachers are so kind that if I have any
questions they answer everything..
Kazuya, Japan
Kazuya, Japan