IELTS vs TOEFL iBT

suzanne4, RN · Sep 8, 2006

To my fellow RNs which do you think is easier IELTS or TOEFL iBT. I am in the U.S. and i am planning to take the TSE but it is no longer available here. TOEFL iBT is the one replacing TSE. I need it for my VISA SCREEN. thanks guys....

If you are from the Philippines, the IELTS is much easier for the speaking part, you talk one on one to a human, not to a machine. The individual TSE is not available anyowhere, it has been replaced with the computerized exam. For the Visa Screen, you need the entire series, not just the spaking section.

Much better success with the IELTS if you check old posts on the Philippine Forum.

ellamae28 · Sep 8, 2006

I think that depends where you are. If you are now in US and you are now used in speaking English it doesn't really matter which one you will take.

I took the Toefl iBt 2 months ago and got the score I need. They said IELTS is easier specially in speaking part. But I find the speaking part of Toefl a little bit easy the i expected. it is the writing section that i find it hard.

I hope this will help

nigeldj · Sep 8, 2006

thanks to you guys for answering my question. i'm here in the U.S. so i guess the only thing that matter now is which one of them will be the fastest in releasing the result, any idea? thanks again...

chinma · Sep 9, 2006

hi,I dont know about the TOEFL,but ielts releases its result at approximately 3weeks from the time you took the test.for example i took mine on the 11th of march and i got my result through DHL post on the 3rd of april.

But from what i saw on the result,it was ready by 2weeks from the date of exam,maybe something delayed the posting/mailing.

I advice you go for the ielts,its easy,u only need to time yourself when reading the comprehension,i feel thats the only difficult aspect of it.

Goodluck to u.:mortarboard:

nigeldj · Sep 9, 2006

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I am now more favorable in taking IELTS instead of TOEFL. ai also visited IELTS site and it says there that results is about 2 weeks, that's very good!!!Thanks again you've been of great help.:wink2:

cineva · Sep 11, 2006

Hello ! I'm a foreign nurse and took TOEFL for my Visa Screen . I speak and write in English very well and have no communication problems , with all these I had problems in passing TSE . I took it 4 times , each time my score was 45 :madface: . Then I decided to take IELTS and passed the speaking part with a score of 8 . I found that was easier to talk to a person than to a machine like you have to do if taking TSE .

stickadoraRN · Sep 13, 2006

regarding this matter, i wonder if all these english tests are the same and if they are applicable anywhere in the states.like in the new jersey, i read on their application form that ofcourse, with foreign nurses, english exam is needed for the visa screening.however, the only mentioned there is the TOEFL. my question is, can i still take the IELTS instead of TOEFL when applying in new jersey? is there any difference between the two or it is up to me which english test to take and does not really matter whichever of the two i will be taking..i hope i could get answer for this.thanks!

nigeldj · Sep 14, 2006

hi, as far as i know you shoul only follow a specific State Board requirement for english test. This means that if you plan to apply for New Jersy BON and they only require TOEFL for the english test they will not honor any result coming from IELTS so just to be safe take the TOEFL test.

nigeldj · Sep 14, 2006

Thanks i will do that. IELTS is is!

stickadoraRN · Sep 14, 2006

alright! thanks alot for the info!

lawrence01 · Sep 14, 2006

hi, as far as i know you shoul only follow a specific State Board requirement for english test. This means that if you plan to apply for New Jersy BON and they only require TOEFL for the english test they will not honor any result coming from IELTS so just to be safe take the TOEFL test.

Yes, definitely. This is excellent advice.

Each State also has contacts for inquiries and one may e-mail them or phone them for confirmation because sometimes they may be thinking of considering accepting the IELTS but still on the meeting phase.

Maryland BON used to only accept just the TOEFL too then just recetly accepted the IELTS as well.