TOEFL vs. IELTS - which one is easier?

Once in a life time, every prospective finance master student asks himself, whether to write the TOEFL or the IELTS test. I already wrote a very similar article at my finance master blog, but here I want to go more into detail. 

Most universities in Europe want 100 points on TOEFL ibt or a 7.0 band on IELTS. Some universities, especially those in UK and US want even higher scores, mostly 110 (TOEFL) or 7.5 (IELTS). My goal is to achieve at least 93 points on TOEFL or 6.5 on IELTS. Now the question is, on which test it's easier to score high?

TOEFL vs. IELTS - the statistics

• TOEFL

Before speculating or just guessing around, it's a good idea to look at some hard numbers. The ETS institute, who invented the TOEFL test, wrote good a score data summery for 2013 worth reading.

Look at the Total Scale Score and the Percentile Rank. 100 points correspond to the 82th percentile, which means 82% of people scored lower than 100 points. In other words 18% scored exactly or more than 100 points.

Now, there's a problem: the TOEFL test takers aren't a homogeneous group, but consist the whole social spectrum from immigrants, college students to doctors and managers. Here's a more specific statistics, showing the results of applicants for English-language schools:

It looks even worse, just 14% (86th percentile) scored 100 points or more. However, the means ordered by native language look better: German native speakers, like me, scored 97 points on average, while, for example, the mean for French native speakers was just about 86 points (table 15).

• IELTS

The makers of the IELTS test also published test performance data, but for the year of 2012.

(click on the picture to zoom in)

As you can see, 35% (65th percentile) of academic IELTS test takers scored an overall band of 7.0, who took the test for higher education purposes. 

Since we don't know the nationality/native language composition of the total test taker population, it's a better idea to compare the numbers ordered by native language. 

(click on the picture to zoom in)

73% (27th percentile) of German native speakers scored an overall band of 7.0! The mean was 7.17.

TOEFL or IELTS easier?

Well, if you compare the statistics of both tests, it seems like the IELTS test is a lot easier. On average German native speakers scored 97 points on TOEFL vs. 7.17 overall band on IELTS. Comparing the numbers of educational purpose test takers yields the same conclusion: 14% scored the critical mark of 100 points on TOEFL vs. 35% scored a band of 7.0 on IELTS.

The numbers might be a bit skewed, since the composition of test takers population might deviate. However, millions of people around the globe take the tests every year, so you can use the numbers above as a good proxy.

In addition, Taichi Kono - a Japanese TOEFL and IELTS expert - came to the same conclusion in an interview: "An IELTS Band 7 is definitely easier than an iBT TOEFL 100. The same goes for TOEFL 109 vs IELTS 7.5, maybe by a little smaller margin. 110 vs 8 is a close call, but I’d say an IELTS Band 8 is less difficult."

You may ask yourself, why the TOEFL seems to be more difficult. In my opinion, it's because of the test format. The TOEFL test is almost entirely multiple choice, where all items look the same. Plus, it takes 4 hours to complete the test. The IELTS test, on the other hand, has a much greater variety of tasks and just takes 2 hours and 45 minutes, but is less predictable. See here for a good list pointing out the differences between both tests.

Personally, I've decided to take the IELTS test, since the numbers look better and I don't want to write a 4 hours long test - there are less exercises on IELTS. Furthermore, you talk to an examiner and not to a computer in the speaking section.