IELTS or TOEFL for Flight School or Immigration

Flight school often requires student pilots to take either the IELTS or the TOEFL test in order to qualify for admission to flight school. 

Immigration: If you want to immigrate to the UK, Canada or Australia you need to take the IELTS test. 

Many flight programs are like a university and the student studies for a full four years, with classes in aviation history along with flight hours in a Cessna. 

prOther schools just offer the flight program.  Either way, if your native language is not English,  you need to prove your English level. 

I suggest that if you have a choice, choose to take the IELTS test instead of the TOEFL.  Each test gives a score that shows what your English level is, but the IELTS is faster to prepare.   It will take you about 6 months to get the acceptable score. 

IELTS Exam:  

It has 4 parts, Speaking, Reading, Writing and  Listening. 

Each part is separate and tests that skill only.  Each part you need to study everyday.  Read in English, watch videos in English, Speak with a native speaking English teacher.  Write practice essays every day and then go over the essay with a Native Speaker English teacher. 

TOEFL Exam: 

This exam test the four skills of English: Speaking, Reading, Writing  and Listening.  The main difference between the TOEFL and the IELTS is that the TOEFL has the separate tests to test the skills, but then there are the integrated Reading, Listening and Speaking. For example you will read a short text, then listen to a recording on a similar topic, and then you will have a question that you have to use information from the reading and the listening and speak about it. 

There is also an integrated Reading, Listening and Writing section.  This is usually on a more difficult topic and is similar to a university course.  You get a reading passage about an academic subject, listen to a professor's class about that subject and then you answer a question in writing about the subject. 

So now you can see the differences between the two tests.  

Preparation time for the tests: 

IELTS:  I suggest that students set aside at least a month or two of daily practice in order to get a good score on this test. 

TOEFL: I suggest that students set asisde at least 6 months of daily practice to get a good score on this test.  

I can help you with either the TOEFL or the IELTS test. I have helped many students in the past, and I can help you to get a great score on which ever test you need to take! Rachael Alice - English teacher