What TOEFL is for

TOEFL iBT is an academic English test used mainly by American universities, and it is built around the specific question of whether you can study in English at a university.

Everything in it is academic. The reading passages are from textbooks. The listening is lectures and campus conversations. The speaking and writing tasks ask you to summarise a lecture or compare a reading with a talk. There is no everyday or social English, unlike IELTS.

It is computer based and delivered at a test centre or at home, and speaking is recorded to a microphone rather than delivered to a person.

Scoring is 0 to 120, thirty per section. Universities publish their requirement, and most want somewhere between 79 and 100 for undergraduate and postgraduate admission, with higher requirements at competitive institutions.

Where it is preferred. American universities, and some institutions elsewhere. Many accept both TOEFL and IELTS, in which case the choice is about which suits you.

Where IELTS is usually better. British, Australian and Canadian institutions, and almost all immigration purposes.

Who TOEFL suits. Candidates with an academic background, comfortable with computers, who can take notes while listening and who read academic English reasonably fast. Candidates whose strength is conversation rather than academic reading generally do better on IELTS.

Check the requirement first, including whether the institution accepts the at home version, because some do not.