Let me guess... You’re reading this because you’re about to graduate from college but can’t comply with the English language proficiency requirement, right? Well, You’re not the only one. Thousands of Colombian students these days are struggling with achieving decent scores in international exams so that they can either graduate or get a chance to study abroad. Most of them are on the brink of desperation, don't know what to do or where to go. They may be as lost as to try to find a way out by reading a random guy’s blog.

Well, lucky for you, you’re reading the right blog! As the one and only Certification Centre in Colombia we know everything that has to be known about international language proficiency exams. In this month's blog, I’ll discuss some of the most common and preferred English proficiency exams worldwide and what you should take into consideration before taking them.

IELTS

IELTS is the International English Language Testing System and it’s one of the most popular language proficiency tests in the world. It is widely accepted in countries such as the USA, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK. Even in countries in which English is not an official language, an IELTS certificate is required for scholarship candidates who wish to study in an English-speaking environment.

An important aspect you should consider before choosing IELTS as the exam of your preference is the format. The IELTS exam consists of four sections that assess the four communicative skills (Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking). The reading section consists of academic texts as well as passages taken from newspapers and magazines. The listening section includes everyday social interactions and the Speaking section consists of a face-to-face interview with the examiner. 

TOEFL

TOEFL stands for Test of English as a Foreign Language. It is the most preferred English-language test by universities in the USA, Germany and France -Yes, not a typo! Germany and France-. Most students and workers who plan to develop professionally take the TOEFL test. It is also highly recognised by its fair and anti-bias policy, due to the fact that raters (evaluators) do not know the identity of the candidates.

Considering the format of the TOEFL exam, it also evaluates the candidate’s performance in all the four skills. In the TOEFL exam, all the reading passages are 100% academic and may range from topics as varied as Medicine, Astronomy, Psychology, Chemistry, etc. The listening section includes lectures on these subjects and also social interactions that may occur on campus. The speaking section consists of tasks that require the candidate to record short monologues on the computer.

MET

MET is the acronym used for the Michigan English Test by the Michigan Language Assessment. The Michigan exam is widely recognised as an efficient tool to measure the test-taker’s capacity to perform in both educational and work environments. It also evaluates how well a candidate may function in regular social interactions. 

Michigan exam is usually considered the easiest of the three. That however, is not totally true. Although the short version of the test (two-skill exam) assesses only Reading, Listening and a little bit of Grammar, some of the tasks are still demanding and thorough preparation is strongly recommended.

There you go, that’s just an overview of the most popular English-language proficiency tests in the world today. I do hope you find the information on this blog useful as to help you decide which exam suits your needs and expectations the most. Needless to say, if you happen to be one of those aforementioned students that is about to take up French or Italian instead -anything but English-, sweat no more.

Here in Multilingua we’ll be more than glad to help you out and achieve your goals now and for the future.

MIlton Santos M.A.

Academic Coordinator.

Chapinero Branch