ScoreFluentWhich English test should you take?
Eight exam profiles and the free 15-question strengths chooser.
Read →What each English exam asks you to do
Format and content are only part of choosing a test — how a test is delivered shapes what preparation actually helps. Here is the live-vs-recorded, once-vs-twice split, plus every official task condition across the eight profiles.
Why format matters for preparation
Two conditions shape how a test feels to sit, independent of how good your English is: whether speaking is judged live by a person or recorded to a microphone, and whether a listening recording plays once or twice. Neither condition makes a test easier or harder — each rewards a different exam-day skill, and practising for the wrong one wastes time you could spend on the format you will actually sit.
Recorded speaking — used by PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, CELPIP-General and the Michigan English Test — removes an examiner from the room, but asks you to speak fluently to silence, pace your own answer against an on-screen timer, and stay audible to a microphone with no follow-up question to react to. Live speaking — LanguageCert Academic and both IELTS versions with one examiner, Cambridge C1 Advanced with an examiner and another candidate — asks you to sustain a real exchange: read a reaction, take a follow-up, and, for Cambridge C1 Advanced alone among these eight, collaborate with a peer toward a joint decision.
Listening plays once for PTE, TOEFL, both IELTS versions, CELPIP-General and the Michigan English Test, so note-taking that works on a single pass is the skill to build. LanguageCert Academic and Cambridge C1 Advanced play every recording twice, which rewards a different strategy — using the first pass to orient and the second to fill gaps. TOEFL iBT is the only one of the eight with adaptive Reading and Listening sections, where your performance on an earlier module can change how challenging the next one is.
The quadrant below crosses these two conditions; the demand matrix that follows turns them, plus twelve further official task conditions, into a single reference table. A filled dot means the official format includes that task — it is not a weighting or a difficulty signal, and a longer list of dots does not make an exam harder.
Live or recorded, once or twice?
Two conditions shape how a test feels to sit: whether speaking is live or recorded, and whether listening plays once or twice.
Speaking: live humanListening: played twice
Speaking: recordedListening: played twice
No exam in this group
Speaking: live humanListening: played once
Speaking: recordedListening: played once
What does each exam actually ask you to do?
Fourteen official task conditions, checked against each exam's current format — a filled dot means the official test includes it, not that it counts for more.
| Task condition | PTE | TOEFL | LCA | CELPIP | C1 | IELTS A | IELTS GT | MET |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speaking (1–5) | ||||||||
| 1. Live interaction with an examiner | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2. Speaking with another candidate | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| 3. Planned long turn (1–2 min) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 4. Listen and repeat | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| 5. Read aloud | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Writing (6–9) | ||||||||
| 6. Describe a chart, image or scene | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 7. Email or letter | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| 8. Extended essay (200+ words) | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 9. Summarise a text or lecture | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Reading & grammar (10–12) | ||||||||
| 10. Explicit grammar items | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| 11. Everyday and workplace texts | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| 12. Academic reading | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Listening (13–14) | ||||||||
| 13. Recordings played twice | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| 14. Adaptive reading and listening | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Distinct demands | 6 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Frequently asked questions
Why are IELTS Academic and General Training separate?
They share Listening and Speaking, but their Reading and Writing tasks differ. Academic includes visual-information writing; General Training includes a practical letter.
Which English tests play listening recordings twice?
LanguageCert Academic and Cambridge C1 Advanced play every listening recording twice. The other six profiles here — PTE, TOEFL, both IELTS versions, CELPIP-General and the Michigan English Test — play each recording once.
Is any English test adaptive?
Among these eight, only TOEFL iBT is adaptive: its Reading and Listening sections use staged modules, where performance on an earlier module affects the difficulty of the next one.
Sources
Task and delivery facts are checked against current publisher format pages on 26 September 2026. The full source list is on the validity and retakes page →.
Related
Compare eight English exams side by side
Delivery, test length and score scales for all eight profiles in one table.
Read →How long results last, retakes and results timing
Results turnaround, retake rules and how long each result stays valid.
Read →Which English test for study, migration or work
Decision trees by goal, speaking format or strongest skill.
Read →