IELTS, TOEFL or PTE for a European university

The three tests side by side

The last row is the one that decides this for most people.

Why IELTS is the default here

Not because it is a better test. Because of what it saves you.

An English test has to satisfy two separate readers: the university and the immigration authority that issues your student visa or residence permit. IELTS Academic is named explicitly by nearly every programme across our nine countries and by the language rules attached to their student permits. That means one check instead of two, and no risk of the gap where a university accepts a test the embassy does not.

Every other option requires you to confirm acceptance in both places, in writing, before you pay for it. Sometimes the answer is yes. The cost of finding out it is no, after the test, is the whole fee and a cycle.

The TOEFL change nobody has updated their page for

ETS changed the TOEFL iBT score report in January 2026. The test now reports section scores and an overall score on a 1 to 6 scale, and for a two-year transition period after January 2026 it also gives a comparable overall score on the familiar 0 to 120 scale.

That matters right now, in a practical way. A European university's admissions page that says "TOEFL iBT 80 minimum" was written for the old scale, and many pages have not been rewritten. If you sit TOEFL this cycle, expect to have to explain your own score report to an admissions officer, and keep the 0 to 120 comparable figure visible when you do. It is a solvable problem. It is also a problem you do not have with IELTS.

The test itself is shorter than IELTS — roughly two hours against two hours forty-five — and speaking is recorded rather than conversational, which suits some people considerably better.

Where PTE fits

PTE Academic is a two-hour computer test scored from 10 to 90, with results usually back in about two days. It is genuinely convenient, and it is accepted by a real number of European institutions.

But in this region the acceptance is patchier than for the other two, and — as with the Duolingo English Test — the recognition list is the whole question. Do not assume; find the test named on the programme's own admission requirements page, and then find the language rule for that country's student residence permit and check it there too. The same discipline is set out for Duolingo in where the Duolingo English Test works, and it applies identically here.

Rough equivalence, and why not to lean on it

⚠️ These are indicative bands from the test providers' own comparison tools, not a conversion a university is obliged to accept. A university's requirement is whatever its page prints. If it asks for IELTS 6.5 and lists no TOEFL equivalent, the answer is not to argue from this table — it is to ask the admissions office, or sit IELTS.

Cost, honestly

IDP Bangladesh publishes IELTS on Computer at BDT 29,600 as of 9 September 2026. TOEFL and PTE are priced in US dollars by ETS and Pearson respectively, so the taka figure moves with the exchange rate and the only reliable number is the one shown at the point of booking on their own sites. None of the three is meaningfully cheap, and the difference between them is small compared with the cost of sitting a test the university will not read.

So which one

1. 1Applying to any of the nine European countries: IELTS Academic, unless you have a specific reason not to.
2. 2Applying to Europe and North America in the same cycle: TOEFL is worth considering, since it is well recognised on both sides — but confirm the European programmes accept the new 1 to 6 report.
3. 3Already holding a valid TOEFL or PTE score: do not sit IELTS reflexively. Check each programme page and each country's permit rule. If both accept what you have, you are finished.
4. 4Deciding on convenience alone: that is the wrong criterion. Decide on recognition, then on convenience.

Before paying for any test, check whether you need one at all — a medium of instruction letter or an institutional test replaces it in some cases, as set out in study in Europe without IELTS and asking a university for a waiver.