TOEFL iBT at home or at a centre: five checks before you register

Saving a journey is a good reason to test at home, and a poor reason to skip one email.

What stays the same

At a test centre you sit at an authorised centre, on its equipment, with staff checking your identity. With Home Edition you take the same test on your own computer, with a live remote proctor watching throughout. Both give the same scores. What differs is the setting, and the setting brings five checks.

Check 1: does every institution accept it?

Acceptance is each institution's decision, not ETS's. Open the requirement page for every place that will receive your scores and look for a mention of Home Edition. If a page is silent, do not assume it is a yes.

Suppose an applicant chose Home Edition for convenience. Four of her five universities say they accept it. The fifth says nothing, she assumes silence means yes, and later its admissions office replies that it requires a test centre result. She pays a second registration fee and waits for a new date.

If a page is silent, email the admissions office and keep the answer in writing. If no clear reply comes in time, book a test centre.

Check 2: does your room pass?

The rules are strict. You must be alone in a closed room and stay in view of the proctor throughout. The session is recorded. Screen-sharing and remote-access software must be closed.

Look at the room you plan to use, not the one you wish you had. A shared flat with a thin door is a risk you can remove before you pay.

Check 3: does your computer pass?

Run the ETS equipment check before you pay, not the evening before. If it fails, you want to find out while a test centre is still an easy alternative.

Check 4: do you know the timing rules?

The two settings treat arrival differently.

Either way, the test has about 90 minutes of section time with no scheduled breaks, so eat and drink first.

Check 5: is your identity check ready?

Your name and date of birth must match your registration exactly, apart from accents and apostrophes. At a centre, staff check your original document. At home, if ETS asks, you may need to verify your identity in its mobile app at least 48 hours before the test. Copy your name from your document letter by letter when you create your ETS account.

Put it in your decision record

Add a "Home Edition accepted" column to your table of institutions, with yes, no or asked on each row, the date and a link. When every row says yes and the room and computer pass, Home Edition is a fair choice. If a row says no, or stays blank, a test centre is the safer booking.

A blank on a requirement page is a question for the admissions office, not a yes.