TOEFL iBT
OVERVIEW
The TOEFL iBT tests all 4 language skills that are important for
effective academic communication: reading, listening, speaking,
and writing. The test is offered more than 60 times a year at
authorized test centers around the world, and 4 days a week from
almost anywhere with the TOEFL iBT Home Edition. The TOEFL iBT
takes just under 2 hours to complete, but you should plan for 2.5
hours, allowing 30 minutes for check in.
READING SECTION
The TOEFL iBT Reading section assesses how well the test taker
can read and understand materials used in an academic
environment. It includes 2 reading passages, each around 700
words long, with 10 questions per passage. It should take about
35 minutes to complete the Reading section. Reading passages are
excerpts from university-level textbooks that introduce a topic.
Topics of the reading passages can vary, but you do not need to
have any prior knowledge of the topics. Everything that you need
to know to answer the questions is in the passages, because the
questions are testing your English skills, not your knowledge of
the topic. Besides traditional multiple-choice format questions,
the Reading section has questions that ask test takers to select
the answer choice that most accurately paraphrases a sentence
from the passage, to insert a sentence where it fits best in the
passage, and to categorize information and fill in a chart or
complete a summary. You can return to previous questions to
review or change your answers. Sometimes, test takers can click
on certain words and phrases in the reading passages to view
their definitions or explanations.
LISTENING SECTION
The TOEFL iBT Listening section measures the test taker's ability
to understand spoken English. Listening material in the test
includes academic lectures and long conversations. The content of
the lectures reflects the content that is presented in
introductory-level university courses. The lectures cover an
extensive range of subjects and topics. The conversations may
take place during an office meeting with a professor or teaching
assistant, or during a service encounter with university staff.
Each lecture is about 4-5 minutes long, about 500-750 words, and
is followed by 6 multiple-choice questions. Each conversation is
about 3 minutes long, about 12-25 exchanges, and is followed by 5
multiple-choice questions. It should take about 36 minutes to
complete the Listening section. Test takers may hear
native-speaker English accents from the U.K., Australia, or New
Zealand in addition to accents from North America. Besides
traditional multiple-choice questions, there are questions that
measure understanding of a speaker's attitude, degree of
certainty, and purpose, or require test takers to order events or
steps in a process or to match objects or text to categories in a
chart. You cannot see the questions while you listen to the
conversations and lectures. You cannot return to previous
questions to review or change your answers.
SPEAKING SECTION
The TOEFL iBT Speaking section measures the test taker's ability
to speak English effectively in academic settings. It has 1
independent and 3 integrated tasks, or questions. It should take
about 16 minutes to complete the Speaking section. Question 1 is
the Independent Speaking task, which is on a topic that is
familiar to you. Questions 2 through 4 are the Integrated
Speaking tasks. For these questions, you have to use more than 1
skill. Some questions require you to read, listen, and then
speak, while others require you to listen and then speak, just as
you would in or out of a classroom. You will get 15-30 seconds of
preparation time before each response, and your response will be
45 or 60 seconds long. When you listen, you will hear accents
from North America, and you may hear accents from the United
Kingdom, New Zealand, or Australia. Test takers wear
noise-cancelling headphones and speak into a microphone. The
responses are digitally recorded and sent to ETS. Speaking tasks
are scored based on the Speaking Scoring Guides (Rubrics) by a
combination of AI scoring and certified human raters. Raw scores
are converted to a scaled section score of 0-30.
WRITING SECTION
The TOEFL iBT Writing section measures the test taker's ability
to write in English in an academic setting. It has 2 tasks, or
questions: an Integrated Writing task and a Writing for an
Academic Discussion task. It should take about 29 minutes to
complete the Writing section. Question 1 is the Integrated
Writing task. In this task, you will read a short passage of
about 250-300 words on an academic topic for 3 minutes. The
passage will then be removed, and, for about 2 minutes, you will
hear a short lecture related to the topic. You will then be asked
to summarize the points in the lecture and explain how they
relate to the points in the reading passage. You will have 20
minutes to plan, type, and revise your response. Typically, an
effective response will contain between 150 and 225 words.
Question 2 is the Writing for an Academic Discussion task. For
this task, you will read an online discussion. A professor has
posted a question about a specific topic, and 2 classmates have
responded with their ideas. Write a response that contributes to
the discussion. You will have 10 minutes to plan, write, and
revise your response. Typically, an effective response will
contain a minimum of 100 words. As is the case with the Speaking
section, the responses are sent to ETS. Writing tasks are scored
based on the Writing Scoring Guides (Rubrics) by a combination of
AI scoring and certified human raters. Raw scores are converted
to a scaled section score of 0-30. The TOEFL iBT Writing section
requires typing. If you cannot type, you should learn how to type
as soon as possible.