More than 9,000 universities, agencies, and other institutions in more than 130 countries accept TOEFL scores as part of their admissions criteria, making the TOEFL iBT test one of the most widely respected English-language tests in the world.
TOEFL iBT Sections
TOEFL iBT has four sections:
|
SECTION |
TOTAL TIME |
TASKS |
|
Reading |
54-72 minutes |
Read 3-4 passages
|
|
Listening |
41-57 minutes |
Listen to 2-3 conversations
|
|
Speaking |
17 minutes |
Speak about familiar experience (1 independent task)
|
|
Writing |
50 minutes |
1 integrated task: write an essay based on a reading and a listening passage (20 minutes)
|
The times listed do not include the time needed to read and listen to section directions.
Reading Section
This section measures your ability to understand academic passages in English. The passages are excerpts from university-level textbooks and similar academic materials. You do not need any background knowledge about the topics contained in the passages in order to successfully answer the questions. All the information you need to answer the questions can be found in the passages. The questions cover your ability to find and understand basic information, make inferences, and read to learn.
Here are the types of Reading questions, with an explanation of each type:
|
Factual Information Questions |
These questions ask you to identify factual information that was explicitly stated in the passage. |
|
Negative Factual Information Questions |
These questions ask you to distinguish information that is true from information that is not true or not included in the passage. |
|
Inference Questions |
These questions ask about information that is implied but not explicitly stated in the passage. |
|
Rhetorical Purpose Questions |
These questions ask about the rhetorical function of specific information presented in a passage. These questions ask why the author mentioned or included a specific piece of information in the passage. |
|
Vocabulary Questions |
These questions ask you to identify the meanings of individual words or phrases as they are used in the passage. |
|
Reference Questions |
These questions measure your ability to identify relationships between ideas mentioned in the pas-sage and expressions that refer to the ideas. For example, an idea could be presented and another sentence could refer to "This idea." A question might ask what the phrase "This idea" refers to. |
|
Sentence Simplification Questions |
These questions ask you to choose a sentence that has the same essential meaning as a particular sentence from the passage. |
|
Insert Text Questions |
These questions provide a new sentence and ask you to place that sentence into the passage where it would best fit. |
|
Prose Summary Questions |
These questions ask you to identify major ideas from the passage and distinguish them from minor ideas or from ideas that were not presented in the passage. To select the correct answers, you need to both understand the relative importance of various pieces of information from the passage and identify the combination of answer choices that covers the major ideas presented in the passage. |
|
Fill in a Table Questions |
These questions ask you to select which answer choices belong in a table containing two or three categories. You will need to organize or categorize major ideas or points from the passage into the correct categories. |
Listening Section
This section measures your ability to understand conversations and academic lectures in English.
You will listen to two conversations. One conversation takes place in a professor's office and may include discussion of academic material or course requirements. The other conversation takes place on a university campus and includes discussion of non-academic content that is related to university life. Each conversation is followed by five questions.
You will also listen to four lectures on a variety of topics. In two lectures, only the professor speaks. In the other two lectures, students contribute to the discussion; the professor may ask students questions about the topic being discussed or may answer students' questions. Each lecture is followed by six questions.
Each conversation and lecture is heard only once. Each contains a context photograph depicting the speaker(s). Some conversations and lectures contain other visuals, such as blackboards that present technical vocabulary or uncommon names.
Here are the types of Listening questions, with an explanation of each type:
|
Basic Comprehension Questions |
These questions ask about the main idea or main purpose of a conversation or lecture, or they ask about important details that were discussed. |
|
Connecting Information Questions |
These questions ask you to identify the organization of information in a conversation or lecture, to make connections between important points that were discussed, or to make inferences based on important points that were discussed. |
|
Pragmatic Understanding Questions |
These questions ask you to identify a speaker's purpose in making a statement or asking a question or to identify a speaker's attitude, opinion, or degree of certainty. |
Most questions are multiple choice with one correct answer. Some questions require more than one answer. You may also encounter questions that ask you to place the steps of a process in order, place checkmarks in a grid, or listen again to a portion of a conversation or lecture.
Speaking Section
This section measures your ability to speak in English about a variety of topics. For each question, you will be given a short time to prepare your response. When the preparation time is up, answer the question as completely as possible in the time indicated for that question.
For Speaking question 1, you will speak about a familiar topic, such as a person you know, a favorite place, an important object, or an enjoyable event. You should base your response on personal experience or what you know about the familiar topic.
For Speaking question 2, you will give your opinion about a familiar topic. You will need to explain what your opinion is and explain the reasons you have for holding that opinion.
For Speaking question 3, you will first read a short passage and then listen to or read a transcript of a conversation on the same topic. You will then be asked a question about both. You will need to combine appropriate information from the passage and the conversation to provide a complete answer to the question. Your response is scored on your ability to speak clearly and coherently and on your ability to accurately convey information about the passage and the conversation.
For Speaking question 4, you will first read a short passage on an academic subject and then listen to or read a transcript of a talk on the same subject. You will then be asked a question about both. Your response is scored on your ability to speak clearly and coherently and on your ability to integrate and convey key information from the passage and the talk.
For Speaking question 5, you will listen to or read a transcript of a conversation about a campus-related problem. Your response is scored on your ability to briefly summarize the problem, state which solution from the conversation you prefer, and explain the reasons for your preference.
For Speaking question 6, you will listen to or read a transcript of part of a lecture. You will then be asked a question about it. Your response is scored on your ability to speak clearly and coherently and on your ability to accurately convey information from the lecture.
Speaking responses are scored in terms of three important dimensions: delivery, language use, and topic development. When raters evaluate responses, they consider all three dimensions equally. No one dimension is weighted more heavily than another.
Writing Section
This section measures your ability to write in English to communicate in an academic environment.
For Writing question 1, you will read a passage and listen to or read a transcript of a lecture. Then you will respond to a question that asks you about the relationship between the reading passage and the lecture. Try to answer as completely as possible using information from both the reading passage and the lecture. The question does not ask you to express your personal opinion. You may consult the reading passage again when it is time for you to write. Typically, an effective response will contain 150 to 225 words. Your response is judged on the quality of your writing and on the completeness and accuracy of the content.
For Writing question 2, you will write an essay in response to a question that asks you to state, explain, and support your opinion on an issue. Typically, an effective essay will contain a minimum of 300 words. Your essay is judged on the quality of your writing. This includes the development of your ideas, the organization of your essay, and the quality and accuracy of the language you use to express your ideas.
TOEFL iBT Scores
Each of the four sections of the TOEFL iBT is scored on a scale of 0 to 30. The four section scores are then added together for a total test score of 0 to 120.
In addition to the section scores and total score, you will receive score descriptors as part of your result. These descriptors are brief explanations of what the numeric scores mean in terms of language skills and proficiency.
