One of the most popular English proficiency exams widely accepted at American and Canadian colleges or universities is the TOEFL. It is an acronym for Testing of English as Foreign Language and is a standardized test to measure the English language ability of non-native speakers wishing to enroll in English-speaking universities. The test is accepted by many English-speaking academic and professional institutions. It is a widely recognized internet-based test (iBT) but in places where there is an issue of internet or electronics, it is taken on paper while the scoring pattern remains the same. Just like its counterpart IELTS, TOEFL tests a candidate on four sections which are Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing in a time span of four hours. 

Format of the TOEFL – Internet-Based Test (iBT)

Reading: This section includes questions from 3 to 5 passages of 700 words on academic topics. The duration of this section is 60- 80 minutes. Usually, these passages need the candidate to have an understanding of functions like cause and effect, argumentation, compare and contrast and more. Some of the questions test-taker answers is about vocabulary, sentence insertion, overall ideas and more. Usually, prior knowledge of the subject is not required to get the right answer.

Listening: This section includes six passages and each is about 3 to 5 minutes long. The duration of this section is 60- 90 minutes. Usually, they contain two student conversations and four academic lectures or discussions. Each conversation or lecture can be heard only ONCE and candidates are allowed to make notes while listening and refer to them when they answer questions. The conversations include five questions each whereas lectures contain six. The questions are framed in a way to measure the capability of the test taker in understanding ideas, important details, the organization of information and more.  

Speaking: This section includes six tasks of which two are independent and four are integrated. The duration of this section is 20 minutes. In independent tasks, candidates answer questions on topics they are familiar with. They are judged on their spontaneity and ability to convey their ideas clearly. In the integrated tasks, they are judged by their ability to answer after listening to a lecture or conversation about campus life and reading the material provided. Candidates are given the liberty to make notes to help prepare them appropriate responses for which they are given a brief period to prepare before being digitally recorded. These recordings are later sent to ETS Online Scoring Network to be evaluated by six or three examiners. 

Writing: This section, containing two tasks – one integrated and other independent, is designed to judge the ability of a candidate to write in an academic setting. The duration of this section is 50 minutes. In the integrated task, candidates read an academic topic, then listen to a speaker and then jot down a summary containing all the relevant information. In the independent task, the candidate is expected to write his/her opinion on a given topic and explain why they have formed those.   

Note: One mandatory break of 10 minutes will be given to the candidates after the completion of the first two sections. 

How are the TOEFL scores calculated?

It is scored on a scale of 0 to 120 points with each of the four sections allotted a score from 0 to 30. The scores from all the sections are then added to determine the total score. Each speaking question is initially given a score of 0 to 4 and writing 0 to 5 which is later converted to scores of 0 to 30. 

Important Information

Note: There are numerous colleges who have the TOEFL test as their only factor in getting admitted and therefore have minimum TOEFL score requirements. The minimum requirements vary from university to university. Bowling Green State University needs at least 61 whereas the University of Oxford requires 110. Hence it is important to know the requirements of the college you are aiming for. 

Now that you know TOEFL is a truly dynamic exam, are you ready for it? Is there any section on the test that you’re confused about? Get in touch with your personal counselor at UniRely for more clarification.