Since its introduction in late 2005, the TOEFL Internet-based Test (iBT) format has progressively replaced the computer-based tests (CBT) and paper-based tests (PBT), although paper-based testing is still used in select areas. The TOEFL iBT test has been introduced in phases, with the United States, Canada, France,Germany, and Italy in 2005 and the rest of the world in 2006, with test centers added regularly. The CBT was discontinued in September 2006 and these scores are no longer valid.
Initially, the demand for test seats was higher than availability, and candidates had to wait for months. It is now possible to take the test within one to four weeks in most countries.The four-hour test consists of four sections, each measuring one of the basic language skills (while some tasks require integrating multiple skills), and all tasks focus on language used in an academic, higher-education environment. Note-taking is allowed during the TOEFL iBT test. The test cannot be taken more than once every 12 days.
- Reading
- The Reading section consists of questions on 4–6 passages, each approximately 700 words in length. The passages are on academic topics; they are the kind of material that might be found in an undergraduate university textbook. Passages require understanding of rhetorical functions such as cause-effect, compare-contrast and argumentation. Students answer questions about main ideas, details, inferences, essential information, sentence insertion, vocabulary, rhetorical purpose and overall ideas. New types of questions in the TOEFL iBT test require filling out tables or completing summaries. Prior knowledge of the subject under discussion is not necessary to come to the correct answer.
- Listening
- The Listening section consists of questions on six passages, each 3–5 minutes in length. These passages include two student conversations and four academic lectures or discussions. The conversations involve a student and either a professor or a campus service provider. The lectures are a self-contained portion of an academic lecture, which may involve student participation and does not assume specialized background knowledge in the subject area. Each conversation and lecture passage is heard only once. Test-takers may take notes while they listen and they may refer to their notes when they answer the questions. Each conversation is associated with five questions and each lecture with six. The questions are meant to measure the ability to understand main ideas, important details, implications, relationships between ideas, organization of information, speaker purpose and speaker attitude.
- Speaking
- The Speaking section consists of six tasks: two independent and four integrated. In the two independent tasks, test-takers answer opinion questions on familiar topics. They are evaluated on their ability to speak spontaneously and convey their ideas clearly and coherently. In two of the integrated tasks, test-takers read a short passage, listen to an academic course lecture or a conversation about campus life and answer a question by combining appropriate information from the text and the talk. In the two remaining integrated tasks, test-takers listen to an academic course lecture or a conversation about campus life and then respond to a question about what they heard. In the integrated tasks, test-takers are evaluated on their ability to appropriately synthesize and effectively convey information from the reading and listening material. Test-takers may take notes as they read and listen and may use their notes to help prepare their responses. Test-takers are given a short preparation time before they have to begin speaking. The responses are digitally recorded, sent to ETS’s Online Scoring Network (OSN), and evaluated by three to six raters.
- Writing
- The Writing section measures a test taker’s ability to write in an academic setting and consists of two tasks: one integrated and one independent. In the integrated task, test-takers read a passage on an academic topic and then listen to a speaker discuss it. The test-taker then writes a summary about the important points in the listening passage and explains how these relate to the key points of the reading passage. In the independent task, the test-taker must write an essay that states their opinion or choice, and then explain it, rather than simply listing personal preferences or choices. Responses are sent to the ETS OSN and evaluated by at least 3 different raters
| ask | Description | Approximate time |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | 3–5 passages, each containing 12–14 questions | 60–100 minutes |
| Listening | 6–9 passages, each containing 5–6 questions | 60–90 minutes |
| Break | Mandatory break | 10 minutes |
| Speaking | 6 tasks | 20 minutes |
| Writing | 2 tasks | 60 minutes |
One of the sections of the test will include extra, uncounted material. Educational Testing Service includes extra material to pilot test questions for future test forms. When test-takers are given a longer section, they should give equal effort to all of the questions because they do not know which question will count and which will be considered extra. For example, if there are four reading passages instead of three, then one of the passages will not be counted. Any of the four could be the uncounted one.
Test scores
TOEFL iBT Test
- The TOEFL iBT test is scored on a scale of 0 to 120 points.
- Each of the four sections Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing) receives a scaled score from 0 to 30. The scaled scores from the four sections are added together to determine the total score.
- Each speaking question is initially given a score of 0 to 4, and each writing question is initially given a score of 0 to 5. These scores are converted to scaled scores of 0 to 30.
Accepted TOEFL Scores
Most colleges use TOEFL scores as only one factor in their admission process, with a college or program within a college often setting a minimum TOEFL score required. The minimum TOEFL iBT scores range from 61 (Bowling Green State University)to 110 (University of Oxford).
Old TOEFL Format vs New TOEFL Format
| Old TOEFL Format (Long version) | New TOEFL Format (Short Version) |
|---|---|
| 3–4 reading passages 12–14 questions each 60–80 minutes80/14*4= 1.4min per question |
3–4 reading passages 10 questions each 54–72 minutes72/10*4 = 1.8 min per questionTherefore, you have about 40 more secondsper question, which is an extra16 minutes to answer all the questions in the reading section 🙂NO CHANGES TO QUESTION TYPES |
| 4–6 lectures, 6 questions each 2–3 conversations, 5 questions each 60–90 minutes90/(36+15) = 1.8 min per question |
3–4 lectures, 6 questions each 2–3 conversations, 5 questions each 41–57 minutes57/(24+15) = 1.5 min per questionThere is less time than before per question, but the reduced amount of lectures will help you stay focused during the speaking and writing sections.NO CHANGES TO QUESTION TYPES |
| 6 speaking tasks, 20 minutes
– Speaking IndependentTask 1 – Speaking IndependentTask 2 – Speaking integrated Task 3 – Speaking integrated Task 4 – Speaking integrated Task 5 – Speaking integrated Task 6 |
4 speaking tasks, 17 minutes
– – Speaking IndependentTask 2 – Speaking integrated Task 3 – Speaking integrated Task 4 – – Speaking integrated Task 6 The 4 remaining tasks will be renumbered 1-4, accordingly. |
.
There are no major changestothe writing section. You will still complete two writing tasks in 50 minutes:One integrated and one independent.
The above changes willhelp reduce fatigue and lower stress, helping you achieve higher scores in most sections.
How to Prepare for theNewTOEFL Format?
The most asked question so far has been:”What doIneed to do topractice for the new TOEFL changes?”. The simple answer is NOTHING!No seriously, you don’t have to do anything. The reason for this is becausethe question types are the same, which means, you cancontinue practicing for the new TOEFL changes with your old TOEFLpreparation material. However, do keep in mind, practicing a full test with the new TOEFL format is important for your TOEFL prep if you want to be fully prepared before you take the actual exam!
How to Prepare for the New TOEFL Changes in the Speaking Section?
As you you know from the comparison table, speaking task 1 and speaking task 5 are now retired after the launch of thenew TOEFL format. However, the great newsis speaking task 1 is almost identical to speaking task 2, and speaking task 5 is basicallythe same as speaking task 3, with very slight differences.Because of this, you don’t need to do anything differently, but it is still a good idea to practice with the new TOEFL format to have an idea of what to expect in your exam.TOEFL Speaking Practice Questions & New TOEFL Speaking Changes
These changes are great for everyone and will help you score higher, but what if youmake a mistake significantly lowering your score in a single section?Wellwith the new score report improvements, this situation is no longer as devastating as it once was.
NewTOEFL Changes to ScoreReportHelpsYou Achieve a Higher Score!
To help you achieve your target score and forget about a single bad section that’s costing you your admission into your program of choice, the newTOEFL formathas a new score report whichincludes an IBT MyBest™ score in the report.
The IBT MyBest™ score works like this: Theyselectthe best scores from each TOEFL sectionfrom your previous 2 years and combines them tocreate yourbest score possible.
For example, let’s say you took the TOEFL 4times in the last 2 years.
| Reading | Listening | Speaking | Writing | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 20 | 15 | 20 | 74 |
| 29 | 22 | 18 | 22 | 91 |
| 27 | 27 | 23 | 20 | 97 |
| 19 | 25 | 26 | 25 | 95 |
Now, on the score report, your program would see the following:
| Report | Reading | Listening | Speaking | Writing | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most Recent | 19 | 25 | 26 | 25 | 95 |
| IBT MyBest™ | 29 | 27 | 26 | 25 | 107 |
Many universities have requested this, but please be aware, it is not guaranteed your program will accept it, so you’ll need to contact them and ask if they do.
The final section of this article was discovered by an exceptional TOEFL teacher named Michael Goodine. He has his own YouTubechannelwhere you can find a ton of great information about TOEFL, including a video on the new TOEFL changesin 2018 & 2019 found here:TOEFLresources YouTube
New TOEFL Format for Independent Speaking Questions
Before we get into the new TOEFL changes in the speaking section, be aware that they’re smallchanges, but it’s something you need to look out for.The good news is you’ll still answer themlike we teachin our TOEFL speaking lessons.
TOEFLChange inSpeaking#1: More wordsinmultiple-choice questions
This may not seem like much, but having longer questions means more time reading and less time preparing. It also means more chance of misreading the question.
Let’s have a look at both TOEFL format versions, before and after the most recent TOEFLchanges.
OlderTOEFL Speaking Multiple Choice Question Format
“Your degree requires that you should choose a history course. Which of the following courses would you prefer?
-
Art history
-
Twentieth-century world history
-
Science history
Include details and examples to support your answer.”
New TOEFL Speaking Multiple Choice Question Format
“Which of the following courses would you prefer?
-
A course about Art History, the study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts.
-
A course about Twentieth-century World History, the study critical understanding of major political developments.
-
A course about Science History, the study of the development of science and scientific knowledge.
Include details and examples to support your choice.”
Again, answering these questions is the same, so don’t worry too much. What’s important here is to get used to reading a longer question.Understanding them shouldn’t be too difficult, ifyou want, you can practiceaNewly Formatted TOEFL Speaking 1 Practice Question Nowor continue reading on to thenext TOEFL speaking change.
TOEFL Change in Speaking#2: Advantages/Disadvantages questions will TRY TO TRICK YOU!
Before, you would be given a simple scenario like:
Now let’s see how they coulddeceive you.The question might mention two scenarios, but specifically, ask you about only one of them. If not careful, you could end up answering the wrong scenario. Let’s add the TOEFL speaking changes to the previous standing desk question.
WASN’T THAT DECEITFUL!
Well…maybe not, but you can see there is more room for error with this new format. It’s not 100% guaranteed you’ll even get thenew TOEFL format,but going in unprepared is why many people donot achieve their target TOEFL score. The good news is, preparing for the new formatis a simple matter of practicing it, and that’s it!
The TOEFL speaking changes are not the only changes that were made. There were also changes to the TOEFL independent writing section.
New TOEFL Format for the Independent Writing Questions
There is only one change to the writing section andit’s similar toTOEFLChange in Speaking #2;The newindependent writing question format is longer and moreconfusing.
Let’s have a look at a writing question with the change applied:
“Often we are asked to collaborate in team projects at events, school, and even work. Sometimes we are required to work with a group of people who share our opinions and ideas. However, sometimes we need to work with groups of people who have entirely different opinions than us.
Which do you prefer? Use reasons and examples to support your answer. Do not use memorized examples.”
The previous format was much simpler.
This new TOEFL format for the independent writing section adds in a lot of redundancy to forceyou to readmore.
There isn’t much you can do about that except read it slowly to try andunderstand it the first time. Practice is the only preparation you need for this change. You simply need to get used to it.
Final Thoughts on the New TOEFL Formats
As is with all our TOEFL prep suggestions, practice is key to preparing yourself for these new TOEFL changes.
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