TOEFL Test Pattern

Educational Testing Service, abbreviated as ETS conducts the TOEFL exams to examine the English language proficiency level of non-native English speakers in all forms – reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

TOEFL stands for Test of English as a Foreign Language. More than 13,000 universities across the world accept the TOEFL scores to ascertain English language proficiency levels. More than 200 countries accept the TOEFL score.

TOEFL Exam Pattern

The TOEFL exam structure is divided into four sections namely:

• Reading
• Writing
• Speaking
• Listening

Here is the breakdown of the TOEFL exam structure for each section.

TOEFL Reading Test

1. Details of Reading Test
2. 2 reading passages of approximately 700 words each
3. 10 questions per passage
4. Passages are excerpts from university-level textbooks
5. The passages are on a variety of subjects
6. Candidates have to read the passages and respond to questions. Information for all the answers will be there in the passage
7. There is a separate glossary feature for defining uncommon words (in case any candidate needs it)

TOEFL Listening Test

1. Details of Listening Test
2. The section is designed to measure the ability to understand conversations and lectures in English for basic comprehension, understanding the speaker’s attitude and degree of clarity, and connecting information.
3. Answering questions after listening to conversations, lectures, and classroom discussions
4. 2 conversations of about 3 minutes each – 5 questions each from 2 conversations – a total of 10 questions
5. 3 lectures with some classroom discussion of about 3-5 minutes each – 6 questions each from the 3 lectures – a total of 18 questions
6. Candidates can take notes on audio items to answer questions

TOEFL Speaking Test

1. Details of Speaking Test
2. Candidates have to express their opinions and talk on various familiar topics
3. There is 1 independent task where candidates have to express an opinion on some familiar topic. They can draw responses from individual experiences and ideas
4. Questions 2 to 4 are integrated speaking tests. There are 3 integrated tasks based on hearing and reading
5. Upto 15-30 seconds are given for preparation before each response and the response will be 45 to 60 seconds long.
6. To respond, candidates have to speak into a microphone and the responses are recorded
7. It would take about 16 minutes to complete the speaking section.

TOEFL Writing Test

1. Details of Writing Test
2. Integrated writing test – 20 minutes duration – listening to a short lecture and reading a brief passage – writing in response to what is heard and read
3. Writing for an academic discussion task – 10 minutes duration – stating and supporting an opinion in an online classroom discussion
4. Candidates have to type the responses on a computer keyboard
5. It should take about 29 minutes to complete the writing section.

TOEFL Exam Scoring System

1. Score Overview – TOEFL Test
2. For this test, the test scores depend on the candidate’s performance on the various questions.
3. 0 – 30 is the gradation for each section
4. Total score range: 0 – 120
5. The scaled scores from all 4 sections are added together to obtain the final score

A score of 100 out of 120 is considered a decent TOEFL score. Anything above 100 is regarded as the ‘best TOEFL score’.

• Proficiency Levels for Each Section of the TOEFL Exam

Every section of the TOEFL exam has 4-5 proficiency levels. Here is the range of the levels and what it means:

ETS or the TOEFL program does not set any passing or failing scores specifically. Every agency or institution has its own TOEFL score requirements.