TOEFL iBT
ETS
EnglishEnglish
An English test from ETS for university admission, widely used by universities in the US and many other countries. It moved to a new, shorter format with a new 1–6 score scale in January 2026.
Details
- Format
- Four sections: Reading (about 30 minutes), Listening (about 29 minutes), Writing (about 23 minutes) and Speaking (about 8 minutes). Tasks include Complete the Words, Read in Daily Life, Listen and Choose a Response, Build a Sentence, Write an Email, Write for an Academic Discussion, Listen and Repeat, and Take an Interview. The test adapts to your answers, so timing and number of questions can vary. There is no scheduled break; ETS advises allowing about 2 hours in total.
- Scoring
- Since 21 January 2026, each section and the overall score are reported on a 1–6 scale in half-point steps, aligned to CEFR levels (for example, a 5 in a section corresponds to C1). The overall score is the average of the four sections, rounded to the nearest 0.5. For two years after January 2026, score reports also show a comparable overall score on the old 0–120 scale, because many universities still list requirements that way (often somewhere around 80–100). Score reports also include MyBest scores (superscores).
- Results valid for
- 2 years from the test date.
- How you take it
- On computer at an authorised test centre, or at home with TOEFL iBT Home Edition (on your computer, watched by a live online proctor). Testing inside Iran is currently paused.
- Fee
- Varies by country: ETS shows the price when you select your test location on its fee page. Extra services are charged in US dollars, for example rescheduling US$69, express registration (within 7 days of the test) US$49 and additional score reports US$29 each.