INTRODUCTION
The TOEFL iBT test measures your ability to use and understand English at the university level. And it evaluates how well you combine your reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills to perform academic tasks. The TOEFL test is the English-language test most preferred by universities in the United States, France and Germany, and by graduate programs in Canada.
WHO TAKES THE TOEFL TEST?
More than 35 million people from all over the world have taken the TOEFL test to demonstrate their English-language proficiency. The average English skill level ranges between Intermediate and Advanced.
- Students planning to study at a higher education institution
- English-language learning program admissions and exit
- Scholarship and certification candidates
- English-language learners who want to track their progress
- Students and workers applying for visas
WHO ACCEPTS TOEFL TEST SCORES?
TOEFL scores are accepted by more than 10,000 universities and other institutions worldwide, including universities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., the United States, and across Europe and Asia. It is the English-language test most preferred by universities in the United States, France and Germany, and by graduate programs in Canada.
STRUCTURE
The Reading section (60-100 minutes long) assesses your ability to understand and analyze written texts on topics like science and academic discussions.
The Listening section (60-90 minutes long) makes sure you can understand information given to you orally—for example, when you listen to a lecture or speak to a professor at university. This section has four to six lectures and questions that test your understanding of the content, as well as your understanding of the motivations and emotions of speakers.
The Speaking section (20 minutes) consists of six tasks that you complete by talking into a microphone during the test. It is meant to measure how well you can express your thoughts and ideas in English.
And finally, the Writing section (50 minutes) is all about demonstrating how you can use your English in writing. Here, you will apply your knowledge of grammar and vocabulary and form clear sentences and paragraphs.
Each section has a maximum score of 30, so the maximum TOEFL score overall is 120. This means that 120 is a perfect score.
The TOEFL is a test that you will take all in one day. It is four and a half hours long with one short break in the middle, between the Listening and Speaking sections.
READING
The Reading section presents you with three to five academic passages (pieces of text from academic texts or talks), each approximately 700 words long. The passages may be talking about a certain topic or about comparing several points of view. They can be scientific, historic and even philosophical.
Each text will be followed by 12-14 questions. These questions may ask you to do one of the following tasks:
- define a word (testing your vocabulary)
- identify an idea or argument (testing your understanding)
- find a false statement (testing overall comprehension)
You will have from 60 to 100 minutes to complete this section depending on the number of passages and accompanying questions.
LISTENING
During Listening, you will be working with two different types of audio:
- recordings of lectures
- recordings of conversations
You should expect to listen to four to six lectures that deal with academic topics. Conversations are more casual, so there are usually only two to three of these.
Each bit of audio can be from three to five minutes long, followed by five to six questions. The questions may ask you about the contents of the recording. They may also ask you about what you think happened before or what could happen after. There could also be the “why” and “how” type of questions.
SPEAKING
You will be given six Speaking tasks in total. Two of them will ask you to express an opinion on an everyday topic. This is the Independent Speaking section. For the Independent Speaking section, all you will hear is a question. You will not need to listen to a long recording or read any long passages.
The four remaining tasks will require you to discuss something that you read and hear. This is the Integrated Speaking section. For Integrated Speaking, you will read a short passage or hear an audio recording followed by a question. You will have up to 30 seconds to prepare a response and up to one minute to record it by speaking into a microphone.
WRITING
Writing consists of only two tasks: one Integrated Writing task and one Independent Writing task.
The idea behind these tasks is similar to the Speaking section tasks. For the Independent Writing task, you will write an opinion on a casual topic. You will get a question to answer, but you will not need to listen to a long audio recording or read a long passage. To learn more about the Independent Writing section, click here.
For the Integrated writing task, you will write an essay based on additional reading and listening material. You will have more time (30 minutes) to spend on the Independent task than on the Integrated task (20 minutes), so you will be expected to deliver a very good essay on the former (the Independent task) and a slightly shorter answer on the latter (the Integrated test).
BREAK
TOEFL has a 10-minute break in the middle of the exam, and it is mandatory, which means that everyone must stop.
Culled from ets.org
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