TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign Language) is one of the most respected and widely accepted English language test that is accepted by thousands of universities across the world. TOEFL scores are considered by universities, immigration departments, and workplaces in many English speaking countries to gauge candidates’ English comprehension abilities. Today, more than 10,000 universities spread across more than 150 countries in the world, including the US, New Zealand, the UK, Canada, and Australia. TOEFL enjoys the distinction of being the only standardized test that simulates campus life and university classroom. The test is designed and developed ETS with the help of some of the leading and most prestigious universities of the world.
Exam Structure
TOEFL has four sections – Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. Students taking up this test will require doing tasks that will combine all these communication skills, like:
- Read and listen to a question and then write in response to it
- Listen to a question and then speak in response to it
- Read and listen to a question and then speak in response to it
Though it takes to about 3 hours to complete TOEFL, an additional half-hour can be planned by students for check-in.
The Reading section requires students to read passages and answer questions related to them. Altogether there will be 30-40 questions in this sections and the same need to be attempted within 54-72 minutes.
The Listening section will have 28-39 questions and all of them have to be attempted by students within 41-57 minutes. Here, students will answer questions relating to classroom discussions or brief lectures.
There will be a break for students spanning 10 minutes.
In the Speaking section, there will be 4 tasks assigned for the students that they need to attend within 17 minutes. Here, students will be talking about a topic familiar to them. They will also discuss material they read and listened to.
The Writing section will have 2 tasks that students need to attempt within 50 minutes. Here, students will read a passage and will listen to a recording after which they will type their response.
Reading
This section is designed to gauge the candidate’s ability to read and understand different kinds of materials that are used in an academic environment. Typically, this section will have 3-4 reading passages with 10 questions per passage. Furthermore, each passage will be 700 words long. Students need to answer all the questions within 54-72 minutes.
Passages in this section are of university-level and are usually excerpts used as introductions to a topic or a discipline. The passages included in the test cover different subjects. Students need not worry if the topic of a passage is unfamiliar to them. As such the passages will have all information necessary for answering the questions. Also, if students need them, there will be a glossary feature that can be used for understanding words that are not commonly used.
There may also be some extra questions in the Listening and Reading sections that will not be counted in your score. Usually, these questions are included to facilitate ETS to:
- Figure out how such questions work in real test conditions
- Enable test scores to compare with other administrations
Listening
This section is designed to gauge student’s ability to understand lectures and conversations in English. This section includes listening for:
- Basic comprehension
- Practical understanding and connecting and processing information
The listening items in this section are of 2 types – lectures and conversations. Campus-based language is used in both these types.
- 3-4 lectures with 6 questions attached to each lecture. Each lecture will be 3-5 minutes long
- 2-3 conversations with each of them 3 minutes long from 2 speakers. Each conversation will be followed by 5 questions.
To make it easier to answer questions, students can take notes while listening to the audio items. In all, students have 41-57 minutes to complete this section.
There may also be some extra questions in the Listening and Reading sections that will not be counted in your score. Usually, these questions are included to facilitate ETS to:
- Figure out how such questions work in real test conditions
- Enabling comparison of test scores with other administrations
Speaking
This section is designed to gauge your ability to speak effectively in English in academic settings. In all, there will be 4 tasks students need to attempt that, in a way, reflect real-life situations students may experience both in a classroom and outside it.
- The 1st question will be an ‘independent speaking task’ as it will prompt you in bringing out your original ideas, experiences, and opinions.
- Questions 2,3, and 4 are ‘integrated speaking tasks’ as they will require you to combine different English skills – reading and speaking, listening, or listening and speaking – just as you would do both inside a classroom and outside it.
The preparation time for each response will be 15-30 seconds and the time given for each response is 45-60 seconds.
The microphone on your headset needs to be used for recording your response. This response will be recorded and sent to ETS where certified human raters and AI scoring will work in combination to provide a score for the student in a quality and fair manner.
In all, students are given 17 minutes for completing this section.
Writing
This section is designed to gauge student’s writing ability in an academic setting. Through the writing section, students are also tested on how well they can present their ideas.
In this section, there will be 2 tasks:
- Independent writing task – A writing topic will be provided to the candidate. He/she has to write an essay giving out his/her opinion and personal experiences. This task needs to be completed within 30 minutes.
- Integrated writing task – In this task, the candidate has to read a passage and then listen to a lecture. Thereafter, the candidate has to respond in a way he/she has read and listened to. The time allocated for this task will be 20 minutes.
A computer keyboard will be used by the candidate for typing all the responses. The responses will be sent to ETS, where a combination of human evaluators and AI scoring will decide the actual score of the candidate. This method is followed to ensure there is quality and fairness in the scoring system.
The writing section needs to be completed within 50 minutes.
What scores are preferred by top universities?
Here are some of the top US universities that accept TOEFL scores and their cut-offs:
University TOEFL Cut-off
Harvard University 100-109
Yale University 100
University of Pennsylvania 100
Brown University 100
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 90
Princeton University 100
Stanford University 100
UCLA 87
Columbia University 100
University of Washington 76
University of Illinois, Chicago 80
Auburn University 79
Florida International University 80
University of Dayton, Ohio 80
University of Central Florida 80
University of South Carolina 77
Adelphi University 80
American University 100
University of Kansas 79
University of Massachusetts, Boston 79
California Institute of Technology 78
UC Berkeley 100
Duke University 90
University of California, Los Angeles 87
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor 88-100
Northwestern University 90
University of California, San Diego 85
Carnegie Mellon University 102
Boston University 90
Bryn Mawr College 100
New York University 100
Bentley University 90
Rice University 100
Cornell University 100
University of Rochester 100
Emory University 100
Ball State University 79
Boston College 100
Central Michigan University 79
Clemson University 79-80
College of William and Mary 93-100
Colorado State University 45-71
Drexel University 80-100
Florida A&M University 80
Fordham University 90
George Mason University 88-100
Georgetown University 100
Illinois Institute of Technology 80
John Hopkins University 100
Michigan State University 79
Montana State University 80-93
New Jersey Institute of Technology 79
Northeastern University 79-80
Oakland University 79
Ohio University 80
Purdue University – West Lafayette 77
San Diego State University 80
Southern Illinois University – Carbondale 80
Trinity International University 92
Tufts University 100
Tulane University 84
University of Hartford 79
University of Houston 79
Europe
University Country TOEFL Cut-off
University of Cambridge United Kingdom 110
University of Oxford United Kingdom 100
Heidelberg University Germany 90
LMU Munich Germany 80
Humboldt University of Berlin Germany 79
KU Leuven Belgium 79-80
University College London United Kingdom 100
University of Durham United Kingdom 88
RWTH Aachen Germany 90
Tampere University Finland 79-80
University of Manchester United Kingdom 100
University of Warwick United Kingdom 92
University of Bologna Italy 79-80
King’s College, London United Kingdom 72
Technical University of Munich Germany 88
University of Bonn Germany 80
University of Tuebingen Germany 79
Imperial College London United Kingdom 82
London School of Economics United Kingdom 100
Leiden University Netherlands 88
University of Freiburg Germany 100
University of Leeds United Kingdom 83
University of Edinburgh United Kingdom 100
Central European University Hungary 88
University of Lancaster United Kingdom 87
Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands 90
University of St. Andrews United Kingdom 92-100
Newcastle University United Kingdom 100
Chalmers University of Technology Sweden 90
Canada
University TOEFL Cut-off
University of Toronto 89-110
University of Ottawa 86-96
University of Calgary 80-108
University of British Columbia 90
University of Alberta 90
McGill University 79-100
McMaster University 86
University of Waterloo 90
Western University 83
York University 79-80
University of Montreal 86
Simon Fraser University 93
Queen’s University 110
Australia
University TOEFL Cut-off
University of Melbourne 79
The University of Adelaide 79
University of Wollongong 61
University of Sydney 96
UNSW Sydney 90
Curtin University 84
University of Western Australia 82
RMIT University 79
Monash University 94
University of Technology, Sydney 102-109
University of Queensland 87
Australian National University 80-100
Deakin University 65
Macquarie University 83
Victoria University 55
University of New South Wales 90
Griffith University 79
University of South Australia 60
New Zealand
University TOEFL Cut-off
University of Auckland 80
University of Waikato 80
University of Canterbury 80
University of Victoria, Wellington 90
Auckland University of Technology 80
University of Otago 80
AUT University 80
Massey University 80
Wellington Institute of Technology 46
Manukau Institute of Technology 60
Lincoln University 60
What are the passing scores and what do the scores represent?
ETS or TOEFL Program doesn’t set passing or failing scores. Each agency or institution has its score requirements. Students need to contact their respective institution in finding out how their TOEFL scores will be interpreted or used.
Asia
University Country
Tsinghua University China
College of Global Talents China
Oak Hill School of Shenzhen China
Shenzhen University, College of International Exchange China
St. Mary’s – Wuhan China
Hohai University China
Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology China
China University of Petroleum (East China) China
St. Mary’s Jinhua High School China
New York University Shanghai China
East China Normal University – Asia Europe Business School China
English School of Phonetics, MVA Trust PUSA India
Butterfly India
Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar India
Aegis School of Business India
C-CAPS India
Tata Institute of Social Science India
Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies India
University of Mumbai India
S P Jain School of Global Management India
The American School of Bombay India
Global Institute of Management Technology India
Maharishi Institute of Management India
Indian Institute of Social Welfare & Business Management India
Stella Maris College India
The National Management School India
Central Institute of English & Foreign Languages India
Indian School of Business India
Pune Institute of Business Management India
Mahkota College Malaysia
James Cook University Singapore
Curtin Singapore Singapore
Yale – NUS College Singapore
California International USA School Hong Kong
Lasalle College Hong Kong
Lingnan University Hong Kong
Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iran
Osaka University, OSIPP Japan
Osaka University – School of Engineering Science Japan
Kyoto University, Graduate School of Science Japan
University of Tokyo – IS&T Japan
Keio University Japan
Seoul National University of Science and Technology South Korea
Sejng University South Korea
University of San Carlos Philippines
Ateneo Graduate School of Business Philippines
Reading Section
Score range 24-30 (Advanced)
Candidates who score at an advanced level in the reading section are capable of understanding academic passages in English that are of university level. These candidates typically understand less common meanings of words. They are also capable of synthesizing information even in those passages that are conceptually dense and contain complex language.
Score range 18-23 (High-Intermediate)
Candidates whose reading score fall in the High-intermediate range typically understand important details and ideas that are presented through academic passages. However, these candidates may have an incorrect or incomplete understanding of different parts of passages, especially the ones that are dense with propositions. The candidates at this level are capable of synthesizing information given in the passage but tend to struggle a bit when the passage is abstract, rhetorically complex, or conceptually dense.
Score range 4-17 (Low-Intermediate)
Candidates whose reading score fall between 4 and 17 or in the Low-Intermediate level have limited understanding of information presented to them through passages. However, these candidates understand the main ideas and are capable of understanding connections between two or more sentences, especially when the relationships are simple and clear. However, they face difficulty in handling complex or dense parts of passages.
Score range 0-3 (Below Low-Intermediate)
These candidates are yet to demonstrate reading proficiency at the Low-Intermediate level.
Listening Section
Score range 22-30 (Advanced)
Candidates whose score fall in the Advanced level can easily understand lectures and conversations in an academic setting. These test takers should not have any difficulty in understanding main ideas as well as explicitly given details. Furthermore, these candidates can easily differentiate important ideas from lesser ones.
Score range 17-21 (High-Intermediate)
Candidates whose listening score fall in the High-Intermediate level can understand important details of lectures and conversations that are in an academic setting. However, they may face difficulty with conversations and lectures in which information is presented densely.
Score range 9-16 (Low-Intermediate)
Candidates whose listening score fall between 9 and 16 are typically the ones who can understand important details and main ideas of lectures and conversations that fall within the academic settings. However, these candidates may need elaborated or extensive examples to get ideas in complex discussions.
Score range 0-8 (Below Low-Intermediate)
These candidates are yet to demonstrate their listening capability at the Low-Intermediate level.
Speaking Section
Score range 25-30 (Advanced)
Candidates who score in the range of 25-30 in the speaking section do not feel any difficulty in communicating effectively and fluently on different types of topics. Furthermore, these candidates demonstrate full control of vocabulary and grammatical structures.
Score range 20-24 (High-Intermediate)
Candidates whose score fall in the High-Intermediate range generally do not encounter any difficulty in communicating on most familiar or general topics. They understand even those topics that are academic or complex. Candidates in the High-Intermediate level pass on sufficient information that is enough to produce opinions, explanations, and summaries.
Score range 16-19 (Low-Intermediate)
Candidates falling in the Low-Intermediate category are generally able to speak on a variety of familiar or general topics with relative ease. However, these candidates may occasionally take longer pauses while speaking on academic or more complex topics. Also, their mispronunciations may dilute meaning some times.
Score range 10-15 (Basic)
Candidates who score between 10 and 15 in the speaking section can communicate limited details about every day, familiar topic. Typically, these candidates speak carefully and slowly so they are understood easily by others. Also, the pronunciation of the candidates is generally influenced by the first language of the speaker.
Score range 0-9 (Below Basic)
These test takers have still not been able to indicate speaking proficiency at the Basic level.
Writing Section
Score range 24-30 (Advanced)
These candidates can easily write on a wide range of non-academic and academic topics with lots of clarity and confidence. Candidates with an advanced score in the writing section can also produce well-organized and well-developed texts. Furthermore, they can write in English clearly and grammatically way which is a rarity in most students. Candidates in this score range can collect important information from different sources, integrate it, and produce it clearly and coherently while writing.
Score range 17-23 (High-Intermediate)
These test-takers can easily write in English on a variety of familiar or general topics. They generally do not encounter any difficulty while conveying ideas on academic topics or complex ideas.
Score range 13-16 (Low-Intermediate)
Candidates falling in this score range can generally produce simple written texts on topics that are familiar to them. However, their development of ideas may be restricted because of inappropriate or insufficient explanations and details. They may induce language errors obscuring meaning or connections at certain junctures between texts.
Score range 7-12 (Basic)
These candidates are generally able to produce basic information in written English. However, their produced text may come with fewer details. Though the information their texts convey certain ideas, the poor sentence structure and grammatical errors may make their texts difficult to understand at times.
Score range 0-6 (Below Basic)
These test takers have still not been able to indicate writing proficiency at the Basic level.
Edument approach for your TOEFL preparation
Edument believes in providing the best preparation services for TOEFL. Our team of experts are dedicated and passionate about helping students crack standardized tests like TOEFL.
Our Practice sections and lectures are delivered to students in a systematic way and help cover all areas of the test. Also, to help students make the most of their preparation, we introduce them to video lectures that are incorporated with key techniques necessary for cracking the test easily. Our friendly and experienced tutors are always there for students in explaining them address problem areas and set aside difficulties that they may encounter in homework or class work.
There is a lot of flexibility in the way we have structured our TOEFL program. Students who wish to succeed in a standardized test like TOEFL can work through it at a pace they are comfortable with. Usually, we design our TOEFL classes to last for 4 weeks. However, we are open to extending it or reducing it depending on your needs and preference.
We want our students to be well-prepared for TOEFL. This is why our emphasis has been on designing and developing simulated tests and computer-based study units. At the end of the day, we want students to build a strong foundation in key areas of the test, including reading, reasoning, and grammar.
The mock tests we line for students at the end of the course will help you figure out how well prepared you are in taking the test. If you wish to take up our coaching program for TOEFL, get in touch with us.
Where to book your TOEFL exam?
Preparing for TOEFL well in advance is the key to succeeding in the test. At Edument, we help you in every possible way to ensure you take up TOEFL without a glitch and succeed in too. Our expert TOEFL tutors will teach all the nuances of the test and monitor your progress at regular intervals. However, to book your TOEFL exam, you need to visit the official website of ETS and register yourself there.
Students are advised to visit https://www.ets.org/toefl/india/register and follow the required steps. After creating an ETS account there, students have the option of selecting their preferred test centre location and test date. In case you need help while registering, you can use their email or call the support staff directly.