What is the TOEFL test?

ScottsEnglishScottsEnglish Administrator Posts: 1,296 admin ✭✭✭✭✭✭✭
edited February 2016 in TOEFL Test
The TOEFL is the Test of English as a Foreign Language, an American English-based test that is often used as a requirement for university enrollment for students who come from countries where English is not the first language.

Currently, the TOEFL test is an internet-based test (iBT). There are some areas that still use the paper-based test but this is limited.

The focus of the test is on academic English, that is, the type of English that is necessary for university studies. Each university, and sometimes each university department, has its own passing level. A university may require a higher score from a student wishing to enroll in Medicine than a student enrolling in Art History.


There are four sections to the test: 

Reading

60–80 minutes

36–56 questions

Read 3 or 4 passages taken from academic texts and answer questions about the texts.

Listening

60–90 minutes

34–51 questions

Listen to academic lectures, classroom discussions and conversations, then answer questions about the listening exercises.




Speaking

20 minutes

6 speaking tasks

Express an opinion about a familiar topic; speak about a subject based on reading and listening tasks.

Writing

50 minutes

2 tasks

Write essay responses about subjects based on reading and listening tasks; support an opinion in writing.


The test is evaluated on a scale of 0 to 120:

  • Reading Section (Score: 0–30)
  • Listening Section (Score: 0–30)
  • Speaking Section (Score: 0–30)
  • Writing Section (Score: 0–30)
  • Total Score (0–120)

TOEFL Score

Description

118-120

Expert English User

115-117

Very Good English User

110-114

102-109

Good English User

94-101

79-93

Competent English User

60-78

42-59

Modest English User

35-41

32-34

Limited English User

0-31

Extremely Limited/Intermittent/Non English User

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