Integrated Writing Is Gone and Speaking Is Down to Two Tasks: Verifying the New TOEFL Formats and Official Prep Materials (September 2026)

If you still have a set of TOEFL materials from a few years ago, don't rush to use them just yet. Starting from January 2026, the TOEFL iBT has changed its question types, and from January 21, it has also updated its scoring scale, which has been in effect for over eight months now. The changes are not just about "a certain question getting harder"—the entire list of question types on the ETS website has been replaced. The Integrated Writing (read-listen-write) and the original four Speaking tasks no longer have corresponding items in the current official question types.

This article checks the new test content, how to interpret the scores, and the official prep materials currently available, verifying each point against the ETS website. The verification dates and sources are at the end.

First, let's be clear: what is being tested now

The following question types are directly from the ETS website's subject pages:

The total base duration for the four sections is about 90 minutes. The website states, "Please allow about two hours for the entire test." The website also notes "As the test adapts, test time and items may vary," so the table above shows base values, and the exact experience may vary for each test taker.

Here are a few key changes worth highlighting:

• Reading now includes "Complete the Words" and "Read in Daily Life." The old structure of starting with three long academic passages is no longer the entirety of the Reading section.
• Writing has added "Write an Email" and "Build a Sentence," while Integrated Writing (read a passage, listen to a lecture, then write) is no longer listed on the official website.
• Speaking now only has two question types: Listen and Repeat, and Take an Interview. The original Independent Speaking and the three Integrated Speaking tasks are no longer on the official question type list.

These three changes directly determine the fate of old materials: resources that practice Integrated Writing templates or Speaking Tasks 2/3/4 are now testing question types that are no longer on the exam.

How to understand the scores: 1–6, aligned with CEFR

The ETS China website is very clear: Starting from January 21, 2026, a new scoring scale will be used, ranging from 1 to 6 in 0.5 increments, directly corresponding to the A1 to C2 levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

The old 0–120 scale will not disappear immediately. The official statement is, "To ensure a smooth transition for students and institutions, we will provide corresponding scores on the 0–120 scale alongside the new scores for a period of two years." This means that around January 2028, both sets of scores will be on the score report; after that, the 1–6 scale will be the standard.

Practical impact: The thresholds currently published by the universities you are applying to are highly likely still in the 0–120 format, such as "TOEFL 100," so there is no need to worry about conversion in the short term. However, if your test and application timeline crosses this parallel period, you should check whether your target universities have updated their score requirements.

Three other changes

From the official ETS press release on May 29, 2025:

• Reading and Listening are now multistage adaptive (multistage adaptive design), meaning the difficulty of the questions will adjust in real time based on your performance. This means "feeling like it gets harder towards the end" might be a normal phenomenon, not an illusion, and there is no need to panic.
• Faster score release: The official statement is that scores will be available "within 72 hours."
• Global replacement of headphones at test centers: They are being replaced with custom stereophones developed in collaboration with the audio brand Koss. This is good news for test takers who rely heavily on audio equipment for the Listening section.

Official prep materials: The free section

1. New full-length practice test (the one you should do first)

The ETS website provides a full-length TOEFL iBT practice test. The page title is "Experience the Full-Length TOEFL iBT Practice Test," and you can access it by filling out a short form. It is located under a dedicated path on the ETS website for the new January 2026 version, making it the most direct "new question type experience" currently available. Before buying any paid materials, do this practice test first—it will immediately tell you how far the new question types differ from your old impressions.

2. The free section of TOEFL TestReady

TestReady is ETS's current official prep portal (an all-in-one hub). The free features include:

• Daily Practice Activities: Rotating practice questions for all four sections, with scoring
• Free sample questions for section practice and section tests: Trial versions available for all four sections
• Personalized study plan: Generated after answering a few questions
• Free course: "TOEFL Test Preparation: The Insider's Guide," including videos and quizzes

The feedback granularity in the free section is finer than you might expect: For Reading and Listening, it clearly explains why your chosen option is right or wrong, as well as why the other options are right or wrong; for Speaking, it provides feedback on dimensions such as speaking rate, pacing, pronunciation, and grammar, along with a transcript of your answer and a comparison with a sample answer; for Writing, it gives specific feedback on grammar, vocabulary, and writing conventions, also accompanied by sample answers.

Official prep materials: The paid section

• Paid tier of TestReady: Complete section tests (providing scores and analysis after completing an entire section), section practice (feedback down to the question type and skill level), and targeted practice (focusing on a single question type).
• TPO Mock Tests: The ETS page describes them as "full-length past TOEFL iBT tests," which are past official tests.
• Official Guide and practice sets: "The Official Guide to the TOEFL iBT Test," as well as Official Practice Volumes 1 & 2 (each volume contains 5 full-length tests).
• Official self-paced courses: Standard and PLUS versions, along with several bundle packages.

Before you pay, please confirm one thing

The ETS website describes TPO as "past official tests," but when I checked, there was not a single statement on the pages for these paid materials declaring that they have been updated to the new question types for January 2026. This doesn't mean they haven't been updated—but it also doesn't say they have.

So, before buying, please do a quick self-check: Open the product page and compare it with the question type list in the first table of this article. If the table of contents still includes "Integrated Writing" or "Speaking Tasks 1–4," it is practicing the old structure; if it includes question types like "Write an Email" or "Take an Interview," then it matches the new format.

The same criteria apply to third-party materials and courses on the market: Check how many questions their Speaking section covers—if it covers four questions, the content is at least from before January 2026.

Registration and information verification portals

• TOEFL online registration (National Education Examinations Authority): toefl.neea.cn — Registration, payment, and test date changes/cancellations for test takers in mainland China are all handled here. The current registration fee is subject to the display on this website.
• TOEFL channel of the China Education Examination website: toefl-main.neea.cn — Test introduction and official notices.
• ETS China website: cn.ets.org — Question type descriptions, TestReady portal, and official prep products.

This article does not state the exact amount of the registration fee: when verifying, the latest fee notice I found on official channels was released in 2018, and the amount is clearly no longer the current standard. The current price pages on the ETS and registration websites require login or region-specific queries. I would rather not write it than provide a potentially outdated number—please refer to the checkout page on the registration website.

If I could give only one piece of advice

Spend two hours completing the new full-length practice test on the official website before deciding what to buy. The biggest risk after the redesign is not "not practicing enough questions," but rather spending three months practicing with mismatched materials—especially for Speaking and Writing, which have seen the most significant changes in question types.

Information verification for this article

The content of this article was verified point by point on September 11, 2026, from the following official ETS pages, without using third-party summaries:

• Test content and duration: Test Content and Structure, Reading, Writing, Speaking
• Score scale: TOEFL Score Scale Update (ETS China website)
• Adaptive testing, score release time, and headphones: TOEFL Transformation Announcement (May 29, 2025)
• Prep products: Prepare for the TOEFL iBT Test, TOEFL TestReady (ETS China website)

Question types, scoring policies, and product content are all subject to change. Please refer to the official website for the most up-to-date information before registering and making payments.