The TOEFL iBT changed on 21 January 2026. It is now adaptive, takes under an hour and a half of test time, and is scored on a 1–6 scale aligned to the CEFR rather than out of 120. Any preparation plan or target score written before that date needs revisiting.
The score scale is the big change
Students now receive four section scores and an overall score on a 1–6 scale in half-point increments. The overall score is the average of the four sections, rounded to the nearest half band — ETS's own example is that an average of 5.125 is reported as 5.
For a two-year transition period after January 2026, students also receive a comparable overall score on the old 0–120 scale, which is what keeps existing university requirements workable while institutions update their published minimums. Check what scale a target programme states its requirement in, because for the next couple of years both are in circulation.
What the test looks like now
| Section | Tasks | Items | Base time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | Complete the Words; Read in Daily Life; Read an Academic Passage | 50 | 30 min |
| Listening | Listen and Choose a Response; Listen to a Conversation; Listen to an Announcement; Listen to an Academic Talk | 47 | 29 min |
| Writing | Build a Sentence; Write an Email; Write for an Academic Discussion | 12 | 23 min |
| Speaking | Listen and Repeat; Take an Interview | 11 | 8 min |
Those times exclude directions, and because the test adapts, the number of items and the time taken vary between candidates. ETS advises allowing about two hours in total for the appointment.
The task types are not the old ones
This is where old practice material misleads most. Speaking is now two tasks — Listen and Repeat, and Take an Interview — where it used to be four, one independent and three integrated. Writing adds Build a Sentence and Write an Email alongside the academic discussion task. Reading includes short daily-life items as well as an academic passage. A student drilling the former four-task Speaking section is practising something that is no longer on the test.
Adaptive, and on more familiar subject matter
The test adjusts to the candidate's level as it goes, which is what allows it to be shorter without measuring less. ETS also says the content now draws on a broader mix of English — less Greek mythology, more of what students actually meet in contemporary higher education.
Where it can be taken
- At an authorised test centre, on a computer.
- TOEFL iBT Home Edition, at home with a live human proctor.
The Paper Edition has not been offered since 20 January 2024. Speaking and Writing responses are scored by a combination of AI scoring and ETS-certified human raters.