What is the TOEFL?
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is a standardized exam to quantify the English language skill of non-native speakers desiring to enroll in English-speaking universities. The exam is recognized by many English-speaking academic and professional organizations.
The TOEFL exam assesses the skill of non-native English speakers to use and comprehend English as it’s read, written, heard and spoken in the university classroom.
If you want to study at an English-speaking university or program, no other exam can get you to as many destinations around the world as the TOEFL exam.
TOEFL is one of the two main English-language exams in the world, the other being the IELTS.
Many students find that using test preparations books help to improve their scores.
See our list of the best TOEFL prep books here.
TOEFL Format
| Reading | 3–5 passages, each containing 12–14 questions | 60–80 minutes |
| Listening | 6–9 passages, each containing 5–6 questions | 60–90 minutes |
| Speaking | 6 tasks | 20 minutes |
| Writing | 2 tasks | 50 minutes |
TOEFL Scoring Structure
The TOEFL iBT test is scored on a scale of 0 to 120 points. Each of the four units (Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing) gets a scaled score from 0 to 30. The scaled scores from the four units are added together to establish the total score. Each speaking problem is firstly given a score of 0 to 4, and each writing question is firstly given a score of 0 to 5. These scores are transformed to scaled scores of 0 to 30.
Most universities use TOEFL scores as only one aspect in their admission procedure, with a university or program within a university often placing a minimum on the TOEFL score required. The minimum TOEFL iBT scores range from 61 (Bowling Green State University) to 110 (University of Oxford).
ETS has published tables to convert between iBT, CBT and PBT scores.
TOEFL Availability
The TOEFL exam has more exam dates (over 50 per year) and sites than any other English-language exam in the world.
Find your nearest testing location here.
You can retake the exam as many times as you wish, but you cannot take it more than one time in a 12-day period. If you already have an exam appointment, you cannot register for another exam date that is within 12 days of your existing appointment.