WHAT IS TOEFL™?

The Test Of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is a standardised test that evaluates candidates’ English competency if their first language is not English. It assesses your ability to comprehend English spoken in North America. Most educational establishments in the United States and Canada (about 2400) request TOEFL scores from candidates. The TOEFL exam is taken by the majority of candidates as a requirement for admission to schools and institutions where English is used or required. In addition, TOEFL results are used by many governments, licencing and certification bodies, as well as exchange and scholarship programmes, to assess the English competence of those who do not speak English as a first language.

The TOEFL Internet-based Test (TOEFL iBT) assesses all four important language abilities for effective communication: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The TOEFL iBT has the following structure:

READING TIME: 54-72 MINUTES (30-40 questions) Scores range from 0 to 30. 3-4 excerpts from academic publications; each paragraph is around 700 words long and contains 10 questions.

LISTENING TIME :(41-57 MINUTES) (28-39 questions) Scores range from 0 to 30. 3-4 lectures, each lasting 3-5 minutes containing 6 questions; 2-3 dialogues, each lasting 3 minutes and containing 5 questions.

PERFORMANCE / SPEAKING (17 MINUTES) (4 TASK) (0-30 scoring scale) 1 task: offer your opinion on a topic; 3 lessons: talk about what you’ve read and heard.

WRITING (50 MINUTES) (2 tasks) (0-5 points translated to a scale of 0-30) 1 task: write based on what you’ve read or heard; 1 task: back up your point of view on a topic.

The TOEFL is developed and administered by the “Educational Testing Service” (ETS) in the United States. ETS is in charge of creating the questions, administering the test, and distributing score results to each examinee. Please visit the official TOEFL website at www.toefl.org for more information about TOEFL.

For the TOEFL IBT Test, What is the Scoring Scale?