What is TOEFL?

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is a standardized test that measures the English language proficiency of non-native speakers. The TOEFL is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and is widely recognized by universities, colleges, and institutions worldwide, primarily for admission purposes.

The TOEFL test aims to evaluate a candidate’s ability to understand and use English in an academic setting. The exam assesses four core language skills: reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The most common version of the TOEFL is the Internet-Based Test (TOEFL iBT), which is conducted online. The TOEFL iBT is a 2 hours long test(1 hour 56 minutes) in which all four modules – Reading, Writing, Listening & Speaking, are tested in one sitting.

Components of the TOEFL iBT

• Reading: This section tests the ability to understand academic texts. You get two academic passages with 700 words each. These passages are from university-level textbooks and there are ten multiple choice type questions based on each passage. In all, you need to answer 20 questions in 35 minutes.
• Listening: This segment assesses the ability to understand spoken English as it is used in colleges and universities. Audio recordings of lectures, classroom discussions, and conversations on campus settings are played, and the test takers answer questions based on what they have heard. You listen to 3 lectures and 2 conversations. In all, there are 28 questions with 6 questions based on each lecture and 5 questions based on each conversation. The Listening section lasts for 36 minutes.
• Speaking: The speaking section evaluates the test-taker’s ability to express themselves in English. It includes tasks such as expressing an opinion on a familiar topic and speaking based on reading and listening tasks. Responses are recorded and assessed by evaluators. There are 4 tasks which resemble real life situations. Question 1 is an independent task and questions 2 to 4 are integrated tasks. In them either listening and speaking are combined or listening, speaking and reading are combined. For each task, you get a preparation time of 15-20 seconds and the response time of 45-60 seconds.
• Writing: In this part, individuals must demonstrate their ability to write in English through two tasks.In the first task, you are required to read a passage and listen to a short lecture, then write a response that integrates information from both sources. You are supposed to write 150-225 words in 19 minutes. In the second task , you have to write your response to an academic discussion. You are supposed to state or support an opinion in an online classroom discussion setting. You get 10 minutes to write a response of 100 words.