TOEFL stands for Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). It is one of the most popular tests for applicants who desire to pursue studies overseas. The goal of the TOEFL exam is to evaluate test takers’ reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills in a university environment.
Due to the pandemic, Educational testing service (ETS), the organization in charge of administering the TOEFL exam, has introduced TOEFL at Home for applicants. It is to allow all applicants who want to take the TOEFL exam have more access, ETS has also started offering TOEFL paper-delivered tests in India. For each of the three exam formats—TOEFL iBT, TOEFL at Home, and TOEFL paper-delivered—candidates wishing to take the TOEFL must pay US$190.
Read along to know everything about the TOEFL exam!
Table of Contents
Why do you need to take the TOEFL Exam?
The TOEFL iBT test is a high-standard and quality exam that is accepted and favored by colleges all over the world. It guarantees admissions officers that you are prepared for the classroom and beyond. The TOEFL exam is the test of choice for more than 35 million people worldwide to prove their English language competence.
TOEFL Exam Syllabus
The TOEFL exam syllabus is straightforward. The TOEFL exam syllabus is designed with the objective to accurately evaluate the test taker’s English language communication skills in mind. The test taker’s proficiency in each of the four skill areas—reading, listening, speaking, and writing—will be evaluated by the questions and exercises.
Check out the TOEFL exam syllabus in table below:
| Sections | Time Duration | No. of Questions | Details |
| Reading | 60-80 minutes | 36-56 questions | 3-4 reading passages to answer questions |
| Listening | 60-90 minutes | 34-51 questions | Audio clips of 4-6 short lectures and 2-3 long conversations |
| Speaking | 20 minutes | 6 Tasks | Need to speak on familiar topics or any academic-related issues |
| Writing | 50 minutes | 2 Tasks | Articulate opinion, logic, and argument after a comparison between a reading passage and classroom lecture |
TOEFL Exam Reading Section
The reading section comes first in the TOEFL test format. The main goal of the TOEFL reading section is to gauge a candidate’s ability to comprehend English and give a precise response. You will read three to four passages in this part and respond to ten questions about each one. The quantity of accurate reading comprehension responses determines how well the section scores.
Check out the details for Reading section for TOEFL exam below:
| Reading Section | No. of questions |
| 3–4 passages | 10 |
| Total no. of questions | 30-40 |
| Total time | 54-72 minutes |
TOEFL Exam Speaking Section
The TOEFL exam speaking section can be a bit tricky for some students. Your answer must meet the requirements of the specific task with only minimal errors or lapses if you want to receive the best marks in the Speaking Section. The extremely comprehensible and lengthy discourse is what the test graders are seeking for. The delivery, language use, and topic development make up the three key components that determine how well the section is scored.
Check the table below for question types and number of questions:
| Speaking Section | No. of questions |
| Independent task | Prep time: 15 sec; response time: 45 sec) |
| 3 integrated tasks | Total no. of questions: 4Total time: 17 minutes |
TOEFL Exam Listening Section
You will hear lectures and conversations using the college lingo in the listening test part. This component evaluates the test-comprehension taker’s of English-language conversations and lectures. It entails connecting and synthesizing information as well as fundamental comprehension and listening.
Check the table below for question types and number of questions:
| Listening section | No. of section |
| 3–4 lectures | 3-5 minutes long, about 500-800 words), 6 questions each |
| 2–3 conversations | (about 3 minutes long, about 12-25 exchanges), 5 questions eachTotal time: 41–57 minutes |
TOEFL Exam Writing Section
Each topic in the two essays should be effectively covered. The response should be well-developed, well-organized, and use pertinent justifications and thorough justifications. It should also exhibit coherence, growth, and unification. Make sure to show syntactic variety, good word choice, and only a few small grammatical faults if you want to get a high writing grade.
Check the table below for question types and number of questions:
| Writing Section | No. of question |
| 1 integrated task | Read/Listen/Write (20 minutes) (reading time: 3 min; listeningtime: 2 min; writing: 15 min) |
| 1 independent task (30 minutes) | Total no. of questions: 2Total time: 50 minutes |
TOEFL Exam Question types
TOEFL Exam questions are divided section wise. These sections are Reading, Listening, Speaking and writing. Following are the question types according to each section.
TOEFL Exam Reading Section
- Factual Information and Negative Factual Information: The primary concepts, illustrative facts, and definitions are the focus of a factual information question. The sole distinction with negative factual information questions is that one of the four possible answers must be identified as false. When responding to queries about unfavourable factual information, remember to use the terms “NOT” and “EXCEPT.”
- Rhetorical and Inference: The inference questions on the TOEFL exam pattern and reading curriculum focus on identifying the passage’s confusing statements. You can tell an inference question when you encounter Recognizing Vocabulary: Probably the simplest of the reading comprehension questions on the TOEFL, vocabulary questions ask students to identify and explain the meanings of certain terms that have been highlighted in the passage.
- Sentence Explanation: For these questions in the TOEFL reading pattern, applicants must distinguish between two extremely similar sentences and pick the one that has been more simply explained.
The essential ideas and relevance of the reading passage must be recognised by the candidates in order to pass this type of TOEFL reading question. A number of words like “INFERRED” “IMPLIES” and “SUGGESTS” The only significant distinction between rhetorical purpose questions and other types of questions is how the purpose is stated by responding to the why question.
- Identifying Vocabulary: The vocabulary questions on the TOEFL’s most recent reading pattern ask applicants to identify and explain the meanings of a few terms that have been highlighted in the passage.
- Insert Text: This category of reading inquiries aims to evaluate the logical arrangement of concepts in a specific reading passage. Each reading passage contains a single insert text question.
The candidates must be able to identify the key concepts and relevance of the reading passage in order to successfully complete this type of reading-related TOEFL question.
- Prose summary : The essential ideas and relevance of the reading passage must be recognised by the candidates in order to pass this type of TOEFL reading question.
TOEFL Exam Listening Section
- Gist Content/Purpose: You must summarise the main points of the lectures that were recorded. The terms “MAINLY DISCUSSING,” “MAINLY ABOUT,” “WHY DOES THE STUDENT,” and “WHAT IS THE MAIN PURPOSE” are indicative of this style of query.
- Function: You must summarise the main points of the lectures that were recorded. The terms “MAINLY DISCUSSING,” “MAINLY ABOUT,” “WHY DOES THE STUDENT,” and “WHAT IS THE MAIN PURPOSE” are indicative of this style of query.
- Attitude:The applicants must here determine the tone or expression of the spoken words. Phrases like “WHAT IS THE PROFESSOR’S ATTITUDE?” and “WHAT DOES THE CANDIDATE THINK ABOUT?” might be used to spot it.
- Organization: This kind of inquiry necessitates that the candidate demonstrate how the lecture is organised. Questions like “WHY DOES THE PROFESSOR MENTION..?” and “WHY DOES THE PROFESSOR DISCUSS..” can fall under this category.
- Connections in Content: This style of inquiry focuses on the relationships between the concepts presented in the lecture. What is the likely outcome? and other fill-in-the-blank questions frequently use this question format.
- Inference: Since the lecture’s underlying meaning won’t be made clear, the candidate must ascertain it.
TOEFL Exam Speaking skills
- Independent Task; Test-takers are required to offer their own ideas, opinions, and experiences
- Integrated Task: This task combines speaking, listening, writing, and reading skills. It is cross-functional.
TOEFL Exam Writing section
- Integrated writing assignment: similar to the speaking task, this one calls for the applicants to focus while listening to a brief lecture and then respond using the contents they have read and heard;
- Independent task: Similar to the speaking job, the candidate must offer their own thoughts, opinions, and experiences in an independent writing assignment.
TOEFL IBT exam pattern
The four sections of the TOEFL iBT test are reading, listening, speaking, and writing. You’ll complete problems on the exam that combine these 4 English communication abilities, like:
- Read, listen, and then respond to a question by writing.
- Reading, listening, and then responding to a question
- After hearing the question, respond by listening.
Check the table below for Section, patterns and more;
| Section | Time Limit | Questions | Tasks |
| Reading | 54–72 minutes | 30–40 questions | Read passages and respond to questions |
| Listening | 41–57 minutes | 28–39 questions | Answer questions about brief lectures or classroom discussions |
| Break | 10 minutes | — | — |
| Speaking | 17 minutes | 4 tasks | Talk about a familiar topic and discuss material you read and listened to |
| Writing | 50 minutes | 2 tasks | Read a passage, listen to a recording, type your response |
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FAQs
Ans: The TOEFL is frequently seen as being simpler than other standardised exams like the SAT, ACT, and GRE (provided you have solid English abilities), as it places more emphasis on evaluating such skills than on mathematical equations or writing intricacies.
Ans: The typical TOEFL score is 90. It might be between 85 and 95. A TOEFL score of over 100 is regarded as good. When taking the TOEFL exam, candidates should be aware that there are no good or negative marks.
Ans: For various colleges, the minimum required total TOEFL scores range from 45 to 100, with many schools demanding scores between 70 and 80. Given that this is below the average TOEFL score from the 2015 statistics, even a score that is below average can still be used to get admission to numerous institutions.
Ans: The first eight questions on each TOEFL Reading passage will always be multiple choice. These multiple-choice TOEFL Reading questions provide a brief question, four answer options, and one correct response.
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