What To Expect In The TOEFL?

The TOEFL iBt (Internet Based Test) evaluates test-takers on the basis of four sections of English language skills. These are reading, listening, speaking and writing. The TOEFL is for a duration of four hours with maximum time spent in the Reading and Listening sections.

Structure of Reading Test
This section has the maximum number of questions with about 36-70. The Reading test includes three to five academic reading passages followed by comprehension questions. The student’s ability to understand and analyse the meaning of the passages is tested. The question types are similar to those that appeared in the computer based TOEFL. Students are expected to demonstrate that they have learned what they have read, either by filling out a table or completing a narrative summary. Choose a correct paraphrase of a reading. The new features that make the testing experience easier and even include a glossary and review feature.

Structure of Listening Test
The listening section has anything from 34-51 questions. The test involves the student listening to two to three conversations on their headphones. The conversations may include two or more speakers in each. Apart from this, there are four to six lectures, which include classroom dialogue. A positive development is that test-takers can now write down notes while listening. Again, the questions are similar to those that appeared in the TOEFL CBT. There will be a few new question types that measure ability to understand a speaker’s attitude or meaning.

Structure of Speaking Test
The speaking test consists of a total of six tasks. Two of the tasks are independent tasks about familiar topics. The test taker is required to state, explain and support their response using personal knowledge and experience.

Two tasks are based on Reading and Listening material. These tasks include a short reading passage and a short talk. The questions require test takers to answer using the information provided in the reading and the listening material. One question is based on a campus-related situation, and the other is based on academic classroom material. Again, test takers can take notes and use the information to shape their responses.
The remaining two tasks are based on Listening material, including a short lecture or conversation. The questions require test takers to summarise key ideas from the talks in the responses.

Test-takers are judged on the basis of the following criteria:
1. Topic development: The student’s ability to understand the matter and draw connections between topics as well as their capability to convey relevant information.
2. Delivery: The ability to use clear, smooth, sustained speech.
3. Language use: Trained evaluators pay attention to the use of correct grammar and vocabulary. Close notice is paid to the response of logical answers.

The six tasks in the Speaking section are rated by at least two human scorers on a scale of 0-4. The six individual scores are averaged to arrive at an aggregate value. This aggregate is converted to the scale of 0 to 30.

Structure of Writing Test
The Writing test consists of a total of two tasks to be completed by the test taker. The first task could be a reading, listening or writing one — an academic reading followed by a lecture. Test takers must answer a question discussing the key points in the lecture and explain how they relate to those in the reading passage. The reading passage appears first, and then it is removed from the screen during the lecture. Test takers can view the passage again while responding to the question. The second task is an independent task about a familiar topic. Test takers must state their response and support it with information from personal knowledge and experience.

Trained evaluators measure the ability to understand the material, as well as write clearly, accurately and in an organized manner. The two tasks are scored by at least two human scorers from 0 to 5 and then the raw scores are totaled/averaged before scaling them to the range of 0 to 30.

TOEFL score
Each of the four sections of TOEFL iBT is scored on a scale of 0 to 30. The sectional scores are then added to arrive at a total score of 0 to 120. Each score corresponds to a percentile ranking. This displays how an individual’s score compares with that of other students answering the test.

The maximum score of 120 has a percentile of 100. Students will also receive information of what the numeric scores mean in terms of language skills and proficiency (high/medium/low), along with performance feedback including suggestions for improvement.

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