Speaking

The Speaking section takes about 17 minutes to complete, and there are 4 questions. 

Questions 1 is the Independent Speaking question, which is on a topic that is familiar to

you. 

Questions 2 through 4 are the Integrated Speaking questions. For these questions, you
have to use more than one skill. Some questions require you to read, listen, and then
speak, while others require you to listen and then speak. When you listen, you will hear
accents from North America, and you may also hear accents from the
U.K., New Zealand or Australia.

Timing and Approach

The TOEFL® test will take you through each of the 4 Speaking questions, giving
you a certain amount of time to prepare and speak for each one. Depending on
the question type, you will have between 15 and 30 seconds to prepare your
Speaking response. It’s important that you use this time to decide what you
want to say, but do not try to write down your full response; you won’t have
time to write everything down, and raters expect to hear you speaking
naturally, not reading from a script. Then, you will have 45 or 60 seconds to
actually speak your response. These times will be displayed with a countdown
clock on your computer screen so that you will know how much time you have
left to prepare and to speak. The following table shows how much time you
have to prepare and speak your response for each question type. 

Question Type Preparation Time Response Time

1 15 seconds 45 seconds

2 30 seconds 60 seconds

3 30 seconds 60 seconds
 4 20 seconds 60 seconds

Remember, your response should only provide content that the question asks
of you. For questions 1, try to keep things simple and focused on the main
message you want to share. Then, support your main message with examples
or details. For questions 2 through 4, don't try to repeat everything you heard
in a conversation or lecture. You should expect the Speaking section to last for
about a total of 17 minutes. 

Question 1

For question one, you'll be given a topic to speak about with no additional reading or
listening passages. You'll have 15 seconds to prepare your response and 45 seconds to
speak your answer. Now, 15 seconds is actually longer than you think, and if you feel like
you need more time, just remember that professors at university aren't going to give you
more time than that to answer questions in class. In question one, you'll be presented with
two situations or opinions. You'll be asked which you prefer and you need to explain your
choice.

Tips

Number one: Use the preparation time to organize your thoughts and maybe jot down
some notes. Don't try to write a full response because you won't have time, and the raters
scoring your response want to hear you speaking, not reading, and they can tell the
difference.

Number two: Don't memorize responses before the test, especially ones that you get from
the Internet or from test prep instructors who say that's a good idea. It's not, and it will lower
your score. It's very easy for ETS raters to identify memorized responses because they
sound different and the content is different from responses that are more natural and
spontaneous.

Number three: It's not necessary to organize your response into an introduction, a middle
and a conclusion like you would with a written essay. Just speak naturally and use common
connecting words. Some of those are: because, so, after that, on the other hand, I want to
mention, and what this means is.

Integrated Question 2
In question 2, you will be asked about a speaker’s opinion and how it relates to ideas
in a reading passage about a campus-related change. Note that you will not be able to
see the reading passage while you speak your response. You will read a passage about
a campus-related topic. Then, you will listen to a conversation about that topic. Then, you
will have 30 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak your answer.
Now, let's look more closely at what campus-situations questions look like and what they
will be asking you to do. For question two, where you have both reading and listening
passages, you will be asked what the opinion is of a speaker in the listening passage, and
you'll need to explain how that person's opinion relates to the issues presented in the
reading passage. So, you're essentially summarizing and combining information from two
sources.

Tips

Number one: Be careful not to speak too quickly because this might make it difficult for the
rater to understand you. The questions are designed so that if you speak at a normal pace,
you will have enough time to give a complete response. You'll get better at this if you time
yourself when you practice. Number two: In question two, where you have the reading
passage then the conversation between two speakers, listen carefully to the speaker's
reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with points made in the reading. Then, make sure you
summarize the opinion of the speaker in your answer.

Integrated Questions 3 and 4: Overview 

Next are the two Integrated questions. Question 3 consists of a reading passage and
short lecture and Question 4 consists entirely of a somewhat longer lecture. Both
questions are about content in academic courses. You are not expected to have any
prior familiarity with the academic content. For question three, the reading passage will
always be about an important academic term or concept that might be found in a first-year
college textbook. For example, a science reading might explain what a Keystone Species
is. A reading from Psychology might describe what it meant by emotional intelligence. In
this example, the passage is about flow. The listening passage will be from part of a lecture
about the same topic as the reading passage. In the lecture, you will hear details about an
example of the term or concept. Then, when you answer the question, you will speak about
how the example supports or illustrates the term or concept.