TOEFL iBT Test Content

The TOEFL iBT test has four sections: Reading, Listening, Speaking
and Writing.

Test time
The total test takes just under 2 hours to complete, but you should
plan for 2.5 hours, allowing 30 minutes for check in.

Test sections overview

Use the table below to view the breakdown of each TOEFL iBT test
section.

Estimated
Section Questions/Tasks
Timing
Reading 35 minutes 20 questions
Listening 36 minutes 28 questions
Speaking 16 minutes 4 tasks
Writing 29 minutes 2 tasks
Description
Read passages and respond to questions.
Answer questions about brief lectures or
classroom discussions.
Talk about a familiar topic and discuss
material you read and heard.
Read a passage, listen to a recording, type
your response.
State and support an opinion in an online
classroom discussion.

Learn more about each test section

Take a closer look at each section of the test:

TOEFL iBT Reading Section

The TOEFL iBT Reading section assesses how well you can read and
understand materials used in an academic environment.
It includes two reading passages, each approximately 700 words
long, with 10 questions per passage. It should take about 35 minutes
to complete the Reading section.

Reading passages are excerpts from university-level textbooks that

would be used in introductions to a topic. The passages cover a
variety of subjects. Don't worry if you're not familiar with the topic of
a passage. All the information you need to answer the questions will
be included in the passage. There is a glossary feature available to
define words not commonly used, if you need it.

TOEFL iBT Listening Section

The TOEFL iBT Listening section is designed to measure your ability
to understand conversations and lectures in English. It includes
listening for:

• basic comprehension
• understanding the speaker's attitude and degree of certainty
• connecting information

Listening questions
You’ll hear lectures and conversations in this section. Both use
campus-based language.

• 3 lectures, some with classroom discussion, each 3–5 minutes;

6 questions per lecture
• 2 conversations, each 3 minutes; 5 questions per conversation
You can take notes on any audio item throughout the test to help
you answer questions.
Test time: It should take about 36 minutes to complete the Listening
section.

Accents
The Listening section includes native-speaker English accents from
North America, the U.K., New Zealand or Australia to better reflect
the variety of accents you might encounter while studying abroad.

TOEFL iBT Speaking Section

The TOEFL iBT Speaking section measures your ability to speak
English effectively in academic settings. The four questions/tasks
resemble real-life situations you might encounter both in and
outside of a classroom.

Question 1: Independent Speaking Task — requires you to draw

entirely on your own ideas, opinions and experiences when you
respond.
Questions 2–4: Integrated Speaking Tasks — require you to
combine your English-language skills — listening and speaking, or
listening, reading and speaking — just as you would in or out of a
classroom.
Prep time: You'll get 15–30 seconds of preparation time before each
response, and your response will be 45 or 60 seconds long.
Speaking response: To respond, you'll speak into the microphone
and your responses will be recorded.
Test time: It should take about 16 minutes to complete the
Speaking section.
Scoring: Speaking tasks are scored based on the Speaking Scoring
Guides (Rubrics) (PDF) by a combination of AI scoring and certified
human raters. Raw scores are converted to a scaled section score of
0–30.

TOEFL iBT Test Writing Section

The TOEFL iBT test Writing section measures your ability to write in
English in an academic setting, and to present your ideas in a clear,
well-organized way.
There are two writing tasks.

• Integrated writing task (20 minutes) — read a short

passage and listen to a short lecture, then write in response
to what you read and listened to.
• Writing for an Academic Discussion task (10 minutes)
— state and support an opinion in an online classroom
discussion.
You'll type your responses on a computer keyboard.
Test time: It should take about 29 minutes to complete the Writing
section.
Scoring: Writing tasks are scored based on the Writing Scoring
Guides (Rubrics) (PDF) by a combination of AI scoring and certified
human raters. Raw scores are converted to a scaled section score
of 0–30.