Test of English as a Foreign Language · Internet-based
TOEFL iBT is an academic test, all the way through.
No shopping conversations, no letters to a landlord. Every passage is a lecture or a textbook, every speaking task asks you to summarise something you have just read or heard, and the whole thing now runs in under two hours since the 2023 revision.
Score scale
94 out of 120 is roughly IELTS band 7.0. Each of the four sections is scored 0–30 separately, so a per-section minimum can fail you on a total that clears.
- Score scale
- 0–120
- Length
- Under 2 hours
- Delivery
- Centre or at home
- Results
- ~4–8 days
- Validity
- Normally 2 years
Who sits it
TOEFL iBT is the right test for some people, not everyone.
The North American academic standard
Sit this test if you are
- Universities in the United States and Canada, where TOEFL is often the default
- Programmes that ask for a section minimum as well as a total
- Candidates comfortable with note-taking from lectures
- Anyone who would rather speak into a microphone than sit opposite an examiner
Confirm the test is accepted before you book. The university, employer or immigration authority names which ones it takes, and they are not interchangeable.
Test structure
What you sit, in order.
Timings are the published ranges for TOEFL iBT. Exam formats are revised periodically — confirm the current structure with your test centre when you book.
Reading
~35 minutes · 2 passages
Two academic passages of roughly 700 words with ten questions each. The revision cut this from three or four passages, so there is far less room to lose time on a hard one and make it back later.
Listening
~36 minutes
Lectures and campus conversations, three to five minutes each. You may take notes throughout — and you will need them, because questions come only after the audio ends.
Speaking
16 minutes · 4 tasks
One independent opinion task, then three integrated tasks where you read, listen and then speak. Preparation time is 15–30 seconds and responses are 45–60 seconds. Everything is recorded and scored later.
Writing
~29 minutes · 2 tasks
An integrated task comparing a passage with a lecture that contradicts it, then Writing for an Academic Discussion — a 10-minute post responding to a professor and two classmates. This replaced the old independent essay.
Score comparison
What TOEFL iBT is worth in IELTS bands.
ETS publishes a comparison between TOEFL iBT totals and IELTS bands. Note how wide the middle ranges are: a 79 and a 93 both sit at roughly band 6.5, so a university minimum of 90 is a real threshold, not a rounding of the band you already have.
| TOEFL iBT total | IELTS band |
|---|---|
| 118–120 | 9.0 |
| 115–117 | 8.5 |
| 110–114 | 8.0 |
| 102–109 | 7.5 |
| 94–101 | 7.0 |
| 79–93 | 6.5 |
| 60–78 | 6.0 |
| 46–59 | 5.5 |
| 35–45 | 5.0 |
Indicative comparison only. No test score converts into another, and no institution accepts a converted score in place of the test it asked for.
Task types
Every task you will meet.
The full set of question and task types used across TOEFL iBT. Knowing which ones cost you marks is the difference between practising and just re-sitting.
Preparing here
What carries over from IELTS practice.
TOEFL-format mock tests are not in the library yet. IELTS Academic practice is the closest thing we publish, and for reading and listening the overlap is substantial.
Academic reading is academic reading
The IELTS Academic passages and the TOEFL passages come from the same kind of source. Inference, purpose and vocabulary-in-context questions test the same reading.
Note-taking from a single hearing
A four-minute lecture played once, questions afterwards. Our listening sections train exactly that, and the review shows you which detail you missed and where it was said.
Speaking against a clock
A 45-second answer with 15 seconds to plan is a fluency and coherence problem. That is two of the four criteria our speaking feedback already scores.
Find out where you stand first.
A full mock under exam conditions gives you a band, and the table above turns that band into a realistic TOEFL iBT total target. The free plan includes one every month.