TOEFL Key Facts
Take the TOEFL - Key Facts
The TOEFL test went through some major overhauls in September 2005. Since then, the TOEFL is offered as an Internet Based Test (iBT) at certified test centers around the world. Unlike the old version of the exam which includes four sections: Grammar, Listening Comprehension, Reading, and Writing, the new iBT version includes: TOEFL Reading, TOEFL Listening, TOEFL Speaking and TOEFL Writing.
According to the ETS (Educational Testing Services), the creator of the TOEFL, the new version is designed to allow universities and colleges to better evaluate the performance and academic readiness of non-native English-speaking students in English-speaking classroom and campus settings.
The main changes include the addition of a TOEFL Speaking Section to test your pronunciation and conversational skills. One type of the Speaking tasks even asks you to (a) read a short passage, (b) listen to a response, and then (c) make an oral response. Furthermore, it did away with the Grammar section and incorporates it across the four traditional and basic areas of English skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). Throughout the new TOEFL, students' integrated academic skills, such as analysis and synthesis and the ability to organize an argument, will be tested as well.
Please note:
- TOEFL iBT is not computer adaptive. Each test taker receives the same range of questions.
- Test takers can take notes throughout the entire test. At the end of testing, all notes are collected and destroyed at the test center.
- For the Speaking section, test takers speak into a microphone, and their responses are digitally recorded and sent to the ETS Online Scoring Network.
- For the Writing section, test takers must type their responses, which are sent to the ETS Online Scoring Network.
- Human raters, trained and certified by ETS, rate the Speaking and Writing responses.