Structure of TOEFL iBT: Understanding the test format

Structure of TOEFL iBT: Understanding the test format 

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is a designed &  structured in a disciplined way with a view to evaluating the skill & efficacy for dealing with reading, listening, speaking & writing English. Many graduate schools evaluate the profile of applicants by the TOEFL score where the score plays a vital and variable role in the academic, admission and selection processes of various departments of the graduate schools. This test is accepted by more than 7,500 colleges, universities, and agencies in more than 130 countries; which means it is the most widely recognized English test in the world. TOEFL is one of the two major English-language tests in the world, the other being the IELTS. TOEFL is a trademark of the Educational Testing Service ( ETS; www.ets.org ), a private non-profit organization, which designs and administers the tests. ETS issues official score reports, sent independently to institutions, for two years following the test.

TOEFL: iBT (Internet-based test)

Since its introduction in late 2005, the TOEFL Internet-based Test (iBT) format has progressively replaced the computer-based tests (CBT) and paper-based tests (PBT), although paper-based testing is still used in select areas. The TOEFL iBT test has been introduced in phases, with the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy in 2005 and the rest of the world in 2006, with test centers added regularly. The CBT was discontinued in September 2006 and these scores are no longer valid.

The four-hour test consists of four sections (Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing), each measuring one of the basic language skills (while some tasks require integrating multiple skills), and all tasks focus on language used in an academic, higher-education environment. Note-taking is allowed during the TOEFL iBT test. The test cannot be taken more than once every 12 days.

Reading

 

• The Reading section consists of questions on 3-5 passages, each approximately 700 words in length.
• The passages are on academic topics; they are the kind of material that might be found in an undergraduate university textbook.
• Passages require understanding of rhetorical functions such as cause-effect, compare-contrast and argumentation.
• Students answer questions about main ideas, details, inferences, essential information, sentence insertion, vocabulary, rhetorical purpose and overall ideas.  

 

Listening

 

• The Listening section consists of questions on six passages, each 3–5 minutes in length. These passages include two student conversations and four academic lectures or discussions.
• The conversations involve a student and either a professor or a campus service provider. The lectures are a self-contained portion of an academic lecture, which may involve student participation and does not assume specialized background knowledge in the subject area.
• Each conversation and lecture passage is heard only once.
• Test-takers may take notes while they listen and they may refer to their notes when they answer the questions.
• Each conversation is associated with five questions and each lecture with six.
• The questions are meant to measure the ability to understand main ideas, important details, implications, relationships between ideas, organization of information, speaker purpose and speaker attitude.

 

Speaking

 

• The Speaking section consists of six tasks: two independent and four integrated.
• In the two independent tasks, test-takers answer opinion questions on familiar topics. They are evaluated on their ability to speak spontaneously and convey their ideas clearly and coherently.
• In two of the integrated tasks, test-takers read a short passage, listen to an academic course lecture or a conversation about campus life and answer a question by combining appropriate information from the text and the talk.
• In the two remaining integrated tasks, test-takers listen to an academic course lecture or a conversation about campus life and then respond to a question about what they heard.
• In the integrated tasks, test-takers are evaluated on their ability to appropriately synthesize and effectively convey information from the reading and listening material. Test-takers may take notes as they read and listen and may use their notes to help prepare their responses.
• Test-takers are given a short preparation time before they have to begin speaking. The responses are digitally recorded, sent to ETS’s Online Scoring Network (OSN), and evaluated by three to six raters.

 

Writing

 

• The Writing section measures a test taker's ability to write in an academic setting and consists of two tasks: one integrated and one independent.
• In the integrated task, test-takers read a passage on an academic topic and then listen to a speaker discuss it.
• The test-taker then writes a summary about the important points in the listening passage and explains how these relate to the key points of the reading passage.
• In the independent task, the test-taker must write an essay that states their opinion or choice, and then explain it, rather than simply listing personal preferences or choices. Responses are sent to the ETS OSN and evaluated by at least 3 different raters.

 

Timing and Break

Task	Description	Approximate time
Reading	3–5 passages, each containing 12–14 questions	60–80 minutes
Listening	6–9 passages, each containing 5–6 questions	60–90 minutes
Break	Mandatory break	10 minutes
Speaking	6 tasks	20 minutes
Writing	2 tasks	50 minutes

Test Score

• The TOEFL iBT test is scored on a scale of 0 to 120 points.
• Each of the four sections (Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing) receives a scaled score from 0 to 30. The scaled scores from the four sections are added together to determine the total score.
• The reading and listening sections are tested first, followed by a ten-minute break. The speaking and writing sections are then completed following the break. A maximum amount of 250 minutes is allowed to complete the whole exam process.
• Each speaking question is initially given a score of 0 to 4, and each writing question is initially given a score of 0 to 5. These scores are converted to scaled scores of 0 to 30.

 

Unscored-Experimental Section

One of the sections of the test will include extra, uncounted material. Educational Testing Service includes extra material to pilot test questions for future test forms. When test-takers are given a longer section, they should give equal effort to all of the questions because they do not know which question will count and which will be considered extra. For example, if there are four reading passages instead of three, then one of the passages will not be counted. Any of the four could be the uncounted one.

Cost

The registration cost for the TOEFL iBT varies from country to country, and sometimes even from testing center to testing center. The test fee can be anywhere from 160-250 USD, but in most places, it's around $200.

Rules to Repeat

TOEFL scores are valid for 2 years after the test date and there is no limit to the number of times you can take the test, but you cannot take it more than once in a 12-day period.

Score Comparision between TOEFL & IELTS   ( source: www.ets.org )

  

* Indicates score comparison ranges with the highest degree of confidence. 

Test Report

·      You will receive an email by means of ETS letting you know when your scores are available — approximately 10 days after your test date.

·      You can log in to your TOEFL iBT account (ETS: TOEFL iBT account) on the TOEFL^® registration website and click "View Scores" on your home page to see your scores.

·      See the list of dates (PDF) for an estimate of when you will be able to view your scores.

·      You can also download and print a PDF copy of your test taker score report from your account.

·      The list of dates (PDF) gives an estimate of when your PDF score report will be available.

• Printed score reports are sent to your score recipients approximately 13 days after your test date.
• Allow 7–10 days after that date for mail delivery in the United States, and more time for mail delivery to other locations.
• ETS has no control over mail delivery.