TOEFL® iBT Tips

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TOEFL iBT Tips
How to Prepare for the Next Generation TOEFL Test
and Communicate With Confi dence

TOEFL iBT Tips has been created to help English language learners understand the next generation
TOEFL® Internet-based test (iBT) and prepare for it. By preparing for the new test, learners are also preparing
to build the skills they need to communicate with confi dence and succeed in an academic setting.
TOEFL iBT Tips is also intended to be helpful for ESL/EFL instructors and educational advisors as they
help students to prepare.
This publication has been created by ETS (Educational Testing Service), the nonprofi t educational organization
from Princeton, New Jersey, USA, that develops and administers the offi cial TOEFL test. The
TOEFL test is the most popular English test in the world, taken more than 20 million times since 1964. The
TOEFL test is administered in more than 180 countries, making it the most accessible test in the world.
Internet-based testing makes it possible to greatly expand the number of test centers and increase access.
The TOEFL test is also the most accepted test in the world. More than 5,000 colleges, universities, and
agencies in 80 countries accept TOEFL scores. So, for example, students can use the test to study in the
U.K. and other European countries, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and Korea in
addition to the U.S. and Canada.



Introduction
In 2005, ETS is introducing a next generation TOEFL test. It is an Internet-based test (iBT) that will be
delivered in secure testing centers around the world. The new TOEFL iBT test will be phased in starting
September 2005. It will be offered fi rst in the United States in September 2005; and in Canada, France,
Germany, and Italy in October 2005. It will be introduced in the rest of the world in 2006. To fi nd out when
it will be available in your country, visit /nextgen/timeline.html.
What is different about the TOEFL iBT test?
• It tests all four language skills that are important for effective communication: speaking, listening,
reading, and writing. The emphasis will be on using English to communicate.
• It will be delivered via the Internet in secure test centers around the world. Once the new test is
introduced in an area, the computer-based and paper-based tests will no longer be offered there.
• Some tasks require test takers to combine more than one skill. To succeed academically in Englishspeaking
colleges and universities, students need to be able to combine their language skills in the
classroom. New integrated questions, or “tasks,” help students build the confi dence needed to com-
TOEFL iBT Tips
How to Prepare for the Next Generation TOEFL Test
and Communicate With Confi dence
4 TOEFL iBT Tips
municate in the academic environments they plan to enter. The new integrated tasks will ask test
takers to:
• read, listen, then speak in response to a question
• listen, then speak in response to a question
• read, listen, then write in response to a question
• The new TOEFL test includes a Speaking section. This section includes six tasks, and test takers
wear headphones and speak into a microphone when they respond. The responses are digitally
recorded and transmitted to ETS’s Online Scoring Network, where human raters evaluate them. The
raters are carefully monitored for accuracy, so test takers and score recipients can be assured of the
reliability of the Speaking scores.
• The Writing section has been expanded. The new test requires test takers to write a response to
material they have heard and read, and to compose an essay in support of an opinion. Human raters
also evaluate the responses to the Writing tasks via ETS’s Online Scoring Network.
• The new test is approximately 4.0 hours long. All test sections will be completed in one day, so
there is no need to travel to the test center twice.
• Note taking is allowed. Test takers can take notes on any section of the test and they can use those
notes when answering the questions. After testing, notes are collected and shredded before the test
takers leave the test center.
• The new scores help to explain test takers’ English language ability. ETS provides comprehensive
scoring information that will include scores for four skills and a total score. Competency descriptors
for each skill and level can be found on pages 65–70 and are available at etstoefl /nextgen.
These descriptors help to explain what the new scores mean. In addition, test takers will receive helpful
performance feedback on their score reports.
• The new scores will be reported online. Beginning in September 2005, test takers will be able to
view scores online 15 business days after the test, as well as receive a copy of their score report by
mail. Colleges and universities will be able to view scores online starting in 2006, but they will also
continue to receive scores via their current delivery method.