International Exams · Entrance Exams

TOEFL Syllabus

TOEFL has task types rather than a syllabus, and since January 2026 there are twelve of them, from a gap-fill to an academic discussion post.

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TOEFL · checked 19 September 2026

The dates, vacancies and rules below are read on the conducting body’s own site and rewritten as each notice appears. The guide beneath carries the full pattern, syllabus, cut-offs and free mock tests.

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19September 2026

Checked 19 September 2026

TOEFL: the facts that matter now

01
Adaptive; about two hours — Reading 50 items in about 30 minutes, Listening 47 in 29, Writing 12 in 23, Speaking 11 in 8
Format since 21 January 2026
02
ETS, at test centres and as the TOEFL iBT Home Edition under a live proctor
Administered by
03
University admission at 13,000+ institutions in 160+ countries, above all in the United States and Canada
Used for
04
Four section scores and an overall on a 1–6 scale in half bands; a comparable 0–120 total also reported until January 2028
Scoring

Syllabus

TOEFL — What the syllabus covers

Task types by section, as ETS lists them. Item counts and times are approximate because the test adapts.
Section	Task types	Items	Time
Reading	Complete the Words; Read in Daily Life; Read an Academic Passage	About 50	About 30 minutes
Listening	Listen and Choose a Response; Listen to a Conversation; Listen to an Announcement; Listen to an Academic Talk	About 47	About 29 minutes
Writing	Build a Sentence; Write an Email; Write for an Academic Discussion	About 12	About 23 minutes
Speaking	Listen and Repeat; Take an Interview	About 11	About 8 minutes

Reading: Complete the Words presents a short text with letters removed from words and asks you to restore them — a test of vocabulary, spelling and grammar at reading speed. Read in Daily Life uses short practical texts: a notice, a message, a schedule, a set of instructions. Read an Academic Passage is the descendant of the old reading section — a university-level passage with questions on detail, inference, vocabulary in context and organisation.
Listening: Listen and Choose a Response plays a short utterance and asks for the reply that fits. Listen to a Conversation and Listen to an Announcement use everyday and campus audio with comprehension questions. Listen to an Academic Talk is a lecture extract with questions on the main idea, supporting detail and the speaker’s purpose. Audio plays once.
Writing: Build a Sentence gives the parts of a sentence to assemble correctly. Write an Email sets a purpose and a reader and asks for a short, appropriately toned message. Write for an Academic Discussion presents a professor’s question and two students’ posts and asks for a reasoned contribution of your own — the task carried over from the previous test, and the longest piece of writing in the current one.
Speaking: Listen and Repeat plays a sentence to be said back accurately, testing pronunciation and processing of connected speech. Take an Interview asks a sequence of recorded interview questions to be answered aloud, scored on delivery, language and how fully the question is addressed. There is no examiner; responses are recorded and scored centrally.

The one task that survived, and why it still matters

Write for an Academic Discussion is the only task shared with the pre-2026 test and the one that most resembles university work: read a question and two positions, take a view, give reasons, and write it in the register of a class forum. It is the task where preparation moves a band most, because the others are short and reward accuracy over development.