How is TOEFL Graded?

How is TOEFL graded? The TOEFL iBT score range is 1–6 for tests from 21 January 2026, with a comparable 0–120 score during the transition. See how each section is scored.

In the event that you are a non-native English speaker who needs to learn at an institution in an English-speaking nation, more often than not you would be required to present a TOEFL score. The TOEFL doesn’t have a direct reviewing framework like what you have at schools, a wrong answer will unquestionably cause you to lose points and a right one will pick up you points. So, the TOEFL score itself can be confusing. This post ideally can assist with How is TOEFL Graded.

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Updated 17 October 2026 for the January 2026 TOEFL iBT score scale.

TOEFL score range from 21 January 2026: the 1–6 scale

For TOEFL iBT tests taken on or after 21 January 2026, ETS reports Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking on a 1–6 scale in half-point steps, plus an overall score on the same 1–6 scale. The scale is aligned with the CEFR levels used in most English courses.

• Each section is scored from 1 to 6, in increments of 0.5.
• The overall score is the average of the four section scores, rounded to the nearest half band. ETS's example: a section average of 5.25 gives an overall 5.5, and an average of 5.125 gives 5.
• Until January 2028, every score report also shows your CEFR level and a comparable overall score on the old 0–120 scale. That comparable score is the midpoint of the matching 0–120 range; for example, 4.5 is shown with 90.
• Tests taken before 21 January 2026 keep their 0–120 scores, and TOEFL scores stay valid for two years from the test date.
• There is no pass or fail score. Each university sets its own requirement, and some still list it on the 0–120 scale.

ETS's recommended equivalents for common university requirements: 100 on the 0–120 scale is about 5 on the 1–6 scale, 90 is about 4.5, 80 is about 4 and 70 is about 3.5.

Sources: ETS: TOEFL iBT Scores – what your scores mean; ETS: TOEFL iBT score scale 1 to 6, CEFR and 0–120 comparison

How the 0–120 TOEFL scale works (tests before 21 January 2026)

The rest of this article explains the 0–120 scale. It applies to TOEFL iBT tests taken before 21 January 2026, and it is the scale behind the comparable 0–120 score on current reports.

How is TOEFL Graded?

TOEFL iBT score breakdown (0–120 scale, tests taken before 21 January 2026)

Section	Score range
Reading	0–30
Listening	0–30
Speaking	0–30
Writing	0–30
Total score	0–120

The TOEFL has its own scoring scale and framework, and it’s anything but a percent correct score. That implies the most extreme score for the TOEFL test isn’t 100%. Rather, the most extreme score is 120 with 4 segments. Each segment (Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening) is worth 30 points.

In contrast to the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) whose purposes of each area are similarly as significant as the generally speaking, with the TOEFL, the combined score out of 120 is the most significant number. Commonly, the schools and universities won’t request that you separate the total score into individual segments.

How is the TOEFL reviewed?

The TOEFL is a standardized test, which implies the scores are ‘equated.’ This additionally implies the quantity of right answers you get in the test won’t relate precisely with the last score you get.

This is on the grounds that the TOEFL test producers might want to make the test and results as reasonable as could be expected under the circumstances. In some cases, a form of the test can be more troublesome than another adaptation. So, it won’t be reasonable for everybody stepping through the exam if the percent-correct evaluating framework is utilized. The TOEFL graders, other than taking a look at the good and bad answers, they additionally consider the general execution of everybody taking that test to at last think of the score. So as a rule, the TOEFL scores are practically identical in any event, when test-takers step through various examinations from one another.

Notwithstanding, the ETS doesn’t share their official evaluating and comparing scores framework with general society. So, we don’t actually have a clue how it is evaluated. In any case, remember that regardless of whether you are ‘unfortunate’ and have a troublesome than the normal understanding section, you will in any case be judged reasonably contrasted with other people who have the simpler understanding entry.

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