Inside the TOEFL iBT test: Why the 1 – 6 Score Scale?

This January, the TOEFL program implemented a suite of updates to the exam, including the introduction of a banded score scale ranging from 1 to 6, in increments of 0.5, for the four test sections and the total score. A fair question is: Why? We’re glad you ask.

In short: We believe this better positions the TOEFL iBT test to offer a consistent, globally relevant, and fairly interpretable score scale for our core stakeholders – academic institutions seeking to admit students who speak English as a second language.

Today, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), which offers a transparent, comprehensive language framework with six main proficiency levels from A1 to C2, has become the global standard for English teaching and assessment, allowing English learners to fairly measure their progress against global peers.

The original TOEFL iBT score scale, with an overall score from 0 – 120 and section scores from 0 – 30, was established well before CEFR was widely adopted as the preferred global benchmark. This posed some limitations in interpretation.

In response, ETS researchers ensured that CEFR score mapping was directly integrated into the development of the 1 – 6 score scale, as opposed to treating it as a subsequent step, to better support interpretation of TOEFL scores in relation to the CEFR levels.

This direct integration has allowed us to draw a more intuitive alignment between TOEFL iBT scores and global norms, while also offering a clearer connection to students’ prior learning and assessment journeys, which are often guided by CEFR.

As a result, students, teachers, and institutions can draw clearer parallels between prior English training and TOEFL iBT results, allowing our exam to mesh naturally with how English is taught and assessed in most global settings.

Another benefit of the updated scale is the provision of consistent score mapping across each test section. Under the prior scale, where scores were issued from 0 to 30 for each test section, the minimum score thresholds to reach a particular CEFR level varied widely, causing confusion for many of our stakeholders.

To use one example: to show English ability on a particular language skill that aligned with CEFR level B2, a student had to meet the following minimum score requirements across each TOEFL iBT section: Reading (18), Listening (17), Writing (17), and Speaking (20). The different minimum score requirements often caused unnecessary confusion among students and score users.

To remedy this imbalance, the same score value under the 1 – 6 scale for each test section and the total score now consistently align with the same CEFR level. For example, a score of 4 now aligns with CEFR level B2 for Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking, which will cause far fewer headaches for those interpreting our scores.

In addition, because the overall TOEFL iBT score is now the average of the four section scores, rather than the sum of the four section scores under the 0 – 120 scale, it’s possible to use the same CEFR thresholds for the overall score, as well.

A bit of feedback we’ve heard from our core stakeholders is that the banded score scale is “less granular” than the scale it replaced. And our research team acknowledges that a more granular scale might be helpful when the goal is to rank students by language ability.

The primary use of TOEFL iBT test scores, however, is to inform “yes/no” decisions about admitting students into a degree program, placing students in a language class, or granting professionals a formal license. In all of these scenarios, score users are most interested in a single language proficiency cut score.

University admissions criteria for international students, to use one example, typically include minimum score requirements, rather than offering credit for higher-scoring applicants, suggesting that the primary use of the scores is to determine whether a student meets a desired language proficiency threshold.

A banded score scale is well-suited to inform these yes/no decisions, while also offering a more practical approach to score interpretation than the 0 – 120 scale through improved consistency across test sections and alignment to global proficiency standards.

The widespread popularity of score bands – used by entities like the U.S. Foreign Service Institute and American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages – reflects their suitability for use when the assessment goal is to certify that a candidate meets a particular standard.

When accompanied by descriptors of the expected abilities at each CEFR level, the 1 – 6 score scale also simplifies score interpretation. To this end, the TOEFL research team has developed performance descriptors for each of the six band scores of each test section.

These descriptors are based on the CEFR descriptors with minor modifications so that they are more relevant to test content, with the goal of facilitating score interpretation.

If you represent an institution that needs to establish updated score requirements under the 1 – 6 scale, our TOEFL Access Help Center offers several resources, including comparison tables showing the relationship of the 1 – 6 scale to both the CEFR levels and the previous 0 – 120 scale, as well as Frequently Asked Questions and Performance Descriptors of test takers’ skills and abilities across each CEFR level.

Our Help Center resources also offer practical tips on sharing your institution’s updated score requirements with test takers, setting your program’s score thresholds, and weighing your English requirements relative to your program’s existing resources.

And if you’re curious about the underlying science behind the linking of the two score scales, our recent report, A banded score scale for the TOEFL iBT test: Rationale, development, and score linking, offers a wealth of additional information.

This research process involved thousands of test takers across 80+ countries, whose performance across the question types under both scales allowed us to derive empirical relationships between the 0 – 120 and 1 – 6 scales.

We’re excited to launch the 1 – 6 scale, which connects TOEFL iBT more closely to global standards, simplifies score analysis, and allows for fairer interpretation of test takers’ results. And we’re grateful to our global partners for revisiting their own score requirements to help our test takers pursue their personal and academic dreams!