ETS Revises TOEFL Exam Structure, Introduces Option of Choosing the Best Score

With the continuous change in the demands of educational institutions today, the TOEFL exam is getting a change in its exam structure keeping in sync with the same. The Educational Testing Services (ETS), which conducts exams like GRE and TOEFL is implementing the required changes starting August 2019 onwards. TOEFL or Test of English as a Foreign Language will now be shorter in duration than present which 3 hours and 30 minutes. The duration of the test will be reduced by 30 minutes. Also, the number of questions in the three sections: reading, listening and speaking will be lessened accordingly. Additionally, scores of the best sections of an individual's test will be mentioned if the exam is taken more than once.

Srikant Gopal, Director of TOEFL Programme, in a statement said that a large number of institutions today acknowledge the importance of seeing the best sectional scores of applicants when they undertake the standardized test more than once. Also, it is in the interest of the test-takers to have an English language test that allows them to stand out to admissions officers. The aforementioned changes to be implemented effectively from August is meant to provide a testing experience for students which is significantly better allowing the institutions to expand their pools of qualified applicants who meet their English language requirements.

Gopal also said that new feature ''MyBest scores'' which will be introduced will combine the best scores of the test takers for each section from all the TOEFL scores which are valid from the previous two years. This option allows the examinees to display their best overall test performance to various institutions which is crucial to making admissions decisions. As such, 1st August, 2019 onwards all TOEFL score reports sent will automatically comprise ''MyBest scores'' along with the traditional scores from date selected by the examinees, regardless of the test administration date

The TOEFL is a global test for English language which is considered by over 10,000 institutions in more than 150 countries. TOEFL scores are also universally accepted in popular academic destinations like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and by about 99 percent of the universities in the United Kingdom.