Know the TOEFL Test Structure & Scoring Tips

The structure of the TOEFL is such that any test score has a validity period of up to two (2) years and the test can be taken once in every cyclical period of twelve days, which is really not a bar or restriction to it considering the fact that it is administered over fifty (50) times a year. The paper-based test can go on for a time period of two and a half hours (2.5) and the computerized test format can on for up to four hours (4) and twenty minutes (20). The format of the computerised test comprises it of four parts, being the reading component, listening component, speaking component and a writing component. The reading component has questions on approximately four to six (4 – 6) passages, which are usually academically oriented. The material makeup of these passages is usually at the level of undergraduate study at university and usually requiring skills of identifying functions like cause-effect, compare-contrast and argumentation. The listening component is a sum of six listening passages, which are usually three to five minutes (3 – 5) minutes in duration. The test taker is provided only one opportunity to listen to the passages and answer any questions related to them. The skill that needs to be cultivated for this portion of the TOEFL paper is the ability to comprehend main ideas, important details, implications, relationships between ideas, organization of information, speaker purpose and speaker attitude. Next comes the speaking section which comprises of six objectives to be completed, wherein two of them will be focused on responding to opinion questions on certain, ordinarily familiar, topics and the skill that is expected to be shown is the ability to present ideas coherently and speaking spontaneously. In the other four objectives test-takers are expected to read a short passage, listen to an academic course lecture or a conversation about campus life and respond accordingly, as well as respond with respect to what they heard in these discourses. The idea in this segment of the TOEFL is to assess whether the test taker can exhibit their ability to appropriately synthesize and effectively convey information from the reading and listening material. Lastly, in the writing section, the test taker will find a curious mix of tasks. In one task, a complimentary passage along with a listening tape are read and heard respectively, and the candidate is expected to note the key points of the tape and correlate their relevance to the passage that they read. The second task is a standard opinion or choice subject matter essay that must be written by the candidate.

Indian candidates of the TOEFL must not throw caution to the wind in selecting their coaches or coaching institutes, for these days any Tom, Dick or Harry is opening up one around their neighbourhood corner, claiming excellent prowess of the language and experience in TOEFL coaching. Most training centres do not invest enough time to ensure that their pool of teachers really are up to date with the relevance of terms, obsoleteness of old rules of the language and application of new ones.


At WisdomMart, a highly reputed institute, the policy of teaching functions on the principle that no doubt is too big, too small or too silly. Students are encouraged to question openly and their concerns are always met with the highest standards of cooperation. It boasts mentors and teachers who have either lived overseas or trained overseas or both. It continually follows the progress of its students and offers them a deep concentration of easy to refer to study materials and applies constant evaluation of the student’s/candidate’s progress through their well-structured and close-to-call mock papers. Many of those who have taken TOEFL coaching at WisdomMart constantly exceed their performance expectations and are trained to keep an eye on achieving the highest TOEFL score in the test when they take it.