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TOEFL 2026 is going to be very different from the current version of the exam. The changes that ETS has announced for TOEFL iBT share some features with other English proficiency tests such as Duolingo and IELTS so it’s definitely a nice upgrade.
But before we consider difficulty, let’s take a quick look at the new exam content.
Keep checking ETS’s website for further information as the details may change slightly before the new exam is released.
READING
The reading section will be adaptive which means that the difficulty of the questions will change depending on the examination candidate’s performance.
Niche content such as passages about Greek mythology will be removed and replaced with more modern content.
Reading passages will be taken from newspapers and websites as well as academic textbooks.
There will be three tasks:
🟢 Complete the words
🟢 Read in daily life
🟢 Read an academic passage
LISTENING
The listening section will also be adaptive.
It will contain lectures and conversations between students and professors, and students and support staff (like in the current exam), as well as conversations between students (for example, in group work scenarios).
There will be four tasks:
🔵 Listen and choose a response
🔵 Listen to a conversation
🔵 Listen to an announcement
🔵 Listen to an academic talk
WRITING
In the new exam, writing will be the third section after reading and listening.
It will contain three tasks:
🟢 Build a sentence
🟢 Write an email
🟢 Write for an Academic Discussion
The Academic Discussion question is the ONLY task remaining from the current exam.
SPEAKING
Speaking will be the final section of the new exam.
It will contain two tasks:
🔵 Listen and repeat (7 sentences)
🔵 Take an interview (4 questions)
The entire exam will take around 90 minutes to complete.
There are preparation materials available on ETS’s website (including a couple of free practice tests) which I recommend you take a look at.
Officially, as it’s a language proficiency exam, it’s going to measure your proficiency to the same standards as the current TOEFL exam so the difficulty will remain the same. However, the reality is a little bit more complicated than that.
Your own personal assessment of easiness or hardness (your perception) will depend on a number of factors which include your language learning background and your studying personality.
For example, if your previous language instruction has prioritized academic reading and writing over conversational listening and speaking, then it’s likely that you’ll find the listening and speaking sections challenging. Likewise, if you prefer to consider questions, weigh all the options, and answer them carefully then you might find the TOEFL exam’s timing a problem. You might feel rushed and unable to perform at your best.
But it’s always been the case that some people will favour one exam system over another. That’s why some people think that IELTS is easier than TOEFL for example. Both exams test your English proficiency but in different ways. Part of your exam preparation should always be to understand your chosen exam system and its specific means of testing.
Another important factor to note is that the new tasks, in all sections, will require quick reaction. Specifically, there will be NO preparation time in the new TOEFL speaking section. The current speaking section allows preparation time of between 15 to 30 seconds depending on the question. In the interview questions of the new exam, you will have to respond immediately. There won’t be time to prepare and to try to remember any of those over-rehearsed speaking templates that so many students rely on at the moment.
I’m actually in favour of this change as I think it’s a good test of a candidate’s true fluency. But this task is going to be much harder than it appears and I think it will be a source of frustration for those students who like to memorize responses.
Overall, I think the new TOEFL exam might appear easier to many candidates because of the shorter non-academic tasks. But I also think this is an aspect of the test which will cause frustration. I think it’s going to be more difficult to prepare specifically FOR the new exam so it’s going to benefit students who already have good fluency before they start working on exam strategies. This should always be the case - build your fluency first - but this seems to be missing from the preparation strategies of many current TOEFL students.
Preparation will be different and you’ll need to pay much more attention to grammar competence and to reducing errors. If you have good language proficiency, then you’ll be rewarded for that.
If you are still thinking about this then you should decide quickly because time is running out. You have about four or five months in which to achieve your target scores under the current exam.
Most students cannot manage a leap of several points in this period of time.
My own view is that if you are only a couple of points away from your target scores in each section, and you’ve got time to study, then it’s probably worth trying to get your scores now. You’ll be familiar with the material and the tasks and you probably know what you need to do.
However, if
🟠 you’ve had many attempts at the TOEFL exam and not achieved your target scores
🟠 your exam studying consists of repeating questions and not building new skills
🟠 you’re bored with all the exam material
🟠 you find the long academic texts difficult to understand
then you may do better in the new exam.
Good tutors will be ready for the new exam. There are many ways to help English language learners build proficiency and most of us have spent the time since the changes were announced in May analyzing the new exam content and working out how we can adapt our current materials and resources to help our students. This is what we do! There is absolutely no need to panic.
I am looking forward to the changes to the TOEFL exam. I think it represents a more modern approach to testing English proficiency and I think it will test candidates’ fluency better than the current exam.
If you have any questions about the exam or you’d like to enquire about lesson packages, then please do get in touch. I’d love to chat!