The Test of English as a Foreign Language (or TOEFL, pronounced "toe-full" or sometimes "toffle") evaluates the potential success of an individual to use and understand Standard American English at a college level. It is required for non-native applicants at many English-speaking colleges and universities
Throughout the world. Additionally, institutions such as government agencies, businesses, or scholarship programs may require this test. A TOEFL score is valid for two years and then is deleted from the official database. Colleges and universities usually consider only the most recent score. The TOEFL test is a registered trademark of Educational Testing Service (ETS) and is administered worldwide including in India.

TOEFL is required by all colleges and universities in North America. The purpose of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is to evaluate the English Proficiency of people whose native language is not English and wishing to study at college and university in the United States and Canada. A number of medical certification and licensing agencies require TOEFL test scores. TOEFL score is also required by several colleges and universities outside North America.

The TOEFL is

now computerized and can be taken any day all over India. The exam consists of 4 sections: Listening Comprehension, Structure, Reading Comprehension and Writing. There is no penalty for wrong answers, but all questions of Sections1&2 must be answered. The highest score in the exam is 300.

The demand for test seats remains very high: Candidates have to wait for months since short-term test dates are fully booked. The four-hour test consists of four sections, each measuring mainly one of the basic language skills (although some tasks may require multiple skills) and focusing on language used in an academic, higher-education environment. Note-taking is allowed during the iBT. The test cannot be taken more than once a day.

1. Reading
The reading section consists of 3 to 5 long passages and questions about the passages. The passages are on academic topics; they are the kind of material that might be found in an undergraduate university textbook. Students answer questions about main ideas, details, inferences, sentence restatements, sentence insertion, vocabulary, function and overall ideas. New types of questions in the iBT require paraphrasing, filling out tables, or completing summaries. Generally prior knowledge of the subject under discussion is not necessary to come to the correct answer, though a priori knowledge may help.

2. Listening
It consists of six long passages and questions about the passages. The passages consist of two student conversations and four academic lectures or discussions. The questions ask the students to determine main ideas, details, function, stance, inferences, and overall organization.

3. Speaking
It consists of six tasks, two independent tasks and four integrated tasks. In the two independent tasks, students must answer opinion questions about some aspect of academic life. In two integrated reading, listening, and speaking tasks, students must read a passage, listen to a passage, and speak about how the ideas in the two passages are related. In two integrated listening and speaking tasks, students must listen to long passages and then summarize and offer opinions on the information in the passages. Test takers are expected to convey information, explain ideas, and defend opinions clearly, coherently, and accurately.

4. Writing
The Writing Section consists of two tasks, one integrated task and one independent task. In the integrated task, students must read an academic passage, listen to an academic passage, and write about how the ideas in the two passages are related. In the independent task, students must write a personal essay.

Time for each Section
READING 3 passages and 39 questions (60 minutes)
LISTENING 6 passages and 34 questions (50 minutes)
SPEAKING 6 tasks and 6 questions (20 minutes)
WRITING 2 tasks and 6 questions (55 minutes)

It should be noted that at least one of the sections of the test will include extra, uncounted material. Educational Testing Service includes extra material to try out material for future tests. If the test taker is given a longer section, he must work hard on all of the materials because he does not know which material counts and which material is extra. For example, if there are four reading passages instead of three, three of the passages will count and one of the passages will be not counted. It is possible that the uncounted passage could be any of the four passages.

Test Scores
* The iBT version of the TOEFL test is scored on a scale of 0 to 120 points.
* Each of the four sections (Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing) receives a scaled score from 0 to 30. The scaled scores from the four sections are added together to determine the overall score.
* Speaking is initially given a score of 0 to 4, and writing is initially given a score of 0 to 5. These scores are converted to scaled scores of 0 to 30.