What is a Good TOEFL Score?

Your TOEFL iBT scores can be a real source of anxiety, can’t they? You spend weeks waiting for those numbers to come in. And then even after you get your score report, you may wonder if your score fits into a good range for your dream school.

There’s no single answer to the question, “What is a good TOEFL score?” But have no fear. In this article, we’ll give you all the information you need in order to measure the value of your score on the exam.

Table of Contents

General Requirements for a Good TOEFL Score

Whether you’ve already taken the TOEFL (congratulations!) or are still preparing for it, you’re probably asking, “Is my TOEFL score any good?” The TOEFL is unique in that it doesn’t have a universal “passing” score. Instead, what counts as a “good” score depends on the requirements of the school or program you’re applying to.

One major change as of July 2023 is that the test is shorter! The reading and listening sections now include fewer questions, and the writing section has a new task. However, the scoring system remains the same, which means interpreting your results hasn’t changed.

No TOEFL score is inherently “good” or “bad.” The key is to understand what score your target school requires, and how that score fits into your overall application.

Minimum TOEFL Score Requirements

Many universities make this easier by specifying exactly what score you need to qualify for their programs. You can look up your school’s TOEFL requirements and compare them to your current score using a TOEFL practice test. Minimum scores vary widely, from as low as 70 to as high as 110, depending on the program and its selectivity.

After taking a practice test, if you find that your score doesn’t meet the minimum requirement, don’t worry! There are plenty of resources, like Magoosh’s TOEFL Prep, that can help you improve your score.

Now, if you’re taking the SAT or GRE, you may have noticed the culture of scraping up as many points as possible. It’s not uncommon for people to spend months studying and then take the test multiple times over a period of six months or a year. For many exams, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. Even a fairly small increase in score on the SAT or GRE can give you a competitive edge.

The TOEFL, however, is usually a little different… at most schools, at least. More often than not, if a school states a score, then the office of admissions has determined that that score is what’s necessary to perform well in that school’s curriculum. So as long as you meet the requirement, your score probably won’t play much of a role in your admission or rejection.

Let’s say you were sick the day of your test, and you didn’t perform your best. You scored a 90, but you think you should have scored a 100. If your program only requires an 80, then you probably don’t need to take the test again. Instead, it’s likely better to focus on other parts of your application that the admissions department is more interested in, like your essays, interviews, and portfolios.

When Minimum Scores aren’t enough

In some cases, meeting the minimum score won’t be sufficient. For example, if you’re applying for a teaching assistantship (TA) or other on-campus work opportunities, your school may require higher scores, particularly in the speaking section. If the minimum score for admission is 90, but the TA program requires a 26 in speaking, you’ll need to aim higher.

In these cases, you’ll need to go beyond the minimum. It’s always a good idea to check whether additional requirements apply to specific positions or opportunities within your school.

A Note on Programs that Set a TOEFL Score Range

Some universities don’t provide a strict minimum TOEFL score but instead offer a range. This is common in programs that allow for conditional acceptance. If your score falls on the lower end of the range, you may need to take extra English as a Second Language (ESL) courses before beginning your degree.

Higher scores within the range, however, can reduce the number of ESL classes you’ll need to take, potentially saving you time and money. For example, if your score is at the top of a university’s range, you might need only one semester of ESL instead of a full year.

If your school offers conditional acceptance, aiming for the higher end of the range will give you more flexibility and fewer language classes to complete.

Finding University TOEFL Scores: Always do Your Research!

The best way to understand your target TOEFL score is through careful research. Check your school’s website for the most up-to-date information on score requirements. However, don’t stop there. It’s a good idea to reach out to the admissions office directly to confirm any details, especially since score requirements can vary by department or program.

Some programs may require different TOEFL scores for graduate students than for undergraduates, or higher scores for specific sections like speaking and writing. Always double-check.

What is a good score for graduate and professional programs?

The TOEFL is not just for undergraduates. Professionals seeking to work in fields such as healthcare, law, or business in the U.S. also need qualifying TOEFL scores. Graduate schools and professional licensing boards set their own TOEFL requirements, which are often higher than those for undergraduate programs.

For example, healthcare professionals like pharmacists and physical therapists typically need specific TOEFL scores to obtain a license in the U.S. Law schools and business schools also have high TOEFL standards. Researching these requirements early is crucial to ensure you meet the necessary benchmarks.

TOEFL scores for medical professionals

What TOEFL score do you need to get a healthcare license in the USA? That depends on what field you’re going into, and sometimes it also depends on where you plan to work. In the table below, you can see the TOEFL requirements for four of the most common healthcare professions in the States.

As you can see above, the licensure for physicians and nurses is different in every state. Make sure you are doing in-depth research for the field you are planning to go into.

What TOEFL iBT scores do you need for law school?

If you want to practice law in America, you’ll need top TOEFL scores! Law school and the legal profession are both very demanding when it comes to English skills. To help you aim for the right target score, I’ve compiled the TOEFL requirements for the top law schools in America. Click the name of each school to see the source page for the TOEFL requirements. (Each school page includes additional helpful information about admissions!)

What is a good score for business school?

The American MBA can get you far in your career, in the States or abroad. Like law schools, U.S. business schools hold their applicants to high TOEFL standards, in addition to high GRE or GMAT scores.

However, b-schools are much less likely to have minimum requirements for individual sections of the TOEFL. Instead, American MBA programs are far more interested in the “big picture,” your whole-test score. Because of this, it shouldn’t be surprising that the top MBA programs in the table below have no section score requirements.

What is a good TOEFL iBT score, according to ETS?

ETS, the organization that administers the TOEFL, provides proficiency levels to help interpret your scores in each section—reading, listening, speaking, and writing. These proficiency levels give you a sense of how competitive your score is relative to other test takers.

Performance Levels for TOEFL iBT Reading

For TOEFL Reading, ETS’s proficiency feedback breaks the score into four levels: Advanced, High-Intermediate, Low-Intermediate, and Below Low-Intermediate.

Here is a short summary of the four official ETS proficiency levels for TOEFL Reading:

• Advanced (24-30 Scaled Score):Test-takers with Advanced Reading proficieny generally have an introductory university level understanding of academic passages. They are able to navigate challenging vocabularly, complex sentence structure, and abstract ideas.
• High-Intermediate (18-23 Scaled Score): ETS’s high-intermediate level indicates an understanding of the main ideas of introductory level university passages. But tast-takers at this level may miss understanding particularly dense passages or have difficulty with low-frequency vocabularly.
• Low-Intermediate (4-17 Scaled Score):This level indicates some understanding of the main ideas of introductory level academic passages, but shows test-takers have an overall limited understanding of such material.
• Below Low-Intermediate (0-3 Scaled Score):Test-takers at this level are showing a lack of low-level proficiency with academic reading.

Performance Levels for TOEFL iBT Listening

For TOEFL Listening, ETS’s proficiency feedback breaks the score into the same proficiency levels as the reading section

Here is a short summary of the four official ETS proficiency levels for TOEFL Listening:

• Advanced (22-30 Scaled Score):Test-takers with Advanced Listening proficiency can generally understand academic lectures and conversations. This includes listening to material with difficult vocabulary, complex and abstract content, large amounts of information, and complicated sentence structure.
• High-Intermediate (17-21 Scaled Score): ETS’s high-intermediate level indicates a general understanding of the main ideas of academic lectures and conversations. But tast-takers at this level may miss understanding particularly information dense lectures and conversations.
• Low-Intermediate (9-16 Scaled Score):This level indicates some understanding of the main ideas and details of academic lectures. But test-takers at this level generally struggle with understanding complicated or dense spoken material that doesn’t feature repeated reinforcement of ideas and details.
• Below Low-Intermediate (0-8 Scaled Score):Test-takers at this level are showing a lack of low-level proficiency with academic lectures and conversation.

Performance Levels for TOEFL Speaking

TOEFL performance feedback reports give five different levels for TOEFL Speaking: Advanced, High-Intermediate, Low-Intermediate, Basic, and Below Basic. Here are short descriptions of these five levels:

• Advanced (25-30 Scaled Score):Test-takers with Advanced Speaking proficiency can generally speak effectively and with fluency across a wide range of topics.
• High-Intermediate (20-24 Scaled Score): ETS’s high-intermediate level indicates the ability to speak well on general or familiar topics to the test-taker. While speech at this level is usually clear, there may be some difficulty communicating complex ideas or complicated information.
• Low-Intermediate (16-19 Scaled Score):At this level test-takers are able to speak about general topics relatively easily, while struggling with talking beyond main ideas.
• Basic (10-15 Scaled Score):At this level test-takers typically show a limited ability to speak on general ideas and familiar topics.
• Below Basic (0-9 Scaled Score):Test-takers at this level are showing a lack of Basic proficiency with English speaking.

Performance Levels for TOEFL Writing

Like TOEFL Speaking, TOEFL Writing is divided into five proficiency levels: Advanced, High-Intermediate, Low-Intermediate, Basic, and Below Basic. Here are short descriptions of these five levels as they stand in the Writing section:

• Advanced (24-30 Scaled Score):Test-takers with Advanced Writing proficiency can generally write effectively in English across a wide range of topics and ideas.
• High-Intermediate (17-23 Scaled Score): ETS’s high-intermediate level indicates the ability to write well on general or familiar topics to the test-taker. At this proficiency writers can generally express main ideas effectively, but struggle writing about more complex issues.
• Low-Intermediate (13-16 Scaled Score):At this level test-takers are able to write simply in English about basic topics that are familiar to them.
• Basic (7-12 Scaled Score):At this level test-takers typically are only able to write basic English texts.
• Below Basic (0-9 Scaled Score):Test-takers at this level are showing a lack of Basic proficiency with English writing.

What is a good score, in terms of percentiles?

Then there’s the matter of TOEFL percentiles. Your percentile shows how you did in comparison with other test takers. The higher the percentile, the better. A 90th percentile TOEFL score means you scored higher than 90% of the other test takers. If you can fall into that percentile, you have a pretty good TOEFL score. And more basically, the higher above the 50th percentile you go, the better off you are.

Now, here’s where percentiles get interesting: ETS measures percentiles based on the demographic that you’re in. This means you compare your TOEFL score to other test-takers who share your language, come from your home country, share your gender, or have the same level of education that you do.

Let’s say that your TOEFL score is in the 90th percentile for your country. This makes your score a good one, if you’re applying to English language degree programs in your own country.

If you’re from a very big nation, your national TOEFL percentile influences global percentiles a lot. So a high TOEFL percentile in your home country may be good by the standards of universities around the world. “Big nation” high percentiles are especially valuable for university admissions in the English-Speaking world. High percentiles from countries with many TOEFL test-takers, such as China or India, are especially valued by universities in English-speaking countries.

The following charts show the 2023 percentile ranks for scores in all four sections of the exam and total score for three categories of test-taker: high school students, undergraduate level students, and graduate level students. They’ll let you see what typical performance looks like across those demographics. You can dive into more data in this report directly from ETS.

TOEFL iBT Percentile Ranks – High School Students

TOEFL iBT Percentile Ranks – Undergraduate Level Students

TOEFL iBT Percentile Ranks – Graduate Level Students

So what is a good TOEFL score, in general?

Even though a “good” TOEFL score depends on your specific goals, here’s a general breakdown to guide you:

• Less than 80: This score range is typically not competitive for most English-speaking universities, although some smaller public schools may accept lower scores. If you’re applying to schools in non-English-speaking countries, this range might still work for you.
• 80-90: This is a moderately good score range. Most universities will accept scores in this range, and it’s often sufficient for graduate programs, which may focus more on academic achievements.
• 90-100: These scores are considered good. They’ll meet the requirements of most universities, and you’ll likely have a chance to compete for on-campus positions like research or teaching assistantships.
• 100-110: This range is very strong. If your TOEFL score falls here, you’ll be competitive for top universities, including Ivy League schools.
• 110-120: These are the highest scores possible. Scoring in this range means you can apply to the most competitive universities with confidence. Just make sure you also meet any specific section score requirements your school may have.

TOEFL MyBest Scores and Retaking the TOEFL

If you’ve taken the TOEFL more than once in the last two years, you may benefit from TOEFL MyBest Scores, which combine your best section scores across different test dates. Some schools now accept these superscores, which allow you to improve your overall score by focusing on specific sections during retakes.

For example, if you scored well in reading on one test and listening on another, MyBest Scores will combine your highest section scores to create a stronger overall result. This is a great option if you’re satisfied with some sections but need to improve others.

For an example of how this can work, let’s say that you take the TOEFL once and get the following:

• Reading 25
• Listening 24
• Speaking 28
• Writing 23
• WHOLE TEST SCORE: 100

Then suppose you take the TOEFL a second time, and get:

• Reading 24
• Listening 26
• Speaking 27
• Writing 26
• WHOLE TEST SCORE: 103

If you order a score report after those two exams, your score report will include a MyBest score, as follows:

• Reading 25 (higher score from first exam)
• Listening 26 (higher score from second exam)
• Speaking 28 (higher score from first exam)
• Writing 26 (higher score from second exam)
• WHOLE TEST SCORE: 105

This also means that even though your score on the first exam was 100 and your score on the second exam alone would be 103, your MyBest score report would show a total score of 105, using your best scores from each.

In short, the MyBest score system may help you if:

• You have taken the TOEFL more than once in the last two years or are considering a retake.
• You are applying to one of the schools that accept MyBest TOEFL scores.
• Some of your section scores meet your requirements, but others don’t.
• Boosting your score in just one part of the exam will get your whole test score to where it needs to be.

My Whole Application is Great! What is a good TOEFL score for me?

If the rest of your application is outstanding, a slightly lower TOEFL score might still work in your favor. Strong academic records, impressive essays, and coursework in English can sometimes compensate for a TOEFL score that’s just below the minimum.

It’s always worth asking your school if they’re flexible on TOEFL requirements when the rest of your application stands out. Some schools may offer conditional acceptance or other options if your English skills are strong in other areas.

Takeaways

Now that the TOEFL test is shorter, you’ll have less to worry about during the exam, but achieving a good score remains essential. Whether you’re aiming for a competitive program or just trying to meet the minimum, preparation is the key to success. With the right study tools and strategies, you can reach your TOEFL goals and make your application shine! Start your prep today by taking Magoosh’s free TOEFL practice test and seeing where your score is.