{"id":2083,"date":"2015-08-12T09:44:49","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T16:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=2083"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:45:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:45:30","slug":"speaking-the-right-amount-on-the-toefl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/speaking-the-right-amount-on-the-toefl\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaking the Right Amount on the TOEFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, quite a few Magooshers have asked me if they need to speak for the full amount of time they\u2019re given on the Speaking Section<\/a>. Do you really need to speak a full 45 seconds on Independent<\/a> Speaking<\/a> and a full 60 seconds on the Integrated tasks<\/a>?<\/p>\n

The short answer is \u201cno.\u201d The longer answer is that on the TOEFL, you need to take care to speak just the right amount. Not too little, not too much.<\/p>\n

The first thing you should remember is that clear, well-organized speech is important. Speaking the full 45-60 seconds is not. In fact, you should probably try to avoid speaking all the way up to the exact time limit. If you try to go exactly the full time, you risk running out of time mid-word or mid-sentence. This can hurt your score, and sometimes hurt it a lot<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Having said that, you do want to have an answer that seems complete, and demonstrates your ability to speak English well at length.<\/p>\n

For the Integrated tasks that take up most of the Speaking Section (3 out of the 4 TOEFL Speaking tasks), I advise aiming for somewhere between 50 and 55 seconds. This gives you room for a few extra seconds if your speech takes longer than expected. It also gives you room to come up a little short. A response slightly under 50 seconds, if it is well done, can get good marks on the TOEFL.<\/p>\n

For Independent Speaking, you don\u2019t want to go the full 45 seconds either. But here, there\u2019s a much bigger risk of speaking for too long<\/i>, not running short on time. This first TOEFL Speaking task really does give you a lot less time, compared to the Integrated tasks. And there\u2019s still a lot you could say, and may need to say. For the Independent Speaking task, you must give and support your opinion on an important social issue, such as giving to charity, health, the right study habits, etc\u2026<\/p>\n

Fitting all of this into 45 seconds can be challenging, but it is doable. The trick here is to conserve your words<\/i>\u2014 think of the simplest way to express your main ideas. For example, suppose you were asked this TOEFL Independent Speaking Question:<\/p>\n