{"id":6299,"date":"2021-03-18T17:02:34","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T00:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=6299"},"modified":"2021-03-18T17:02:34","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T00:02:34","slug":"toefl-essentials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-essentials\/","title":{"rendered":"The New TOEFL: TOEFL Essentials\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Educational Testing Service (ETS) quietly announced a new version of the TOEFL called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ets.org\/toefl\/test-takers\/essentials\/scores.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TOEFL Essentials<\/a>. Students can register for this new TOEFL starting in May 2021 for test dates administered in August 2021. <\/p>\n<p>This is big news for students taking the TOEFL. In this article, I\u2019ll provide information about the new test, how it\u2019s different from the TOEFL iBT, and whether you should consider taking this new version of the test.<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cjbAC18U5ts\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Format, Design, and Scores<\/h2>\n<p>The TOEFL Essentials consists of 4 sections: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking with the addition of a non-scored 5-minute personal video statement.<\/p>\n<p>The test is one hour and 30 minutes long with an emphasis on shorter, more fast-paced tasks. The content will include 50% general English and 50% academic English. This means the test will test English that is used in non-academic situations.<\/p>\n<p>You will find a variety of accents on the test to better represent English speaking around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Since the test is shorter\u2014only 90 minutes long\u2014there will not be a break during the test. There is an exception, though, for students who qualify for special accommodations.<\/p>\n<p>TOEFL Essentials will be scored on a scale of 1 to 12. Each section will receive a score and a total score will be based on the average of all four sections. In addition this new band scoring, the TOEFL Essentials will have a new type of scoring called Foundational Skills Scores. They will report percentile rankings on Vocabulary Knowledge and Sentence Construction.<\/p>\n<h2>Content<\/h2>\n<p>ETS released three practice tests in May 2021. These are your best chance to learn about the test and get practice with the new format.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ets.org\/s\/toefl-essentials\/test-takers\/prepare\/\" class=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TOEFL Essentials Practice Tests<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>New Virtual Interview for Speaking<\/h3>\n<p>The Speaking section will have test takers participate in a simulated conversation with a pre-recorded interviewer. We don&#8217;t know more about this content yet and will know more in May.<\/p>\n<h2>What\u2019s the difference between TOEFL iBT and TOEFL Essentials?<\/h2>\n<p>For the best information on the differences, I recommend reading <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ets.org\/toefl\/test-takers\/essentials\/scores.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the table that ETS provides<\/a> about the two tests. Here\u2019s the important information from what they\u2019ve shared so far:<\/p>\n<table style=\"width:100%\">\n<tr>\n<th><\/th>\n<th><strong>TOEFL\u00ae Essentials\u2122<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>TOEFL\u00ae iBT<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Length<\/td>\n<td>1.5 hours<\/td>\n<td>3 hours<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Price*<\/td>\n<td>$100\u2013$120 USD<\/td>\n<td>$170\u2013$245 USD<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Content<\/td>\n<td>50% non-academic English and 50% academic English<\/td>\n<td>100% academic English<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Score<\/td>\n<td>Scaled band score of 1 to 12 for each section and for a total score.<\/td>\n<td>Each section is scored 0 to 30. Sum of all sections gives the total score of 0 to 120<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Format<\/td>\n<td>Multistage adaptive<\/td>\n<td>4 non-adaptive sections<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Delivery<\/td>\n<td>At home.<\/td>\n<td>At home or in a test center<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>* Cost changes from one country to the next<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions about the TOEFL Essentials<\/h2>\n<h3>Can I take the TOEFL Essentials any time I want at home?<\/h3>\n<p>No. TOEFL Essentials will only be offered 1 day a week when it launches in August. After that, they will slowly start to open up more days of the week with a goal of offering the test 3 days a week.<\/p>\n<h3>Is the TOEFL iBT going away?<\/h3>\n<p>According to ETS, no. The TOEFL iBT will still be an option for students and colleges in the future.<\/p>\n<h3>When do I record the personal video statement?<\/h3>\n<p>At the end of the test. Since it&#8217;s not scored, ETS decided to put it at the end so that students can use their initial time and energy on the scored section of the test.<\/p>\n<h3>Will there be Disability Accommodations when TOEFL Essential launches?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes, students will have guidelines to follow in May to register with ETS and receive accommodations.<\/p>\n<h3>When will score reports be available<\/h3>\n<p>Official score reports will be available 6 days after the test.<\/p>\n<h3>What does it mean that the test will be &#8220;multi-stage adaptive?&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>Based on a conversation with ETS, they provided this information about the the adaptive nature of the test: &#8220;In general, in an adaptive test, when the test taker answers a question correctly, they will be given a more difficult question. If they answer a question incorrectly, they will be given a less difficult question. The adaptation methodology is similar to what is used in the GRE.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Should I Take the TOEFL Essentials?<\/h2>\n<p>If you are going to take the TOEFL before August 2021, you <em>should not<\/em> plan to take the TOEFL Essentials.<\/p>\n<p>If you plan to take the TOEFL after August 2021, it\u2019s a little more complicated, but I\u2019d probably advise you <em>not<\/em> to take the test. Even so, you may still be interested in taking the test. If so, you need to find out if the institutions you plan to apply to will accept the TOEFL Essentials. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ets.org\/toefl\/test-takers\/essentials\/scores.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ETS asked 250 institutions<\/a> if they\u2019d accept the new TOEFL and 90% said they\u2019d likely accept TOEFL Essentials scores for classes enrolling in 2022. That\u2019s not this year. So, it may take some time before your schools accept the TOEFL Essentials. <\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, for 2021, I recommend that you focus on the TOEFL iBT. If anything, the TOEFL Essentials is a distraction for you and your plans. I wouldn\u2019t waste a lot of time or energy trying to find out this information from the programs you are applying to. Put that time into studying for the TOEFL iBT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Educational Testing Service (ETS) quietly announced a new version of the TOEFL called TOEFL Essentials. Students can register for this new TOEFL starting in May 2021 for test dates administered in August 2021. This is big news for students taking the TOEFL. In this article, I\u2019ll provide information about the new test, how it\u2019s different [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13594],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13655],"class_list":["post-6299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The New TOEFL: TOEFL Essentials\u2122 - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learning about the new TOEFL Essentials, how it\u2019s different from the TOEFL iBT, and whether you should consider taking this new version of the test.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-essentials\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The New TOEFL: TOEFL Essentials\u2122\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learning about the new TOEFL Essentials, how it\u2019s different from the TOEFL iBT, and whether you should consider taking this new version of the test.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-essentials\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-19T00:02:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/files\/2016\/09\/Facebook-SEO-Default.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin Rocci\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kevinrocci\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin Rocci\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-essentials\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-essentials\/\",\"name\":\"The New TOEFL: TOEFL Essentials\u2122 - 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He has worked with adults and kids, tutoring the GRE, GMAT, and SAT at Kaplan and teaching English as a Second Language in the JET Programme and at the Intercultural Institute of California. At Magoosh, he expanded beyond teaching, building and managing teams, like Student Help and Content. When he's not Magooshing, you can find him spinning his toddler in circles. Connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kevinrocci\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/kevinrocci"],"knowsAbout":["GRE","GMAT","SAT","TOEFL","IELTS","ESL"],"jobTitle":"General Manager, TOEFL and IELTS","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/kevin\/"}]},"og_video":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cjbAC18U5ts","og_video_type":"text\/html","og_video_duration":"324","og_video_width":"480","og_video_height":"270","ya_ovs_adult":"false","ya_ovs_upload_date":"2021-03-19T00:02:34+00:00","ya_ovs_allow_embed":"true"},"authors":[{"term_id":13655,"user_id":12,"is_guest":0,"slug":"kevin","display_name":"Kevin Rocci","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f938b61616cc2dd8ae8cd2ab06381f1b8780e3f84546747ac4823074c8e020b4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Rocci","first_name":"Kevin","description":"At UC Santa Cruz, Kevin Rocci began a decade of teaching and tutoring with the <a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.ucsc.edu\/en\/Current\/General-Catalog\/Academic-Units\/The-Colleges\/Stevenson-College\" rel=\"noopener\">Stevenson College Junior Fellow and Writing Assistance programs<\/a>. He has worked with adults and kids, tutoring the GRE, GMAT, and SAT at <a href=\"https:\/\/kaplan.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Kaplan<\/a> and teaching English as a Second Language in the <a href=\"http:\/\/jetprogramme.org\/en\/\" rel=\"noopener\">JET Programme<\/a> and at the <a href=\"https:\/\/iicesl.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Intercultural Institute of California<\/a>. At Magoosh, he expanded beyond teaching, building and managing teams, like Student Help and Content. When he's not Magooshing, you can find him spinning his toddler in circles. Connect with him on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kevinrocci\/\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kevinrocci\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6299"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=6299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}