The world's top international English test has undergone a major overhaul of its structure and scoring system.

Bài thi tiếng Anh quốc tế lớn hàng đầu 'đại phẫu' cấu trúc và thang điểm - Ảnh 1. — After three years, the TOEFL iBT will undergo further structural changes, starting in 2026.

International English tests increase practical application.

The TOEFL iBT is an international English language test designed and developed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in the United States. Following its announcement of test improvements in May, ETS recently updated information on several changes "aimed at enhancing practical application, optimizing the test-taker experience, and better meeting the demands of using language in a global environment."

Specifically, according to information from IIG Vietnam - the national representative of ETS, authorized to deploy ETS products in Vietnam - the upcoming TOEFL iBT exam will have several "significant improvements," effective from January 21, 2026, globally, including in Vietnam.

Firstly, the TOEFL iBT will soon adopt a multistage adaptive testing format – a method currently the "backbone" of several other English proficiency tests such as DET (from Duolingo) or Envoy (IDP) – for both the reading and listening sections. Accordingly, the number of questions will be adjusted based on each test-taker's ability, and the difficulty of the questions will also change based on the test-taker's previous answers.

This change also means the exam duration could be reduced by half, from 116 minutes to approximately 67-85 minutes. Furthermore, the time to receive exam results will also be halved, from 5-7 days to just 3 days.

Secondly, the exam will eliminate overly academic content and increase practical application through tasks taken from academic contexts and student life, such as reading excerpts from textbooks or social media; listening to lectures and announcements; writing emails and participating in online discussions; conducting mock interviews; or accurately recounting specific information.

The new structure of the TOEFL iBT exam is as follows:

Bài thi tiếng Anh quốc tế lớn hàng đầu 'đại phẫu' cấu trúc và thang điểm - Ảnh 2. — The new TOEFL iBT structure, effective from 2026, differs from the current structure.

Thirdly, the TOEFL iBT introduces a new scoring scale from 1-6, alongside the old 0-120 scale. The new scale has a increment of 0.5 and corresponds to the six levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), where level A1 (lowest) is equivalent to TOEFL iBT 1-1.5 and C2 (highest) is equivalent to level 6. ETS also notes that during the transition period of 2026-2028, test-takers will still receive equivalent converted scores based on both the 1-6 and 0-120 scales.

Promoting the use of AI

According to newly released documents from ETS, another notable point is that ETS will use AI (artificial intelligence) to combat cheating. "Security during the exam is ensured by a combination of trained invigilators and AI. The AI monitors the activities and environment on the test-taker's computer and sends alerts to the invigilator when it detects unusual behavior or unsatisfactory exam room conditions," ETS stated.

In addition, AI is also applied to score candidates' writing and speaking sections "based on criteria specified in the scoring guidelines," but ETS does not specify the role of human examiners, only stating that: "Human scoring remains an important element in the overall scoring process for the writing and speaking sections of the TOEFL test because automated scoring systems are trained based on human scoring data."

"Human-scored tests not only set the standard for machine learning but also act as a supervisor to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the scoring results," ETS further stated.

This is the second time in recent years that ETS has changed the structure of the TOEFL iBT exam. Previously, in 2023, ETS shortened the exam time from 3 hours to under 2 hours by reducing the reading section to two passages, each with 10 questions; replacing the independent writing section with an academic discussion; and eliminating unscored questions. The scoring scale remained the same, with a maximum score of 120.

Reportedly, ETS has not yet provided further information to its partners regarding whether the exam fees and certificate format will change or remain the same after the updated structure and scoring scale. This is a matter of concern for many test-takers, because when ETS changed the TOEFL iBT structure in 2023, the Australian Department of Home Affairs had to temporarily suspend the use of the new test results in visa applications for re-evaluation, and only accepted them again more than 10 months later.

The TOEFL iBT is one of the leading international English proficiency tests, recognized by over 13,000 organizations in more than 160 countries and territories. The new TOEFL iBT is also currently the shortest test compared to the other two popular options: IELTS (over 2 hours and 45 minutes, 3 skills) and TOEIC (2 hours, 2 skills). Previously, in 2019, ETS shortened the TOEFL test time by 30 minutes, to 3 hours.

To help candidates prepare effectively for the new exam format, ETS is releasing free practice tests for all four skills with completely new question types. Candidates can access and try them HERE .

International English tests increase practical application.

Promoting the use of AI

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