What's a Good TOEFL Score?
To determine how well prospective international students can communicate in English, U.S. colleges and universities often ask nonnative speakers to submit a standardized English proficiency test score. This is generally true for both undergraduate and graduate school programs.
There are multiple test options for prospective students, but the TOEFL, or Test of English as a Foreign Language, is one of the more widely accepted exams among U.S. schools.
The not-for-profit Educational Testing Service, or ETS, administers the TOEFL, which is offered online and by paper in locations where testing via the internet isn't available. On the internet-based test, students receive scores of zero to 30 on four different sections: reading, listening, speaking and writing. This means a test-taker's total score on the TOEFL iBT can range from zero to 120.
[Read: IELTS vs. TOEFL: What Are the Differences?]
Test-takers don't pass or fail the TOEFL. Instead, U.S. colleges and universities determine their own minimum score requirements. Prospective international students may therefore wonder what is considered a good TOEFL score. The answer depends on the schools, experts say.
Undergraduate Admissions and TOEFL Requirements
Many U.S. college admissions officers consider English proficiency test scores a key factor in international undergraduate admissions, according to a 2018 report from the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Of the colleges surveyed, 80.2% said English test scores have considerable importance in international freshman admissions decisions -- topping other factors like high school grades and the college essay.
Prospective international students who want to apply to highly selective institutions should aim for a score of 100 on the TOEFL iBT, say both Mandee Heller Adler, founder and president of Florida-based International College Counselors, and Nat Smitobol, a master college admissions counselor for New York-based IvyWise.
In 2018-2019, four of the eight Ivy League schools -- Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University and Yale University -- required a minimum TOEFL iBT score of 100, according to data reported to U.S. News in an annual survey. The other four schools -- Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania -- did not report this information.
To better understand the TOEFL score range, see the table below, with a breakdown by each section of the exam.
Reading Proficiency Level | Listening Proficiency Level | Speaking Proficiency Level | Writing Proficiency Level |
Advanced: 24-30 | Advanced: 22-30 | Advanced: 25-30 | Advanced: 24-30 |
High-Intermediate: 18-23 | High-Intermediate: 17-21 | High-Intermediate: 20-24 | High-Intermediate: 17-23 |
Low-Intermediate: 4-17 | Low-Intermediate: 9-16 | Low-Intermediate: 16-19 | Low-Intermediate: 13-16 |
Below Low-Intermediate: 0-3 | Below Low-Intermediate: 0-8 | Basic: 10-15 | Basic: 7-12 |
N/A | N/A | Below Basic: 0-9 | Below Basic: 0-6 |
Source: ETS
"One hundred is a pretty tough score," Smitobol says. "That's a successful speaker."
But most schools don't require applicants to score that high.
"There's a range of scores that could be considered good," says Daniel Kovacs, vice president of operations in North America for Kaplan International, an organization that offers English language test-prep courses. "Different universities have different requirements, but in general they range anywhere from 60 to about 90 on the iBT."
[Read: TOEFL Tips for Prospective International Students.]
Of the 1,224 schools that reported minimum TOEFL iBT score requirements to U.S. News for the 2018-2019 school year, the average was 74.4. Only five respondents required a perfect score of 120 on the TOEFL iBT, while another small group of schools accepted scores as low as 45.
Since minimum scores vary, prospective international students should check the specific requirements for the U.S. schools they are interested in, Adler says. Some institutions may have minimum score requirements for each section of the TOEFL, though Adler says this isn't common at the undergraduate level.
Prospective students whose English proficiency test scores are a little low but otherwise have strong applications may be offered conditional admission. This generally means students will be fully admitted into a degree program after they boost their English skills to a certain level.
[Read: How International Students Can Practice Speaking English.]
Some schools don't require English test scores from international applicants who have had substantial prior experience with the language, such as attending a high school where English was the primary language of instruction, experts say.
Applicants may also be exempt if they achieve certain scores on the SAT or ACT. For example, at Columbia University in New York, prospective international students who score 700 or higher on the evidence-based reading and writing section of the SAT, 650 or higher on the test's critical reasoning or writing sections, or 29 or higher on the English or reading sections of the ACT are not required to submit English language test scores, according to the university's website.
Students who learn in English-language secondary schools or whose home language is English are also exempt from TOEFL requirements at Columbia.
TOEFL Requirements for Graduate School Admissions
Prospective international graduate students also have to show evidence of their English language skills. Exact standards vary, so applicants will want to check with a specific program about its minimum score requirements, Kovacs says. At some universities, minimum TOEFL score requirements vary by department.
Business is a field that many prospective international students are interested in and one that generally requires strong communication skills.
"Most top-ranked MBA programs require a minimum TOEFL score of 100-105," Jeff Beavers, a former assistant dean of graduate programs at the University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign's Gies College of Business and now an administrator at Michigan State University, wrote in an email. "And for many of these same programs, the average TOEFL is 108-112."
At the University of Illinois, the minimum TOEFL iBT score requirement for international applicants to be fully admitted to graduate programs is 103. Students who score from 79 to 102 may be conditionally admitted, according to the graduate school's website.
Some graduate programs, such as Duke University's Master of Engineering program, don't list minimum English language test score requirements, though Duke indicates that it "generally seeks scores" of no less than 90 on the TOEFL. To better understand admission preferences, students should look for information on a program's website about the average TOEFL scores of a recent incoming class.
Students shouldn't be discouraged if the TOEFL target is high, experts say. "TOEFL scores are achievable for international students," Kovacs says. "Keep at it -- don't get discouraged."
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