TOEFL Assessment Criteria
You might be wondering – why do I need to know the assessment criteria for the TOEFL exam? Well, since you are graded using
this criteria, knowing the criteria will help you calibrate your responses to that criteria, thereby maximizing your TOEFL score.
Obviously, the reading and listening sections don’t have any specific criteria – you just need to choose the right answers.
The TOEFL assessment criteria come into play in the speaking and writing sections, where your responses are graded based on the relevance and the structure of your response, the grammar and vocabulary you use, your fluency, and a number of other
factors.
Your responses in the speaking section are graded on a scale of
0 to 4, while your responses in the writing section are graded
on a scale of 0 to 5. These grades are then scaled to get a
final score ranging from 0 to 30.
You can download the official TOEFL rubrics (assessment criteria) for the speaking and writing sections using the links below
Speaking Rubrics
Writing Rubrics
These are, of course, general guidelines that aren’t very useful on their own. However, we have developed response structures, dos and don’ts, and a list of tips and tricks that are based on these criteria, tested by our students, and proven through years of experience that will boost your TOEFL score. These can be found in the TOEFL Prep section.
