TOEFL Changes in 2019-2020
The reading, listening and speaking sections of the TOEFL changed in August, 2019. Since then, ETS has also announced a series of smaller changes. Most of these changes have been well-publicized, but some of them are “secret changes.” Here’s what you need to note.
Reading section changes:
1. After the changes, you will get 9-10 questions for each passages of the reading section.
2. Time to complete the passages decreased from 20 minutes to 18 minutes. (That means you will consume 1 min 45 seconds for per questions instead of 1min 30 seconds on the old test)
3. Unofficial reading scores are now given at the test center as soon as you finish the test.
Listening section changes :
You will listen to two or three sets of listening materials. Each set will consist of either one conversation and two lectures (long set), or one conversation and one lecture (short set).
The long set has 17 questions and you will be given 10 minutes to solve them. The short set has 11 questions and you will be given 6.5 minutes to solve them. Note that the clock does not run while you are listening. This means you have about 35 seconds to solve each question, which is the same as on the old test. Some students have been given 7 minutes to solve the short set. The reason for this is unknown.
If you are given three sets, the third will be an additional short set. In this case one of your lectures and one of your conversations will not be graded. These experimental passages could come from any of the sets.
Note that the length of the passages is unchanged, and the difficulty level is unchanged. All of the same question types are being used.
Unofficial listening scores are now given at the test center as soon as you finish the test.
Speaking section changes :
Speaking Question 1 (personal preference) and Speaking Question 5 (campus situation) have been removed from the test. The remaining questions are the same as before. Note, however, that “multiple choice” and “advantages/disadvantages” questions are not being used in the new question one.
Your score is now determined by one human rater and the SpeechRater software. This is called “Enhanced Speaking Scoring” by ETS. The SpeechRater software is new. Previously, students were graded only by human raters.
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