What is a Good Score in TOEFL?
Certification: English Test Preparation TOEFL - Test of English as Foreign Language
TOFEL is a highly admired English language exam which is conducted worldwide. The primary purpose of TOEFL is to assess the proficiency of the candidates in English language. In fact, it is one of the essential requirements of more than 9000 universities and colleges worldwide to clear the TOEFL exam with good marks. In addition to this, the exam is accepted in over 130 countries worldwide which adds to its worth. Hence, those people who wish to pursue their higher education in one of the best universities of the world must clear this exam with good marks.
However, the main question that comes in the mind of many people is that what actually is a good TOEFL score? What defines being “good” in a TOEFL exam? Well, this is one of the trickiest questions which you might come through. Your primary purpose for taking this exam is to get in a respectable university. This means that any score which lets you get into the University of your Choice is a good score! However, all of this is not that much simple. The universities look at a number of other factors as well while giving admission to the candidate; including his academics, co-curricular activities and sports. In this regard, it is essential to define a minimum score for TOEFL which can be termed as “good” and could let you get an edge over other students. In this regard, let us have a look at the fact that what TOEFL scores are required by various universities, what are the statistics for TOEFL scores and what is the scale which has been defined by ETS for the TOEFL exam.
TOEFL scale defined by ETS
ETS has set some boundaries which define which is a good TOEFL score and which is a bad one. In this regard, let us have a look at these boundaries to get an idea of the scores which you might aim for. There are basically four sections which are included in the exam; Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. Each of the section has different requirements. Some of the universities check the scores of the candidates in the individual sections rather than checking their overall score. Following are the ranges for a “good” TOEFL score.
Reading: 22 to 30
Writing: 24 to 30
Listening: 22 to 30
Speaking: 26 to 30
It is clear from the above ranges that what can be defined as a good score in TOEFL exam’s each section. However, you have to keep in mind that you should not stick to these scores and try to perform your best in all of the sections. Generally, if you are weaker in one of the sections, you can compensate for the score loss by scoring high in one of the other sections at which you are good at. In addition to this, please note that the range of good scores for the Speaking section is quite high; this means that most of the universities are looking for candidate with good speaking skills.
Combining all of the above information, it can be said that an average score of 94 is quite good and will help you get into a good university.
Statistics for TOEFL Score
Now, in order to get a better idea of a good TOEFL score, let us have a look at the average scores which most of the people get in each of the sections, and hence in the entire exam. You need to keep in mind that the average score represents the score which the maximum number of people got in the exam. By comparing the average scores with the scale which you read above, you will be amazed at the small difference which you have to cover in order to get from “Average” to “Good”. Following are the recent average scores for TOEFL exam.
Reading:20.1
Writing:20.6
Listening:19.7
Speaking: 20.1
By just comparing these statistics with the limits set by ETS, you will get to know that the average score is quite close to the good score we talked about. However, these scores confirm the statistics which we talked about earlier? You want to know how? Well, let’s do some mathematics then. The mean overall score for the TOEFL exam is 81 out of 120, with a standard deviation of 20. This means that people who get 10 marks below and above 81 can be termed as getting average scores. This means that, in order to get a “good” score, the candidate needs to get above 91 marks, which is one standard deviation above the mean score!
Just compare this with the “good” score which we calculated above, 94. The closeness between both of these scores shows that getting a score above 91 could also let your score come under the category of “good” scores. This will get you a good idea of what your score should be in order to stand out of the crowd.
What are good scores for Universities
You should keep in mind that every university has a different requirement. While some universities might offer you admission on a score below 80, others have set strict rules for the score to be above 90 or even 100. Such high scores are set by those universities which are considered to be quite good in the world. If you are planning to get into one of the best universities of the world, you should get to know their requirement of the TOEFL score and work for it, as any score below that minimum limit will not let you get into the university. Following are the TOEFL scores required by some good universities.
MIT: 90 is the minimum score but 100 is recommended.
UC Berkeley: minimum 80
Whitman College: minimum 85
Amherst College: 100 recommended
As you can see, each university has a different requirement. In this regard, the good score for you should be the one which your dream university requires!