TOEFL iBT now shortened to under 2 hours

Doan Nguyen Van Khanh, deputy director general of IIG Vietnam, which administers the TOEFL in the country, announced late last month that the Reading section now lasts 35 minutes, Listening 36 minutes, Speaking 16 minutes and Writing 29 minutes, totaling approximately 1 hour and 56 minutes.

Changes include the removal of ungraded questions, a reduction in the number of Reading passages, and a new approach in the Writing section. The "Independent Writing" task has been replaced with "Writing for an Academic Discussion," which requires test-takers to expand on or clarify ideas presented in a discussion, using appropriate grammar and vocabulary in an academic context.

The test’s Writing and Speaking sections will now be graded with the assistance of AI, alongside human evaluators.

According to the Education Testing Service (ETS), over 2 million people take the TOEFL annually, with results accepted by more than 12,000 institutions globally. In Vietnam, about 100 universities recognize TOEFL scores for admissions.

In 2022, the average TOEFL score for Vietnamese test-takers was 75 out of 120, with Speaking being the lowest-scoring skill, averaging 13 out of 30.