Performance Descriptors for the TOEFL iBT® Test

Understands dense academic passages with difficult vocabulary, complex sentences and paragraphs, and abstract or nuanced ideas.

Recognizes connections, inferences, and organizational structures.

Follows nuanced, paragraph-length arguments.

Synthesizes complex information.

Understands a range of academic and low-frequency vocabulary.

Understands main ideas and important details in academic passages, distinguishing important ideas from less important ones

May have an incomplete or incorrect understanding of parts of passages that are especially dense, complex, or abstract.

Makes explicit connections and synthesizes information, though may struggle to do so when the passage is dense, complex, or abstract.

Understands common academic vocabulary.

Understands some main ideas, important ideas, and clear, simple relationships in academic passages but has limited overall comprehension, especially with dense or complex sections.

Identifies the author’s purpose if it is explicitly stated or easily inferred.

Synthesizes information, though may struggle to do so when the passage is dense, complex, or abstract.

Understands high-frequency, academic vocabulary.

Has not yet demonstrated proficiency at the Low-Intermediate level

Understands academic conversations and lectures with difficult vocabulary, abstract ideas, complex structures, various uses of intonation, and large amounts of information.

Follows and interprets complex speech, conveys well-supported summaries, and maintains organization and cohesion with minimal lapses.

Understands main ideas and details in academic conversations and lectures that may include difficult vocabulary, abstract ideas, complex structures, various uses of intonation, and information that must be followed across sequences of utterances.

Lectures and conversations that are dense may present difficulty if the information is not reinforced.

Grasps main ideas, some important details, and certain uses of intonation in academic conversations and lectures when information is significantly reinforced, repeated or elaborated on.

Understands ways speakers express opinions and attitudes when they are related to a central theme, marked as important, or supported by intonation.

Understands explicit details and connections between ideas, especially when repeated.

Does not demonstrate proficiency at the Low-Intermediate level.

Communicates fluently and effectively on a wide range of topics with little difficulty.

Speaks clearly with relative ease on a range of general and academic topics, demonstrating control of an appropriate range of grammatical structures and vocabulary.

Delivers well-supported summaries, explanations, and opinions, including both concrete and abstract information, with generally well-controlled organization and cohesion.

Communicates effectively on most general or familiar topics and is understandable when discussing complex or academic topics.

Speaks clearly without hesitancy on general or familiar topics.

Demonstrates control of some complex structures and a range of vocabulary, despite occasional lapses in precision and accuracy.

Provides mostly complete summaries, explanations, and opinions, though some ideas may lack development or elaboration, affecting the clear progression of ideas.

Speaks clearly with relative ease and only minor hesitancies about general or familiar topics.

Long pauses and mispronunciations may obscure meaning when speaking about complex or academic topics.

Vocabulary is sufficient for discussing general or familiar topics, but a limited vocabulary range may lead to vague or unclear communication of ideas.

Conveys main points, but summaries and explanations can be incomplete or lack detail and long or complex explanations may lack coherence.

Communicates limited information on familiar, everyday topics.

Speaks slowly and carefully and speech may be unintelligible at times and may be strongly influenced by the speaker’s first language.

Produces short, simple utterances, with limited grammar and vocabulary, and frequent pauses while searching for words.

Conveys some limited information about familiar topics.

Supporting details are generally missing and main ideas may be unclear.

Does not demonstrate proficiency at the Basic level.

Writes confidently and clearly on a variety of academic and nonacademic topics.

Produces clear, well-organized text with few errors.

Expresses and supports opinions on controversial issues with a wide variety and range of vocabulary and grammar.

Integrates and presents important information from multiple sources clearly, with only minor imprecision.

Writes well on general topics and conveys most of the main ideas on complex topics.

Summarizes multiple sources, including most main ideas, with some missing, unclear, or inaccurate details.

Expresses opinions clearly but with occasional lapses in cohesion and development.

Writes with some facility, but grammatical mistakes or vague/incorrect word use may affect clarity.

Produces simple texts on familiar topics with limited idea development due to insufficient or inappropriate details.

Summarizes relevant information from multiple sources, but omits or misrepresents important ideas, especially complex ones.

Language errors may obscure connections or meaning at key points.

Communicates very basic information.

Produces some text that is related to the topic, but with little detail and/or lack of organization.

Grammatical errors and unclear expressions may affect comprehension and connections, making the text difficult to understand.

Does not demonstrate proficiency at the Basic level.