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What is a Good TOEFL Score: Your Guide to Language Proficiency
A TOEFL, Test of English as a Foreign Language, examines an individual's capabilities in four areas of English proficiency namely; reading, writing, listening, and speaking. While a "good" score can vary widely from one institution or program to another, having a sense of what score to target can help in goal setting and preparation. Every university has a minimum TOEFL score requirement, through which the university admissions are accepted. To answer the question ‘What is a good TOEFL score?’, a score above 100 is usually considered a good TOEFL score. The applicant is advised to be familiar with the minimum TOEFL score requirements of the universities and the country’s visa authorities they are applying. In this article, all the details about what is a good TOEFL score is discussed.
This Story also Contains
- What is a TOEFL score?
- TOEFL Performance Indicator
- Good TOEFL Scores for Studying Abroad
- What is a Good TOEFL Score for UK?
- What is a Good TOEFL Score for Canada?
- What is a Good TOEFL Score for Australia?
- TOEFL Best Score - Course wise
- IELTS to TOEFL Score Conversion Scale
What is a TOEFL score?
To understand “what is a good TOEFL score?”, applicants can first be clear about the details of the scoring in the TOEFL exam. The exam has 4 sections and each section has a score range of 0 to 30. The average of the scores obtained in all four (4) sections of the exam is the total TOEFL score of the test taker. The TOEFL score range is 0 to 120, the minimum is 0 and the maximum is 120.
How Different TOEFL Sections are Scored?
Even though the score range for all the sections in the TOEFL test is the same, they have a different number of questions and tasks.
Section wise TOEFL Score Range
Section | Questions Types | Number of Questions | Score Range |
Reading | Passages | 20 | 0-30 |
Listening | Lectures & Conversations | 28 | 0-30 |
Speaking | 1 independent task & 3 integrated tasks | 4 tasks | 0-30 |
Writing | 1 integrated task & 1 writing task | 2 tasks | 0-30 |
Total Score | 0-120 | ||
TOEFL Performance Indicator
The applicant can check their performance depending on the score obtained in each section. The following table indicates the level of proficiency denoted by the scores obtained in each section.
TOEFL Section-wise Score Scale
| Section | Level |
| Reading | Advanced (24–30) |
| Listening | Advanced (22–30) |
| Speaking | Advanced (25–30) |
| Writing | Advanced (24–30) |
(Source: Official ETS TOEFL website)
Good TOEFL Scores for Studying Abroad
As the requirement for the TOEFL score varies for each university, applicants must understand these requirements before appearing for the exam. This will help them in goal setting and better preparation. After understanding the TOEFL scores, applicants can check the minimum TOEFL score requirement of the university they aim to study in.
What is a Good TOEFL Score out of 120 for the USA?
A good TOEFL score to get accepted into most of the universities in the USA is 90+. However, to get accepted into the top universities in USA, the best score for TOEFL is 100+. Even though the applicants meet the minimum required TOEFL score in top universities, depending on the number of applications, the top-scored applicants are mostly prioritized.
Minimum TOEFL Score of Top Universities - USA
QS World Rank 2025 | Name of University/College | Minimum TOEFL IBT Score |
1 | 90 | |
4 | 80 | |
6 | 100 | |
12 | 80 | |
21 | 90-104 |
What is a Good TOEFL Score for UK?
A good TOEFL score to get accepted by most of the universities in UK is 90+, but to get accepted in the Top universities in the UK, the best score for TOEFL is 100+
Minimum TOEFL Score of Top Universities in UK
QS World Rank 2025 | Name of University/College | Minimum TOEFL IBT Score |
2 | 100 | |
3 | University of Oxford | 110 |
5 | 100 | |
9 | 92-109 |
What is a Good TOEFL Score for Canada?
A good TOEFL score to get accepted by most of the universities in Canada is 89, but to get accepted in the Top universities in Canada, the best score for TOEFL is 100.
Minimum TOEFL Score of Top Universities in Canada
QS World Rank 2025 | Name of University/College | Minimum TOEFL IBT Score |
25 | 89 | |
29 | 90 | |
38 | 90 | |
96 | 100 |
What is a Good TOEFL Score for Australia?
A good TOEFL score to get accepted by most of the universities in Australia is 79, but to get accepted in the Top universities in Australia, the best score for TOEFL is 90+.
Minimum TOEFL Score of Top Universities in Australia
QS World Rank 2025 | Name of University/College | Minimum TOEFL IBT Score |
13 | 79 | |
18 | 96 | |
19 | 90 | |
30 | 80 |
TOEFL Best Score - Course wise
In a university, the TOEFL score requirement changes depending on the course the candidate chooses. So students who are thinking about what is a good score on the TOEFL for a particular course, here are a few top universities in the business, medicine, and engineering subjects ranked by QS Subject Wise Ranking 2025. These top colleges' TOEFL cut off scores are mentioned below.
Minimum TOEFL score requirement for Business schools
Business School | TOEFL iBT Minimum Score |
Harvard Business School | 109 |
INSEAD | 105 |
London Business School | 100 |
Stanford University | 100 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 90 |
Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) | 100 |
Minimum TOEFL score requirement for Medicine programs
University | TOEFL iBT Minimum Score |
Harvard T H Chan | 100 |
University of Oxford | 110 |
100 | |
University of Cambridge | 110 |
UCL | 92-109 |
Karolinska Institutet | 90 |
Minimum TOEFL score requirement for top Engineering Universities
University | TOEFL iBT Minimum Score |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 90 |
Stanford University | 89 |
University of Cambridge | 110 |
University of Oxford | 110 |
University of California, Berkeley | 90 |
Imperial College London | 100 |
ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich | 100 |
Harvard University | 80 |
Tsinghua University | 85 |
100 |
Know more about TOEFL:
IELTS to TOEFL Score Conversion Scale
Not all universities provide the TOEFL cut-off or qualifying marks. They ask the applicants to check with the TOEFL score which is equivalent to the given IELTS score. For example, ABC University has stated the minimum IELTS score requirement is 6.5 so to find out the TOEFL score, one can find out the TOEFL score which is equivalent to the IELTS score. For this purpose, the IELTS to TOEFL conversion scale is used where students can compare the scores between the two tests.
IELTS & TOEFL score comparison table
TOEFL iBT Score (0–120) | IELTS Band (0–9) |
118 | 9 |
115 | 8.5 |
110 | 8 |
102 | 7.5 |
94 | 7 |
79 | 6.5 |
60 | 6 |
46 | 5.5 |
35 | 5 |
32 | 4.5 |
0–31 | 0–4 |
*Source - Official ETS TOEFL website
These are the details of the question “What is a good TOEFL score?” In case the applicant does not achieve the required score they can re-attempt the TOEFL test to get admission into their choice of universities. Preparing well with the help of TOEFL preparation tips, strategies, and techniques helps the applicants to perform efficiently in the exam.
Also Read: TOEFL Cut Off 2025
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: Is getting an 80 score in the TOEFL exam easy?
A:
Getting an 80 score on TOEFL requires a good level of proficiency in the English language. This can be achieved by allocating some quality time and hard work for TOEFL test preparation.
Q: Is 92 a bad score on the TOEFL exam?
A:
Having a score between 90 to 100 is a decent score that lands in many universities. However, a TOEFL score between 100 to 110 is recommended to get into the top universities in the world.
Q: Is 100 a good TOEFL score?
A:
Yes, 100 is a very competitive TOEFL score that lands students in most of universities worldwide. To achieve this score the candidate needs to have English proficiency which is comparable to the native English speaker.
Q: Is 110 a good TOEFL score?
A:
Yes, 110 is a very good TOEFL score which helps the candidate to land in most of the top universities in the world. The candidate can begin the planning and preparation at the right time in advance to achieve this targeted score on the first attempt.
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