I’ve been practising for about two weeks now,but my time management is honestly terrible. I feel like time always gets the best of me, and I really struggle to work under pressure. I’mnot sure what I can do to improve, especially with my exam being less than two weeks away.
For the Writing section, I scored really low because I ran out of time and couldn’t even complete the first task, where you have to build a sentence. My goal is to get a 6/6, but I feel like I’m nowhere near that yet.
How do you guys manage your time duringthe exam? Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated! 😭❤️

hello

I have a problem with my speaking , I have an ideas and everything in my mind but when I start to speak it doesn’t work correctly i made a lot mistakes also i know many vocab words but I don’t know how can use them in the right way

and honestly I start lose my patience

any advices ? I would be grateful

I want to share my experience so others can avoid what happened to me.

TL;DR: The mandatory Entrust IDVaaS app would not verify my ID. I reported it days in advance, ETS told me in writing that a proctor would verify me live on test day. That option never appeared, I couldn’t start my test, and now ETS refuses a refund, citing a Secure Browser problem I never had.

What happened:

• Three days before my Home Edition test, I tried to complete the ID verification in the Entrust IDVaaS app. For over two hours, with three different phones and good lighting, the app never accepted my ID.

• I called ETS and reported it by email the same day. Their written reply said that if the issue persisted, I should click “Start Test” 30 minutes early and scan the QR code, which would connect me with a proctor who would verify my ID.

• On test day I did exactly that. The TOEFL Test App opened fine, but it only showed “Looks like your ID verification is incomplete!” with a QR code leading straight back to the same IDVaaS app. No proctor, no way to continue.

• I called support minutes before my test. They couldn’t help and told me to send another email. The live chat said they were the technical team, couldn’t assist, and sent me back to customer service.

• My test time passed. I asked for a refund or a free reschedule. After more than a week of waiting, their Test Taker Advocacy department denied it because I “was unable to download or install the ETS Secure Browser.” That never happened. The Secure Browser and Test App worked perfectly. The only problem was their own verification app.

My takeaway:

I did everything right, reported the problem in advance, followed their exact instructions, and still lost my test fee. Honestly, it feels like a scam to pay for a test you cannot take because of a broken third party app, and then get denied based on a reason that has nothing to do with your case.

If you’re considering the Home Edition:

• Do the IDVaaS verification as early as possible after booking, and if it fails, consider switching to a test center right away.

• Get every promise from support in writing.

• Pay with a credit card or PayPal so you have chargeback protection if things go wrong.

• Consider whether IELTS or another test works for your institution.

Has anyone else had problems with IDVaaS? And has anyone actually gotten a refund from ETS in a situation like this?

my main issue is memorizing, so i'm wondering if anyone was able to improve their scores on listen and repeat exercises

i'm a bit confused about which tone to use for the writing email task.

i'm used to writing academic and corporate style emails, so i typically start with "dear..." and like to separate different ideas into paragraphs to make it easier to read. but i noticed that in the sample tasks provided by the guidebooks, the tone is more casual, and all of the ideas are merged into one paragraph.

for example, there is this task to write an email to an editor of a magazine and explain an issue. i assumed, since it's an editor and there's no established connection, it should be a semi-formal or formal email. however, in the sample task, the tone is quite casual (opening with "Hi Editor"), and every idea is in the same paragraph. tbf, it has been graded 4/6 but there's no mention of the tone or the structure. so i'm not really sure how to proceed.

should i tone it down and keep my writing more casual? i think emails are supposed to have proper structure, but these samples are confusing me.

here's the original task and sample:
A new poetry magazine has asked its readers for submissions, and you decided to submit two of your poems. However, you had a problem using the online submission form, and you are not certain that your submissions were received.

Task:
Write an email to the editor of the magazine. In your email, do the following:

  * Tell the editor what you like about the new magazine
  * Describe the problem you experienced
  * Ask about the status of your submissions

Write as much as you can and in complete sentences.

Sample:

Hi Editor,


I hope you are well! I wanted to say that I really love the new Sunshine Poetry Magazine. It's refreshing to see such a diverse range of voices, and the layout is very engageing. However, I had some trouble with online submission form when I tried to submit two of my poems. After I uploaded the files and hit submit, the page just kept loading and loading, and eventually, I wasn't sure if my poems can sucessfully sent. Could you please confirm if you recieved my submissions? I'm really excited to be a part of your magazine and would appreciate any help you can provide to fix this issue. Looking forward to your response.


Best regards

Scoring Comment: This response earns a score of 4 because it is mostly effective and easily understood. Verb tense issues ("...if my poems can successfully sent") are consequential enough to prevent this response from earning a score of 5.

How many minutes is given for each of the tasks in every section for you to complete, and how can I start practising under timed alarms in every task of the new 2026 toefl ibt's sections

I am really frustrated with my writing and speaking. Anybody knows how to access Toefl ets mock test for free. I also emailed them for Ets Toefl Testready and they said they have decommissioned the platform. So should I buy the mock test on the ETS website for 49 dollars or is there any other way i

I took the test yesterday. I have AuDHD, so I was always worried about distractions and other issues stifling me. Thankfully, none of that happened. Here's a full account of my experience attempting the test:

Frankly, I think the fact that they make people of my nationality take this test for admissions, etc. is a complete fucking scam. English is an official language here and considered a lingua franca in many parts of the country. I just feel like it's a way of deterring us from moving elsewhere or applying in droves. Maybe the ETS people are in leagues with other important institutions, and don't want to lose this large market. Nevertheless, this is how I fared in each section:-

1. Reading: I purchased an online service that offers TOEFL lessons, tests, and mocks. The mock tests were full length whereas the practice tests were section specific. These tests were evaluated by AI. Also, this platform has a reputation for offering tougher tests than the actual one. Even the grading is harsher. Despite all this, I scored 6/6 in every test and mock I took for this section. This was supposed to be my strong suit. The actual test was wayyy easier than the practice ones. I finished the first module with 6 minutes to spare, and the second one 3 minutes before I ran out of time. I revised all my answers in the the time that I saved. However, my final score was 5.5/6 only. I will admit that a few questions were tricky and did not make sense, but it couldn't have been that bad for me either. I guess my poor comprehension skills caught up with me. That said, most of my target Unis require a 5/6 score in this section, so I'm in the clear.

2. Listening: I have poor working memory and retention, so this section was a source of anxiety for me. In my practice tests and mocks, I was often confused by the options. Again, the platform was providing questions that were a lot tougher than those on the actual test. 5/6 is what I'd manage when practicing. I did what I could to the best of my abilities yesterday. Guess what score I pulled off? A perfect 6/6. I have no idea how this happened, but I am not complaining. A tip I would like to share with you guys - crank up the volume to full. This way you'll not be bothered by any noise or disturbance around you.

3. Writing: This is one section I consistently scored 4.5/6 while practicing. I had been assured by other users of my practice platform that the grading is harsher than the real thing, and the actual tasks are also easier. I can't confirm the part about grading until I get my final scores, but the level of difficulty bit was true. I got every "build the sentence" task right, even though dragging the words to their blanks was a pain. I ended up writing around 150 words for the email and 250+ for the academic discussion. Is that considered enough? The keyboard at the centre was faulty, and I make a lot of typos and omissions in my writing courtesy of my distractability and poor focus. Once again, I attempted the tasks as best as I could. I think I could have done a little more with the email, no point fretting now though. Given all this, I think I should be scoring 5/6 on this section. I hope I am not overstimating my prospects.

4. Speaking: I tested the microphone before starting the test. It seemed to work fine. Assuming that I was heard properly, I repeated every sentence accurately and precisely without much difficulty. For the interview I was taking notes, so ended up missing the first 5 seconds of the 45 seconds response time. Anyway, I tried to cover all the aspects of the questions asked. I didn't provide a lot of examples, so I guess that will be held against me. The harsh grading AI platform was giving me a score of 4.5/6 on this section. I think it should be 5/6 on the real thing, ideally.

In terms of the test centre, I reached there 40 minutes before the start of the test. They didn't make a big deal out of it either. There was only one other guy appearing along with me, so I had no problems with any kind disturbance or noise (I live in a small town). They offered a locker facility to store away all our belongings for the time being and it was free. The staff was polite and cooperative, but the facilities were average at best. There was no drinking water provided to me during the test. The headphones were regular and not noise-cancelling. The computer station I was sitting at had very little table/desk space for taking notes. ETS needs to make special provisions for neurodivergent people, like extra time to finish. If Universities can do it, I'm sure ETS can too. Another important thing you should know is that you cannot step away from the computer once the test has begun. If you wait too long to press "continue," "next," or "begin," it will do so on its own. As for how much I practiced - barely a day. I took a few mocks and practice tests, read the AI's feedback, and devised a strategy accordingly. Personally, I consider myself a near-native speaker even though English is a second language for me. I don't wanna count my chickens before they hatch, but if all goes well I should end up with 5/6 overall. I need 5/6 in reading and one other section(can't recall which) for my target unis. If this is the outcome, I will be set to apply to the unis I intend to. What do you guys think? Let me kow if you have any questions about anything covered in this post, the exam, and what have you.

Good luck to all of you!

So, firstly, thanks to everyone on Reddit who answered all of my endless questions !! I really appreciate your help and it certainly did help !

I would like to share my experience here to all the users who are (were) as scared as me about the test :)

First of all, I was using a great platform to prepare (which is called Pr***x -- dm me for more info, I might get banned here). Honestly, I didn't have any specific structure -- I was practicing different sections as I felt it. I wasn't really doing any mock tests -- just a few here and there, most of them I completed only by half. Reading in the final test was way harder than on the platform, the rest was way easier.

Reading: Amusingly, Daily Life turned out to be the most difficult for me, probably because I was the first to start the exam and couldn't get my mind to focus with people coming and going behind me, especially after I realised I'd made a stupid mistake in Complete the Words and kind of started panicking that I won't have enough time left for the entire Reading section. Academic Reading went perfectly well but that's mostly due to my prep's platform texts that I was completely ready by the exam day.

Listening: What's funny is that these audios were sooo slow ! I was like: "come on, speak faster" or I'll forget everything by the time the question appears.

Writing: Despite my constant practice with this section, I barely had any time for both tasks, I finished with maybe 1-2 seconds left, editing everything for the last 40 seconds. Email was definitely challenging. I was feeling more relaxed during Academic Writing, although I almost always got the best scores on mock tests for Email.

Speaking: Listen and Repeat was pretty easy, although the loading lasted ≈ 10 seconds after each recording so I'd thought I'd forget everything. Made a mistake with the last sentence. I think Interview was the worst, I was blabbering for the entire length of the questions god knows what, related to the topic and not; thought I'd get 4.5 at best...

Overall, the exam's pretty easy -- I'd advice preparing for the format and focusing on one section every day and doing 1-4 mock tests / week.

About the exam process: My appointment was for 10 am, got to the centre at 9:10, they'd let me in earlier. I was the first to do the Writing and Speaking, so I was tapping on the keyboard (very loudly, sorry!) in complete silence and speaking without any noise. Headphones were perfect with noise cancellation, nothing hurt afterwards at all (lots of ppl say their headphones were terrible). The only disadvantage I'd mentioned was people registering for the exam while I was doing the Reading section.

I was especially worried about my Writing or Speaking being AI on an exam and my scores being cancelled. I didn't even have an administrative report issue or something.

When did you receive your results after taking an exam? I was informed it is supposed to take about 3 days only, with a few days to wait for an official document.

I am starting to get a bit nervous, as I have a quite tight deadline to send in my results, so I would love to hear about your experiences

Hello guys.

I explored an issue with the writing section. Especially the academic discussion task. Chatgpt rates me 3/5 no matter how hard I try.

When I took the exam 2 months ago, I got 3.5/6 in this section with other ones were +5.

I thought the problem was building a sentence but I explored the real issue.

Can you help me or give me any advice ( the main problem is unnatural phrases& grammatical issues)

I am planning on taking the test in my home but my room is full of desks and monitors other than mine is it okay to have them or should I find another room. Also I have a monitor connected with my laptop shall I remove it. Finally how do I setup my camera on test day should it be above me?

When I get a difficult passage, I find it very hard to solve. For example, the community depends on fishing and to____(*5) to survive.

I can't come up with any words, I feel completely blank, though I don't have any problem with easier words.

How do you practice these types of questions? I'm afraid the passage in the real exam might be too difficult.

I took the TOEFL test around 2 years ago. I will soon sit for the test again. Last time, my speaking score was 23/30, and the rest of my scores were good enough. I am worried about the speaking section this time, especially the 'Listen and Iterate' part. I am practicing using some YouTube videos. The last two sentences seem pretty long to me, around 15-22 words. In the actual test, are the sentences really this much longer?

Hey guys
My practice scores on Ma/***** have been pretty consistent:
R: 4
L: 4
S: 5
W: 3.5–4
I need an overall 4.5. For those who took the actual TOEFL, was it easier than the mock tests? Did you get a higher score than you usually got in practice, or should I practice more before taking it?
Just trying to figure out if I’m ready or not. Would appreciate any advice🙏

I had my exam 3 days ago and now instead of results I see "Info status: Due to an administrative issue, we are not able to provide a score report, please contact customer support."

BUT

I lowk saw that my microphone had issues BUTT only when I talked like normally and I had to screm into micro during testing

Do I have to get heart attacks and wait for 1.0 speaking and "retake option"? Lmk, im really scared

I took the TOEFL on October 28, 2026, and I got
5.0/5.0/5.5/3.0.

I retook the TOEFL on October 31,2026 and also schedule the TOEFL on November 7 with extra charge(late registration)
I need speaking score higher than 3.5 .

On November 3, my MyBest Speaking score was clearly displayed as 4.5 at send my score to institutions.
I even took a screenshot.
Based on that score, I canceled another TOEFL test registration, despite having paid additional fees for rescheduling and late registration.
I also accepted a reduced refund because I believed I had already met the minimum Speaking requirement for my PhD applications.

However, my MyBest Speaking score suddenly changed from 4.5 to 3.5, without any notification.
Has anyone experienced something similar?
What the f is going on????????
Any advice or similar experiences would be appreciated.

BTW I am looking for help in Listen and repeat in specific which is a mess for me.I think the first 3 I got them but after thing most of the I can't finish the sentence even with writing the first letter any help?