How long is the 2026 TOEFL iBT?

How many minutes is each section?

The base times for the four sections are about 30 minutes for Reading, about 29 minutes for Listening, about 23 minutes for Writing and about 8 minutes for Speaking. These values come from the table on the ETS "TOEFL iBT Test Content" page (checked 2026-10-30), and "base time" here stands for that table's "Approx. Base Time" (labeled "estimated time required (approx.)" on the Korean-language page).

Source: ETS "TOEFL iBT Test Content" (checked 2026-10-30). Below the same table, ETS notes that because the test is adaptive, test time and the number of questions can vary. Adaptive means the difficulty of the second module depends on your answers in the first module. ETS "TOEFL iBT Test: 2026 Update Test Blueprint and Specifications Document" (no publication date, checked 2026-10-30; "the Specifications Document" below) describes Reading and Listening as two-stage adaptive, and Writing and Speaking as linear (everyone taking the same test form gets the same tasks). Page 4 of ETS "Updated TOEFL iBT Test Overview" (no publication date, cover © 2026, checked 2026-10-30; "the Test Overview" below) states that the sections are taken in the order Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking. What you do in each task is covered in the Unlock Prep (unlockprep.com) guides "How do I prepare for the three new TOEFL Writing tasks?" and "How do I prepare for TOEFL Speaking: Listen and Repeat and Take an Interview?".

Where does the "done in 90 minutes" reading go wrong?

The easy place to misread is the sum of the four section base times. Adding 30, 29, 23 and 8 minutes gives 90 minutes, but 90 minutes is not when the test ends; it is the sum of the base times without directions. Below are examples we wrote for illustration.

Example 1

• Misreading: "The four sections add up to 90 minutes, so I will schedule my next plan an hour and a half after the test."
• Correct reading: "I will plan about 2 hours for the test on test day."
• Why: ETS "TOEFL iBT Test Content" says test time does not include directions, and that because the test is adaptive, the time and number of questions can vary (checked 2026-10-30).

Example 2

• Misreading: "There will be a break between sections, so I will drink water then."
• Correct reading: "There is no scheduled break, so I will finish getting ready before the test starts."
• Why: The FAQ on the same page says there is no scheduled break during the test (checked 2026-10-30).

Which tasks cost you points if you split your time badly?

ETS says that if you skip an entire section, none of the sections is scored. The FAQ on ETS "TOEFL iBT Test Content" (checked 2026-10-30) states that the test is not scored unless you complete at least one question each in Reading and Listening and at least one task each in Speaking and Writing.

The Writing and Speaking tasks other than Build a Sentence each have a set time. The table below shows the times given in the Test Overview (checked 2026-10-30) and the maximum score per item in the Specifications Document. Scores are raw scores (the sum of item scores, not the 1 to 6 bands), and page numbers follow the PDF page order.

Writing has 20 raw points (the Specifications Document; ETS "TOEFL iBT Technical Manual", ETS Research Report RR-25-12, October 2025, checked 2026-10-30, "the Technical Manual" below, page 30, Table 2), and 10 of them sit in the two writing tasks of 7 and 10 minutes. Taking the 17 minutes for those two tasks out of the 23-minute Writing base time leaves 6 minutes. Because the Test Overview does not give Build a Sentence a separate time, we do not read these 6 minutes as Build a Sentence time. The ETS Writing page (checked 2026-10-30) says scoring focuses on how clearly and effectively you get your ideas across rather than on a flawless first draft.

When we practice, we first produce a complete draft of Write an Email within 7 minutes and of Write for an Academic Discussion within 10 minutes, and leave polishing sentences for whatever time remains. For Take an Interview, too, we first practice wrapping up an answer within 45 seconds. This view is a practice plan fitted to the ETS times above, not a method ETS has recommended.

What differs between sources, and what is still unknown?

Even ETS documents give different numbers for the total time. "TOEFL iBT Test Content" and the Test Overview list an approximate base time for each section, while the Specifications Document lists an estimated time for each module and a minimum and maximum test time.

Sources: ETS "TOEFL iBT Test Content", the Test Overview and the Specifications Document (all three with no publication date, checked 2026-10-30). Lower and upper stand for the Specifications Document's Lower Module and Upper Module, and the Specifications Document says to count the total time as the first module plus one of the two branches. The Specifications Document still carries a line saying minor changes may be made before the full launch. So we plan the test day around the roughly 2 hours given in Test Content, and we see the Test Overview's "within 2 hours" as consistent with that plan. We did not compare industry articles; this article uses only numbers from ETS documents.

ETS has explained how raw scores are converted to the 1 to 6 bands. Pages 34 to 35 of the Technical Manual say that Reading and Listening raw scores are converted to scale scores by equating for each test form (a statistical procedure that adjusts for difficulty differences between test forms), and that the combined Writing and Speaking raw scores are converted by weighted equipercentile linking. Page 34 adds that reported scores are not the same as the number or percentage of correct answers. The numbers in the conversion table used for each test form do not appear even in the Technical Manual.

There are four things we did not find in the ETS documents we read, up to and including the Technical Manual.

• Whether Build a Sentence has its own set time
• Whether time you leave unused when you move on from a task carries over to the next task
• How many minutes the directions take
• How long test center check-in or the Home Edition connection check takes

What should you check before the test?

Before the test, check these three things.

• Right before your test, reread the table and the sentences below it on ETS "TOEFL iBT Test Content", along with the task times in the Test Overview. The numbers in this article are based on the table as read on 2026-10-30.
• To get a feel for on-screen timing, use the practice tests in TOEFL TestReady, which the ETS Test Preparation page introduces. The cover of the ETS Practice Test 1 PDF says its directions and questions were changed to fit a paper format, so we do not use it to time on-screen work.
• Check-in and connection check times are not in the documents above, so check the ETS information when you book.

The full preparation sequence is in the Unlock Prep guide "How to prepare for the 2026 TOEFL iBT".