Lesson 1 of 41 in the Test Ninjas TOEFL course, in the start here module. The TOEFL has four sections and twelve tasks.
The TOEFL has four sections and twelve tasks. This lesson shows you what each screen asks, which clocks are real, what bands mean, and how to use this course.
This orientation lesson is a brief, three teaching cycles with drills, and a debrief. How every course lesson is built.
The first teaching page treats every direction screen as a three-part message. The response verb tells you what kind of answer the screen wants, the limit tells you what you give up by moving on, and a time line, when one appears, tells you how long you have. If no time is printed, the clock on the screen is the one that counts.
The lesson works through a sample direction phrase by phrase, showing that may return is permission rather than an order, and that until you leave this part marks the moment the permission ends. The sample wording is written for practice; on test day, the screen’s own wording is what you follow.
A full table places all twelve task types in test order, Reading, then Listening, Writing and Speaking, with the action each one asks for: typing missing letters, choosing an answer, dragging tiles into blanks, typing an email or a post, saying a sentence back, or answering aloud. The key idea is that the section decides the kind of response. Listen and Repeat sits in Speaking, so despite its name you speak rather than choose.
A second pair of tables sorts the verbs (choose, type, drag, repeat, answer, write) and the limit words. Learners practice telling once + a clause, a point of no return, apart from once at the end of a clause, which simply means one time. Small nouns matter too: type the missing letters means only the letters, never the whole word.
The second cycle separates timings set by the test from settings chosen for practice. Only three are treated as fixed: 7 minutes for Write an Email, 10 minutes for the Academic Discussion (both including reading time), and no preparation time in Speaking. Section clocks in our full practice tests and pace targets inside lessons are practice settings, and on test day you follow the clock on the screen.
Worked examples then show band arithmetic step by step: add the four section bands, divide by four, and round to the nearest half band, with an exact halfway average rounding up. Another example checks a program requirement section by section, because a minimum of 4.5 and at least 5 both include the number itself. The cycle is equally clear that a practice percentage such as 27 of 34 correct is accuracy on one set and never converts into a band.
The last cycle explains that help comes first and is removed at the Check. Hint 1 names the move, hint 2 says where to look, and neither gives the answer. The probe is meant to be tried before any teaching, and a Check is a single attempt that keeps your answers if you leave and come back. Common slips, such as using the Check to learn the task or skipping the probe, are shown alongside the better habit.
How the TOEFL works now is part of the full TOEFL course
Unlock all 41 lessons with the TOEFL plan, or try one of the free lessons first.
TOEFL plan from $29/month. See plans
For the structure of the test itself, see the TOEFL format guide.