What separates an exact repetition from a near miss, and when a near miss actually costs you. The practice rubric level by level, one sentence repeated six ways, and 14 annotated sentences with audio.
Test Ninjas Research · Updated October 1, 2026
These are Test Ninjas’ original practice rubrics, not official ETS scoring. They are written to match the published TOEFL task descriptions, and they use a 0–5 practice band so you can judge one response at a time. The real TOEFL reports each section on a 1–6 band scale (see TOEFL score range), and there is no conversion from a practice band to an official score.
Listen and Repeat looks simple: hear a sentence, say it back. The difficulty is that you cannot rely on memory for longer sentences, and small words carry more meaning than they seem to. A dropped article usually leaves the message intact. A dropped negative, a changed preposition or a missing past-tense ending can turn it into a different instruction. The practice rubric therefore judges each difference by its effect, alongside whether a listener could understand you.
Small departures; original meaning remains understandable.
Band 3
Mostly complete sentence; meaning or intelligibility is affected.
Band 2
Substantial missing or inaccurate material leaves a fragmentary message.
Band 1
Very little target reproduced or largely unintelligible attempt.
Band 0
No response, no intelligible English, or wholly unrelated content.
How to score a response with it
Listen to the prompt and response; verify that the saved target belongs to this item.
Mark audible omissions, additions, substitutions, changed endings, and word-order differences.
Explain the effect of a difference in this sentence. Losing a negation can matter more than losing a repeated function word.
Judge how much of the message an unfamiliar listener can understand, not how much an evaluator can reconstruct from knowing the target.
Treat self-correction in its actual context, including whether the speaker finishes intelligibly.
Use recognition output as an aid only; neither exact text matching nor word-error rate supplies the holistic band.
Questions to ask before you choose a band
Which exact word or ending was not audible?
Did that change the instruction or meaning?
Which short phrase would be useful to repeat again?
What this rubric deliberately does not do
Avoid equating a familiar accent with correctness.
Avoid automatically scoring a paraphrase as exact repetition.
Avoid automatic one-band deductions per word.
Avoid grading a silent or damaged upload before checking the recording state.
One sentence, six levels
Here the target sentence is said six different ways. Notice that band 3 is a complete, clear sentence — it scores lower than the band 4 answer, which drops a word, because two extra words reverse its meaning.
About these examples. Original worked illustrations of the six response-level practice bands. These are editorial teaching judgments, not ETS ratings or human-calibrated samples. Spoken scores assume the explicitly described hypothetical delivery. No learner recording exists for these anchors; the text cannot demonstrate pronunciation, fluency, or intelligibility.
Prompt behind every example: Repeat the exact target: The camera faces the marked tabletop.
Practice band 5
The camera faces the marked tabletop.
Assumed delivery: Every word is clearly intelligible; no other words are added.
Why this band: The response reproduces the complete target in its original order.
Boundary note: An accent different from the prompt voice does not prevent this band.
Practice band 4
Camera faces the marked tabletop.
Assumed delivery: All displayed words are easily understood.
Why this band: The initial article is absent, but the camera's orientation and the identified surface are preserved. The small function-word omission does not materially change this message.
Boundary note: This particular omission is minor; do not assume any one-word omission is minor.
Practice band 3
The camera faces away from the marked tabletop.
Assumed delivery: The sentence is intelligible and complete.
Why this band: Most target words remain, but adding 'away from' reverses the direction. The speaker produces a complete sentence without accurately preserving the original meaning.
Boundary note: Clear pronunciation cannot compensate for this substantive meaning change.
Practice band 2
The camera ... tabletop.
Assumed delivery: The fragments are audible, with a stop where the ellipsis appears; the missing words are not spoken.
Why this band: Some target content survives, but the orientation and connecting sentence structure are missing. The result is a fragmentary message rather than a full repetition.
Boundary note: The ellipsis is an annotation of a pause, not a word the learner speaks.
Practice band 1
Camera.
Assumed delivery: Only this single target word is audible as an attempted repetition.
Why this band: Very little of the prompt is reproduced, leaving almost the entire message absent.
Boundary note: An unrelated utterance or complete lack of intelligible English would require the zero descriptor instead.
Practice band 0
No response — a deliberately empty submission.
Assumed delivery: A working recording contains no attempted response.
Why this band: No target material is reproduced.
Boundary note: Verify that the absence is not caused by a recording failure.
14 sentences with scoring notes
Two sets from the Test Ninjas course, each annotated with what to keep and where a near miss would cost you. Within a set the sentences grow — the first set runs from 6 to 21 words. Play a sentence once, pause, repeat it aloud, and only then read the target and the tip.
Audio note: Audio in these samples uses AI-generated voices.
1. Stop-motion table orientation
A media tutor introduces a simple stop-motion animation station.
The camera faces the marked tabletop.6 words. Two groups: “The camera faces” / “the marked tabletop”. The -ed of “marked” runs into the t- of “tabletop”, so learners often say “mark tabletop”; also keep the extra syllable in “faces”. Stress falls on CAMera, FACes, MARKED and TABletop.
The model begins inside the square.6 words. Two groups: “The model begins” / “inside the square”. Learners often drop the -s of “begins” or shorten “inside” to “in”. Stress falls on MODel, beGINS and SQUARE.
Take the first frame without moving it.7 words. Two groups: “Take the first frame” / “without moving it”. The st + fr sounds in “first frame” tempt learners to skip “first”, and the small unstressed “it” at the end is easy to lose, so link it to “moving”. Stress falls on TAKE, FIRST, FRAME and MOVing.
Move the model a small distance before taking another frame.10 words. Three groups: “Move the model” / “a small distance” / “before taking another frame”. The weak “a” before “small” and the -ing of “taking” (not “before take”) are the pieces most often dropped or changed. Stress falls on MOVE, MODel, SMALL, DIStance, TAKing and FRAME.
Keep hands outside the camera view when each frame is captured.11 words. Two groups: “Keep hands outside the camera view” / “when each frame is captured”. There is no “your” before “hands”, though learners often add one, and in the passive “is captured” the weak “is” and the final -d are easily lost. Stress falls on KEEP, HANDS, CAMera, VIEW, EACH, FRAME and CAPtured.
The preview plays the still frames together so you can check whether the movement appears smooth.16 words. Three groups: “The preview plays the still frames together” / “so you can check” / “whether the movement appears smooth”. “Can” is weak and very short here, and learners often swap “whether” for “if” or drop the -s of “plays” and “appears”. Stress falls on PREview, PLAYS, STILL, FRAMES, toGETHer, CHECK, MOVEment and SMOOTH.
Save the short practice sequence before clearing the table, and leave the camera in its marked position for the next group.21 words. Two halves: “Save the short practice sequence before clearing the table” / “and leave the camera in its marked position for the next group”. The small modifiers “short” and “marked” are the words most often dropped, “its” tends to become “the”, and the t of “next” is barely said before “group”. Stress falls on SAVE, SHORT, SEquence, CLEARing, TAble, LEAVE, CAMera, MARKED, poSItion, NEXT and GROUP.
2. Campus password-manager introduction
An IT tutor demonstrates a practice password vault using fictional accounts.
The demonstration vault contains sample accounts.6 words. Two groups: “The demonstration vault” / “contains sample accounts”. The long word “demonstration” tempts learners to say “demo”, and the -nts at the end of “accounts” often loses its -s. Stress falls on demonSTRAtion, VAULT, conTAINS, SAMple and acCOUNTS.
Open the entry marked training website.6 words. Two groups: “Open the entry” / “marked training website”. “Marked” is a shortened “that is marked”, so learners add “that is” or say “mark”; its -ed also blends into the t- of “training”, and there is no “the” before “training website”. Stress falls on Open, ENtry, MARKED, TRAINing and WEBsite.
The hidden field stores a practice password.7 words. Two groups: “The hidden field” / “stores a practice password”. The weak “a” before “practice” is the word most often dropped, and the -s of “stores” can vanish after “field”. Stress falls on HIDden, FIELD, STORES, PRACtice and PASSword.
Use the copy button instead of reading the password aloud.10 words. Two groups: “Use the copy button” / “instead of reading the password aloud”. “Of” is weak and easy to skip (“instead reading”), and “aloud” is often dropped or changed to “loudly”. Stress falls on USE, COPy, inSTEAD, READing, PASSword and aLOUD.
The tutor has set the clipboard to clear after this practice interval.12 words. Three groups: “The tutor has set the clipboard” / “to clear” / “after this practice interval”. The weak “has” is easy to drop, which turns the sentence into “The tutor set”, and “this” often becomes “the”. Stress falls on TUtor, SET, CLIPboard, CLEAR, PRACtice and INterval.
Only add a new sample entry after the tutor confirms the vault is open.14 words. Three groups: “Only add a new sample entry” / “after the tutor confirms” / “the vault is open”. Learners tend to move “Only” (“Add only …”), drop the -s of “confirms”, or shorten “the vault is open” to “the vault's open”. Stress falls on ONly, ADD, NEW, SAMple, ENtry, TUtor, conFIRMS, VAULT and Open.
Never enter your real account details in this vault, because it's shown on the screen.15 words. Two halves: “Never enter your real account details in this vault” / “because it's shown on the screen”. The contraction “it's” is easily dropped (“because shown”), “because” is said fast and weak, and the small adjective “real” is often left out. Stress falls on NEVer, ENter, REAL, acCOUNT, VAULT, SHOWN and SCREEN.
Swapped or missing words are the most common reason a sentence drops below band 5.
Endings: -s, -ed, -ing
They carry tense and number, and they are easy to swallow when two consonants meet.
Small meaning words
not, no, only, before, after, without — losing one can reverse the instruction.
Chunks and pauses
Pausing between meaning groups sounds natural; pausing mid-group breaks intelligibility.
Stress on content words
Stressed nouns and verbs let a listener recognize the sentence even at speed.
For drills on stress, chunking and connected speech, see the TOEFL pronunciation guide. The full Speaking rubric, including the interview task, is on the Speaking rubric page.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. This is Test Ninjas’ original practice rubric, aligned to the published task description. ETS scores the real test and reports Speaking on a 1–6 band scale; our 0–5 practice band for one sentence does not convert to it.
Not in a fixed way. The rubric looks at what each difference does. Leaving out “the” may barely matter; leaving out “not”, or changing “faces” to “faces away from”, changes the meaning and matters a great deal.
A paraphrase is not an exact repetition. It can show that you understood, but this task asks you to reproduce the sentence, so a paraphrase is judged as a departure from the target.
No. Keep your own accent and aim to be clearly understood. What counts is that every word, including small endings like -ed and -s, is audible.
Each practice set moves from short sentences to longer ones, as the task does. Longer sentences reward chunking: hearing the sentence as two or three meaningful groups instead of a string of single words.