Every TOEFL score — each section and the overall — sits between 1.0 and 6.0 in half-band steps. This page explains how that scale is built, why the overall score is an average, and how it lines up with the scale it replaced.
Test Ninjas Research · Updated September 11, 2026
The scale changed on January 21, 2026. Before that the TOEFL reported 0–120 overall and 0–30 per section. A requirement quoting “100 iBT” is using the old scale — convert it with the score converter before comparing.
How the range is built
Each of the four sections is scored on the same 1.0–6.0 scale, and your overall score is their arithmetic mean rounded to the nearest half band. Nothing is weighted; nothing is summed. That is a genuine difference from most admissions tests, where a total is built by addition.
The TOEFL band scale
Value
Range
1.0–6.0
Increment
0.5 of a band
Possible values
11
Overall score
Mean of the four section bands, rounded to nearest half band
Sections using it
4 — Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing
CEFR anchor
Band 5 in a section indicates C1
Why half bands matter
With only 11 possible values, each step covers a good deal of ground — the difference between band 4.5 and band 5.0 spans roughly nine points of the retired 120-point scale. That makes the rounding consequential: an average of 4.74 and an average of 4.76 report as different bands. The score calculator shows exactly where your average falls relative to the nearest boundary.
Bands against the retired scale
The official ETS concordance, in full. Note that each section maps differently — the same old score can sit on different bands depending on which section it came from, because the sections have different score distributions.
Band to retired-scale equivalent
Band
Total
Reading
Listening
Speaking
Writing
6.0
114–120
29–30
28–30
28–30
29–30
5.5
107–113
27–28
26–27
27–27
27–28
5.0
95–106
24–26
22–25
25–26
24–26
4.5
86–94
22–23
20–21
23–24
21–23
4.0
72–85
18–21
17–19
20–22
17–20
3.5
58–71
12–17
13–16
18–19
15–16
3.0
44–57
6–11
9–12
16–17
13–14
2.5
34–43
4–5
6–8
13–15
11–12
2.0
24–33
3–3
4–5
10–12
7–10
1.5
12–23
2–2
2–3
5–9
3–6
1.0
0–11
0–1
0–1
0–4
0–2
There is no failing score
ETS does not publish a pass mark. Every band from 1.0 to 6.0 is reportable, and institutions set their own expectations. For what those look like in practice, see what counts as a good TOEFL score.
Applying to US graduate programmes?
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Every section band and the overall score run from 1.0 to 6.0 in 0.5-point steps — 11 possible values. There is no failing score; each institution sets its own requirement.
6.0, which requires a 6.0 in all four sections since the overall score is their average. On the retired scale that corresponds to roughly 114–120 out of 120.
Because it keeps the overall score on the same scale as the sections. Under the old system a total of 100 and a section score of 25 were numbers of different kinds; now a 5.0 overall and a 5.0 in Reading mean the same thing about proficiency. It also makes the scale directly comparable to CEFR levels.
ETS reports a CEFR level directly on your score report, and states that a band 5 in a section indicates C1 proficiency for that skill. The exam is designed to cover the full CEFR range from A1 to C2.
No. ETS does not set one, and every band is reportable. Universities publish their own minimums, and those vary widely — from around band 3 at open-admission institutions to 5.0 or higher at the most selective.
For 2 years from January 21, 2026, yes — score reports carry a comparable overall score on the retired scale alongside your bands and CEFR level. After that window it goes away.