Is the new TOEFL easier?

ETS announced the changes in May 2025 and introduced them on January 21, 2026. These are the ones that shape how the test feels:

• It’s shorter. ETS puts the testing time at 1 hour 23 minutes to 1 hour 29 minutes, with no scheduled breaks. Our guide to how long the TOEFL takes times every section.
• Reading and Listening adapt to you. Each starts with a first module everyone takes, and how you do there decides which second module you get.
• There are new task types. Reading adds Complete the Words and Read in Daily Life, Writing adds Build a Sentence and Write an Email, and Speaking is now Listen and Repeat and Take an Interview. The 2026 format overview explains all twelve tasks.
• Everyday English sits alongside academic English. You read notices, emails and messages as well as academic passages, and you hear campus conversations and announcements as well as talks.
• Scores use a new scale. You get a band from 1 to 6 for each section and overall, aligned with the CEFR levels many schools already use.
• Scores arrive faster. Official scores are posted about 3 days after your test.

No. ETS linked the new bands to the old scale, so each band stands for a range of old scores rather than a new, lower bar. A band 5, for example, matches an old total of 95 to 106. For a two-year transition, from January 2026 to January 2028, your score report also shows a comparable 0–120 total next to your bands.

ETS’s own words on the redesign are that it comes “without compromising the academic integrity and reliability” of the test. So if a school asked for 100 on the old scale, think of it as a band 5, and check what the school now states for the new one. Our score calculator converts between the scales.

These are our own observations, not ETS’s, but they’re the reasons many students find the new test less tiring:

• It’s over sooner. About an hour and a half of testing is easier to stay sharp for, even without a break.
• Tasks are short. You move between many small items rather than spending a long stretch on one, so a single hard question costs you less.
• Everyday texts are familiar. If you use English for daily life, notices, emails and quick replies may feel natural.
• The second module meets you at your level. Because the test adapts, you spend less time on questions far too hard or far too easy for you.

• The task types are new to everyone. Most prep material online was written for the old test, so it’s easy to practice the wrong things. Check that whatever you study names the 2026 tasks.
• Accuracy matters in small things. In Complete the Words a word counts only if every letter is right, and in Listen and Repeat ETS’s scoring guide looks for an exact repetition, small words and endings included.
• You hear everything once. Recordings play one time, the words aren’t shown, and you can’t go back to the first module once you’re in the second.
• Doing well brings harder questions. If your first module goes well, your second module is the harder one. That’s the design working, not a sign you’re failing.
• There’s less time to settle in. With short tasks and no breaks, a slow start is harder to make up for, so practice full-length sittings.

The bigger question for many students isn’t difficulty but acceptance. Schools and agencies update their English requirements at their own pace, and some may still be deciding how they treat scores from the 2026 test.

For every school or program on your list, check its current admissions page, or ask its admissions office, whether it accepts the 2026 TOEFL iBT and which band it asks for.

No article can tell you how the new test will feel for you, but one timed sitting can. Take a full practice test in the 2026 format, then look at which sections felt comfortable and which didn’t. Our 4-week study plan shows what to do with the result.