TOEFL Primary Test Content

Different tests for different levels

Depending on school curricula and other factors, young students acquire their English abilities at different times and in different ways. The TOEFL Primary^® program offers four tests to measure a range of skills.

• TOEFL Primary Reading and Listening Test — Step 1
• TOEFL Primary Reading and Listening Test — Step 2
• TOEFL Primary Speaking Test
• TOEFL Primary Writing Test

The TOEFL Primary Reading and Listening tests offer institutional testing so that schools can administer the tests to their own students. They assess students’ knowledge, skills and abilities to fulfill core communication goals in English and are offered at two levels of proficiency — Step 1 and Step 2. Questions are presented in a multiple-choice format and are paper or digitally delivered.

TOEFL Primary Reading and Listening Test — Step 1

Intended for students in the earlier stages of English learning, the test covers:

• familiar contexts
• basic formulaic expressions
• basic vocabulary and phrases
• simple requests and directions
• basic text relevant to everyday experiences

Designed for students who have acquired some communicative English skills, it covers:

• basic expressions
• phrases and directions
• simple short stories and conversations
• unfamiliar words presented with context clues
• simple content-based texts

The TOEFL Primary Speaking test is given during fixed administration periods and is designed for students at many different levels of English ability — from beginners through more proficient speakers. It is digitally delivered and covers:

• giving simple descriptions
• expressing basic emotions, feelings and opinions
• making simple requests
• asking questions
• giving directions
• explaining and sequencing simple events

The TOEFL Primary Speaking test has eight questions and test takers have 20 minutes to complete it.

TOEFL Primary Writing is a digitally delivered test that measures a student’s ability to communicate in writing about familiar topics related to their daily lives, across a wide range of English writing ability, from writing words to writing a cohesive paragraph.

There are four types of tasks on the TOEFL Primary Writing test:

• Write a Word
• Build a Sentence
• Edit a Text
• Write a Story

The TOEFL Primary Writing test has 19 questions and takes about 30 minutes, including time for directions and practice questions.