Scores Not Available

Students often ask what it means when their TOEFL account says something like:

“Scores not available”

Or:

“Tested – Scores Not Available”

This  is totally normal.  Everyone gets something like this while waiting for scores.  If your status says “scores not available,” just keep waiting.  According to ETS, it takes 4-8 calendar  for the scores to arrive.

If your scores take longer than that, you could contact customer support.

Scores “Pending”

Sometimes your TOEFL account says that scores are “pending.”  This is also totally normal.  It happens about one or two days after the test is complete.  You should keep waiting for the scores to arrive.  It is not a sign of trouble.

Status:  “Scheduled” and “Checked in”

Sometimes students are confused, because after the test the status says:

“Scheduled”

or

“Checked In”

Those are also normal.   Don’t worry about them.  Sometimes you will be “checked in” for months after the test.  Just wait 4-8 days for your score.  If it takes longer than that, you can call ETS.

Scores “On Hold”

Sometimes your status says something like:

“On Hold”

Or:

“Tested – Scores On Hold”

This status is not good.  It means your TOEFL scores are in “administrative review” and you will have to wait longer than normal.  According to ETS, you will have to wait 2 to 4 weeks after they send you an email about the hold. 

This usually happens during the TOEFL Home Edition if there was some technical problem, or if the proctoring system detected something abnormal.  Sometimes students think everything was totally fine… but the scores still get put on hold.  I’ve got an entire blog post about this issue.  Basically, though, you can call the office of testing security at ETS if you want more information.

If you guys see any other statuses please let me know and I will add them to the list.

An updated edition of the TOEFL iBT Information Bulletin has finally been published! This collection of policies – which all test takers are required to read and agree to before taking the test – has been reduced from 45 pages of small text to 19 pages of small text. That’s a step in the right direction.

Also:  it is periwinkle. 

I’m scheduled to take the TOEFL iBT next week.  Big thanks to my friends at ETS for providing a voucher.  The test hasn’t changed since July of last year, and my test will be proctored by Meazure Learning/ProctorU, so I probably won’t have much to report post test. But do let me know if there is anything I should keep an eye out for.

A few things about the new registration process are worth noting, though.  They are:

1. Overall, registration is now quick and painless and periwinkle.
2. Test takers should be advised that the opt-in box for a free paper score report is no longer part of the registration process.  It must be accessed via the “test appointment details” link in the user account following the scheduling process.  By default, the box is not selected.
3. Express delivery by courier of paper score reports (for a fee) is no longer offered.  But the TOEFL blog on Naver suggests that it will be available again in the future.

Some may wonder why anyone would want a paper score report.  Most tests no longer even provide this service. However, for some reason there remains a significant demand for official paper TOEFL (and IELTS) score reports. Indeed, one of the most frequent questions on social media I see is “where the heck is my printed score report?!”

The suspension of express shipping is worth taking note of.  Many test takers don’t realize that the free option mostly uses bog standard snail mail services from New Jersey (or a regional hub like Seoul)…  which means that in many cases paper reports never reach their destination.  Consider the many locales where regular home mail delivery is either unreliable or not present.

If asked, I would recommend eliminating the free option entirely and using the cost savings to make express delivery a bit more affordable (and to provide it at the same price both before and after completion of the test).

I would also recommend a redoubling of efforts to wean score users off of the use of printed reports.

I returned from vacation to find – what else – a few more complaints about the TOEFL Test.  I’ve attached some screenshots.  I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but I think this is worth paying attention to.

These reports, though shared on different platforms, seem to be about the same case.  You can see that the test was canceled due to what’s called a “jagged score profile.”  This means that the test taker performed quite well in one or more sections of the test, and quite poorly in some other sections of the test.  They also completed at least one section of the test faster than some other section(s).

In cases like this, the result is deemed “invalid” and the test result is canceled.  No refund is offered.  No opportunity to take the test again for free is offered.  There is no appeal.

Keep in mind that no evidence of cheating or malpractice on the part of the test taker is mentioned.  All that is mentioned is validity.

One of the screenshots notes:

“You don’t even have to be a linguist to see why this is utter nonsense. L2 learners *can* have wildly different levels of skills across areas, not to mention other factors like neurodivergence. This is at best discriminatory, and at worst a scam.”

TOEFL test takers have been complaining about this for some years.  I’ve highlighted it in this space many times.

Obviously, if a test score is invalid, it must be canceled.  It must not be sent to recipients.  My objection is to the idea that the test taker is forced to pay a second test fee in order to prove their ability.  Again, keep in mind that in these cases no concerns about impropriety are expressed.  The expressed concerns are merely in regards to validity.

In 2022 and earlier when a test score was canceled due to validity concerns, the test taker was given three options: a refund, a free re-test or an appeal.  In the case of an appeal, they could provide documentation explaining why their score profile was “jagged.”  A panel convened by ETS would review the evidence.  I sometimes assisted test takers in the preparation of this document.  One time I even helped a test taker win the appeal.

This was how ETS handled such cases for decades. Even as far back as the case depicted in the Academy Award nominated film “Stand and Deliver.”

In late 2022, all three options were eliminated.  No one has ever explained why that happened.  I suspect no one remaining at ETS today has any idea. It sounds like “the curse of the MBA” to me, but I could be wrong.

ETS is spending a large amount of money on marketing and rebranding.  I think those efforts will be unlikely to bear fruit due to the frequency with which concerns like these are shared on social media.

Stuff like this is part of the reason why Duolingo and Pearson have been able to grow so rapidly in recent years.  As I noted in a private conversation a few days ago:  Duolingo is loved.  PTE is liked.  IELTS is tolerated.  TOEFL? Well, that’s another matter.

Someone should update the TOEFL India site. It still states that the Aadhar card is acceptable ID when taking the TOEFL, even though ETS rescinded that policy about 13 months ago.

I still hear of people getting turned away at tests center because they lack acceptable ID. I suppose this oversight is one reason for that. The site also links to an out-of-date copy of the TOEFL Bulletin which repeats the incorrect advice.

For the record:  the Aadhar card is not acceptable ID for the TOEFL or the GRE.

Someone recently posted a complaint on Reddit.

You can click the image below to read it (and the boilerplate message from ETS) but basically their TOEFL scores were canceled because unauthorized software was detected during the test administration. The test taker is frustrated because the security specialist (proctor) failed to detect or shut down the software during the pre-test check. Their scores were canceled, and no refund was offered.  I’ve written about this many times here on the blog.

In my estimation, this is one of the biggest pain points test takers have experienced since the advent of at-home English testing in 2020. It has also been challenging for test makers because, as you know, bad stories spread very quickly over social media.

A variant of this pain point that was prevalent for the first three years of the at-home TOEFL was what some people dubbed the “insta-cancellation.” In such cases the proctor carried out all of the required pre-test checks. This included remotely accessing the test-taker’s system and manually shutting down unauthorized software. The proctor would then begin the test… which would immediately be terminated due to the detection of unauthorized software. No refund.

Fortunately, the insta-cancellation was entirely eliminated due to changes to the proctoring process introduced at the end of July 2023.

But by that time, reports of this (and similar) problems had already spread quite widely on social media. One could find them quite easily on the typical social media sites… but also on less traditional places like Trustpilot. Heck, once overseas test-takers learned about the BBB, they piled in there to make complaints as well. A bunch of people even left negative reviews on the Google Maps listing for the ETS headquarters in New Jersey. I believe that all of this had a very deleterious impact on the reputation of the at-home TOEFL.

It’s no great surprise that Duolingo’s marketing materials specifically mention their much more generous approach to unauthorized software. I would say that is evidence of some big brains in Pittsburgh, but even I could have figured it out. And, folks, I went to a test-optional university.

I don’t mention this to rag on ETS or to advocate for test takers. I mention it because there are still a lot of people scratching their heads and wondering why the market shifted so quickly, and why both students and institutions were so quick to embrace alternative English tests.  This is one of the reasons.

Someone contacted me once again to report that their TOEFL scores were cancelled (no refund) because they increased too much over the span of seven months.  This is what ETS refers to as “an extremely unusual difference between” two test dates.  Or perhaps “Inconsistent performance in your responses between” two test dates.

I wrote a very funny and sarcastic post about this (I even made a silly meme) but deleted it because I love all my friends at ETS very much and I don’t want to be insulting. But listen:

1. One one hand, the marketing folks at ETS mention potential score increases all over social media to sell test registrations to repeaters.
2. On the other hand, the product development folks have created all these wonderful new test prep products which are supposed to help people get higher scores. They enable students target the exact microfeatures that are costing them points on test day.
3. On the third hand, the OTI folks still cancel scores if they change too much.

Do you see why my hair is falling out?  I don’t think the firm should give students the tools to achieve large improvements in their scores, but also penalize students for achieving large improvements.

Leave a comment below if you have gone through something similar.

Last year I wrote about a change in the TOEFL Bulletin regarding the cancellation of scores due to invalidity. As I explained, prior to November 2022, the Bulletin explained that in cases of TOEFL scores being cancelled due to questionable validity,

“ETS notifies the test taker in writing about its concerns, gives the test taker an opportunity to submit information that addresses those concerns, considers any such information submitted, and offers the test taker a choice of options. The options may include voluntary score cancelation, a free re-test, a voucher for a future test, or arbitration in accordance with the ETS standard Arbitration Agreement.”

The above didn’t seem to apply to cases of suspected CHEATING, as in those cases scores were simply canceled outright with no opportunity to file an appeal or submit information. It seemed to apply only in cases where scores were “invalid.” More on what that can mean in a moment.

The appeal process was decent. Test takers could request a summary of the statistical evidence of invalidity. and if they chose to please their case, ETS convened a panel of three esteemed staffers to review it. Kind of like the “Stand and Deliver” situation many decades ago. Anyway, several test takers reached out to me for help. And hey…. one time a test taker who reached out even got the decision overturned.

If the appeal was denied the test taker would get a voucher to take the test again at no additional cost. Actually, they could just skip the appeal and take the voucher ASAP.

In November of 2022, the policy changed. The beginning of the above passage was modified to read,

“Score cancellation decisions are not subject to appeal to ETS. For test takers within the United States, before canceling scores based on substantial evidence of invalidity, ETS notifies the test taker in writing about…”

You can see the difference. Since then, test takers outside the US have seemingly been unable to appeal the decision to cancel scores for validity reasons. Also, there seems to be no voucher or refund offered.

I mention this now because I spotted a couple of complaints about it this afternoon – one from a TOEFL test taker and one from a GRE test taker. They are both pretty annoyed. I’ve attached the email sent by ETS to the TOEFL test taker.

As you can see, his score was canceled due to two issues. First, an inconsistency in his performance on either the reading or listening section vs his performance on the speaking section. That is… he scored very well on one section and very poorly on another. Second, “inconsistent testing times” were flagged. According to previous summaries, this means (in the words of ETS) “test takers who receive a high section score but complete the section in a short amount time [sic].”

I mention this because it is the first time I’ve encountered it since the changes to the TOEFL and GRE. And, of course, it is worth knowing about the policies and procedures of standardized testing.

Today, ETS raised the cost of sending additional TOEFL score reports to institutions. As always, test-takers may send score reports to four institutions for free (as long as they are selected before test day). Beyond that, test-takers must now pay $25 per score report. That is an increase of $5.

In comparison, Duolingo and PTE-Academic test-takers can send unlimited score reports, all free of charge.

The cost of sending GRE score reports was also increased by $5, I believe.

There was some weirdness coming out of ETS earlier this month. ETS Japan (a subsidiary of ETS) put out an “alert” about the TOEFL Home Edition on Twitter and its website.  I mentioned that on LinkedIn and how I found it puzzling.  The alert was quickly removed. 

If you are curious, here is what puzzled me about the alert:

1. It recommended system requirements quite higher than those on the ETS website and suggested that interruptions could occur if they are not met.
2. It recommended things for test-takers to avoid during the test that are not mentioned on the ETS website (though some are buried in the TOEFL Bulletin).
3. It mentioned that since 2022 testing has become more stringent due to cheating in some countries, and therefore some test-takers may not even realize they have broken a rule.
4. It recommended that people taking the TOEFL iBT for the first time opt to take it at a test center.

Now, that’s all very good stuff. Indeed, it is similar  to what I tell test-takers who ask for my opinion.  That said, the last part isn’t the most ringing endorsement of the product.  Nor is the third part, I suppose.

There was also stuff in there about test-takers only getting help from ETS Japan if unable to resolve a problem via the US office of ETS. One senses that the announcement came as a result of a certain number of complaints from local test-takers.  Perhaps it came from a feeling of frustration.

I’ve written many times about how at-home test takers have been experiencing high levels of frustration.  I’ve also expressed my feeling that testing companies are not doing all they can do (and should do) for their customers.  If you are new to a testing company and have been tasked with figuring out why your test’s market share is way below 2019… well… this is a big part of it. This isn’t a dig at ETS, as I think it is a problem with all testing companies, to some extent.

But we are on the topic of ETS, for the moment.  One of the traditional criticisms of that organization (see: David Lewis, “None of the Above”) is that entrenched as they are on 400 acres of bucolic New Jersey countryside, they don’t always have a clear picture of how test-takers in the outside world are experiencing their products. And sometimes I get the impression that there is insufficient communication between various departments and offices of the organization (hence a quickly deleted “alert” about their most popular test).

Anyway. The point of all this is to suggest that perhaps some of the people in the TOEFL program who don’t usually deal with complaints from test-takers could call up the folks in Japan and ask what prompted the alert to be posted.  And, moreover, discuss what the head office can do better moving forward.

I saw that ETS will present at this week’s AHEAD Conference on Equity and Excellence (AHEAD = Association on Higher Education and Disability). One of their presentations is titled “ETS Updates and Tips for Assisting Test Takers with Accommodation Requests.”

Regular readers of this space will know that about seven months ago ETS entered into an ADA Settlement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office “to resolve allegations of discrimination in violate of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

Said the U.S. Attorney’s Office at that time:

“The settlement resolves allegations that Educational Testing Service (ETS), a New Jersey non-profit organization that administers standardized tests, engaged in discrimination in violation of the ADA by creating unlawful hurdles to individuals with disabilities who sought testing accommodations. Among other things, the United States alleged that ETS unlawfully denied requests for testing accommodations or failed to timely consider requests for testing accommodations, effectively denying those requests.”

And:

“This agreement compels ETS to make systemic reforms and ends an unfair process for considering requests for testing accommodations. Through this settlement, thousands of Americans with disabilities will be given a fair shot in seeking admission to higher education.”

You can read the allegations in the settlement agreement. The alleged violations affected test-takers with learning disabilities, anxiety disorders and visual impairments attempting to write the GRE and Praxis exams.

Per the settlement agreement, within the first six months of this year, relevant members of ETS’s management team must attend ADA training courses that will teach them to better understand their obligations to test-takers. A record of attendance must be provided to the United States.

Every six months for the next three years ETS must provide written updates describing its progress in meeting the requirements established in the settlement agreement.

ETS must pay financial compensation to the plaintiffs named in the settlement.

ETS denies that it violated the ADA.

You may think that this is just ol’ Goodine taking another enthusiastic swipe at the ETS. But I write this no enthusiasm. I feel nothing, but I realize that if I don’t note this no one will, so there ya go.

I love all of my friends at ETS and am enthusiastic about their mission and values. Professionals within the organization probably can provide a lot of good advice about eliminating barriers to higher education affecting learners with disabilities (especially in light of the above). But context matters, I think.