Master the TOEFL Speaking Section (2026 Update)

The TOEFL speaking section totally changed on January 21, 2026. Read on for a description of the new TOEFL test, tips, strategies and practice questions.

Structure

The old TOEFL speaking section had four questions.  The new TOEFL speaking section will have 11 questions in two sections – listen and repeat and take an interview. The speaking section is now the final part of the TOEFL Test.

Listen and Repeat (questions 1-7)

You will hear seven sentences related to the same campus or daily life situation. After each sentence there is a short pause followed by a beep.  After the beep you must repeat the sentence.  The sentences get longer and more difficult as they go on.  Basically, they have three difficulty levels:

• Sentences 1-2: 9-11 syllables (easy)
• Sentences 3-5: 14-16 syllables (medium)
• Sentences 6-7: 19-23 syllables (hard)

The first two might be four seconds, and the last two might be six seconds or more.

The situations often relate to giving a tour of a location, or going through a procedure at some facility.  Imagine giving a tour of the campus art gallery, or going through safety procedures at the chemistry lab. An image on the screen will illustrate the situation.

There are a few ways to prepare for this question:

• Practice, Practice, Practice.  This is a skill that can be trained.  Do as many practice sets as you can.
• Master the first five sentences.  Every sentence is scored independently, and they all seem to have the same weight.  If you can maximize your score in the first five, you can make up for poor performance in the last two.
• Chunk the sentences into logical segments.  It is easier to remember two logical chunks like “Upstairs, the medium room // has laptops you can borrow” than to remember nine separate words.
• Take your time.  You don’t have to speak immediately after the beep.  Consider using two or three seconds to organize your thoughts (and repeat the sentence in your head) before you speak.

We have a large collection of sample questions available.

Listen and Repeat: Sample Question Set

Here’s a sample where you are giving a tour of a local art gallery.  Listen to each recording ONE time and repeat what is said.  To get a perfect score, you need to repeat each sentence exactly as in the original.

Instructions:

You are learning how to welcome visitors to a local art gallery. Listen to the speaker and repeat what he says.  Repeat only once.

Sentence One:

 

Sentence Two:

 

Sentence Three:

 

Sentence Four:

 

Sentence Five:

 

Sentence Six:

 

Sentence Seven:

 

(More Questions)

Here’s a transcript:

• Welcome to the art gallery.
• A free audio guide is available for all visitors.
• Digital maps can be used for planning your visit.
• If you have questions, just ask a staff member
• When taking photos, please turn off your flash.
• There’s also a quiet area over here for personal reflection.
• Before leaving the gallery, please make sure to return your audio guide at the entrance.

Scoring

• Read the scoring rubric! Here’s what ETS says will earn a perfect score: “the response is fully intelligible and an exact repetition of the prompt.”  A single mistake will reduce your score to a 4. 
• This means your goal is to perfectly repeat what you hear.
• If you know you have made a small mistake, it is okay to self-correct.
• If you totally forget a word, make your best guess and move on.
• If you know that certain sounds in English are hard for you, focus on them specifically as you practice.
• Shadowing exercises can help you develop the skills required in this section.

Take an Interview (Questions 8 to 11)

 

Next, you will participate in a simulated interview.  You’ll see an interviewer (in a creepy three second looping video), who will ask you four questions about a topic connected to everyday life.  You will have 45 seconds to respond to each one and you must answer the questions immediately after they have been asked.  The topics are truly mundane – things like exercise, study habits, reading habits, traveling, etc.  You won’t be surprised by something weird or unexpected.

There is no preparation time.  And there is no “beep” like in the “listen and repeat” task.

You can only hear the questions.  You cannot read them.

It seems like there are three styles of questions.  You could get any combination of them… even the same one four times!

• State your opinion or preference about something.
• Describe some aspect of your life.
• Describe an event or time in your life.

We have a large collection of sample questions available.

Take an Interview: Sample Question Set

Here’s a sample interview, with responses (remember that on the real test you cannot read the questions).  The first question asks you to describe an event in your life, the second one asks you to describe an aspect of your life, and the third and fourth questions ask for your opinion.

Instructions:

You have agreed to take part in a research study about smartphone usage. You will have a short online interview with a researcher. The researcher will ask you some questions.

Question One:

Thank you for speaking with me today. Please think back to the last time you used your phone for something important—such as contacting someone, finding your way, making a payment, or translating. Why did you use it then? What did you like about how it worked for you?

 

Sample Answer, Question One:

A few weeks ago I was traveling in a whole new city, actually it was Paris, and I got completely lost. I just couldn’t figure out how to get back to my hotel room right and I started to get quite nervous. Fortunately I had my cell phone in my pocket and I also had a robust data plan so I just opened the phone and launched a map app. I told it where my hotel was and I instantly got directions to get back there. In fact, it could show me how to get back there on foot and even how to use various public transportation options as well. That made me feel really relieved and all my worries about my safety and all stuff that went away, so I was pretty happy with what the cell phone did for me on that day.

 

Question Two:

Everyone feels differently about phones. Some feel phones make them more connected and efficient, while others feel distracted or overwhelmed. How do you usually react to your phone in daily life? Why do you think you react that way?

 

Sample Answer, Question Two:

I have to admit that my phone often makes me feel distracted and has a negative impact on my well being. I’m probably somewhat addicted to my phone, so I always carry it around with me and I constantly pull it out to check for emails or messages from family members or work colleagues. Even though it makes me feel terrible that I keep checking my email instead of focusing on what’s going on around me in the real world I just can’t find the strength to leave it at home. I certainly need to stop looking at my phone when I’m visiting a beautiful scenic landscape, for instance. This is something I hope to deal with in the future so if we have another interview next year maybe I’ll have something more optimistic to say about my relationship with my phone.

 

Question Three:

Now I’d like your opinion. Some people believe smartphones clearly make life better in the modern world. Do you agree with that idea? Why or why not?

 

Sample Answer, Question Three:

Overall, I’d say that smartphones make life better in the modern world, even though they do cause people to be distracted like I said a moment ago. This is because they increase access to information and of course information is power these days. For instance, a student who wants to perform better at school or university can access a wealth of valuable resources from his cell phone no matter where he is. So even a student who’s studying at an extremely remote school that has a low budget and a tiny library basically has access to the same academic textbooks and journal articles that people who study at a cutting edge university in Massachusetts can use. This is an incredible benefit.

 

Question Four:

One last question. Do you think schools and workplaces should encourage healthier phone habits among students and employees? For instance, should they encourage them to turn off their phones during breaks or in the evening to reduce interruptions? Why or why not?

Tips and Strategies

• Make sure to read the scoring rubrics from ETS to see what they expect. To get a high score your grammar should be close to perfect.
• Maintain a natural speaking pace.  Don’t go too slow or too fast.
• Avoid long pauses.  Speak without major interruptions.
• Use a variety of grammatical forms.  Try including a few basic subordinating and coordinating conjunctions to give your work more complexity.
• Avoid repeating words too many times.  Your vocabulary doesn’t need to be fancy, but it should be wide ranging.
• Basic transitions like “moreover” and “as a result” will give your answer more structure.
• Avoid including long lists of things.  The raters won’t like that.

 Take an Interview Templates 

State an Opinion or Preference

• Personally, I strongly believe that …
• I feel this way because…
• For instance…
• That’s why I feel that…

Describe an Event in Your Life

• I remember a time when…
• It happened…
• It was meaningful because…

Describe an Aspect of Your Life

• Personally, I…
• Moreover…
• That’s how I…

—

The “take an interview” task is the last part of the TOEFL test.  How about that?  When it is finished you should take off your headphones, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.  If you are at a test center, you can even take a moment to listen to everyone else answering the interview questions (they will be different than yours). Don’t rush to leave the test center.  Taking time to calm down will make sure you click the right buttons at the end of the test to properly report your scores.