Failed TOEFL iBT? Here's Your Recovery Plan

Pro tip: The 3-day rule applies even if you cancelled your scores from the previous attempt, so cancelling does not restart the clock. Cancelling scores also forfeits the fee entirely and reinstating them later costs US$20 with a roughly three-week processing time. If you cancel an appointment at least 4 full days ahead you get 50 percent of the fee back, with a different schedule in Korea. Missing an administration that ETS has not officially cancelled counts as absent with no refund or credit, and failing to present acceptable ID has the same effect.

• Preparing for the pre-2026 test format
  On 21 January 2026 the TOEFL iBT became adaptive, changed its task types, and moved to a 1 to 6 score scale. Material describing two 700-word reading passages with ten questions each, three lectures and two conversations in Listening, four Speaking tasks, and a 20-minute integrated writing task is describing the old test. Check that your material lists Complete the Words, Listen and Repeat, and Take an Interview.
• Registering under a name that does not exactly match your ID
  ETS requires the first and last name and date of birth on your ID to match your registration exactly, excluding accents and apostrophes. Supplemental ID cannot fix a last name discrepancy. If your ID has a multiple-part name, enter every part. If you have a single name, put it in the last name field and tick the box.
• Assuming any government document counts as ID
  ETS names documents that are never acceptable as primary or supplemental ID: international driver's licence, mobile driver's licence, draft classification card, international student ID, credit or debit card of any kind, notary-prepared letter, birth certificate, Social Security card, employee ID card, diplomatic or embassy ID card, and the Aadhaar Card. Electronic IDs on a phone are never accepted.
• Planning around a break that does not exist
  There are no scheduled breaks in the TOEFL iBT test. Test center administrators are required to monitor unscheduled breaks and report excessive or extended ones, and for the Home Edition unscheduled breaks are not allowed at all. Practise the full sequence without pausing.
• Cancelling scores at the end of the test on a bad feeling
  Cancellation applies to all four sections, is not reversible once you choose to report, and gets you no refund. Reinstating cancelled scores costs a US$20 fee, must be requested within 60 days, and takes about three weeks. Because MyBest scores combine your best sections across two years, a mixed result is often still worth keeping.
• Trying to prepare Writing responses on the scratch paper before a section starts
  ETS names this explicitly as a security violation: using the scratch paper or notes of any kind to prepare Writing responses ahead of time, and using scratch paper before the test or between sections. Violations can end the test and cancel your scores.
• Treating Speaking as the section to skip because it is only 8 minutes
  Speaking carries the same 25 percent weight in the overall band as Reading, even though it has 11 items to Reading's 50. Skipping it costs more than skipping items elsewhere, and ETS states that if you do not complete at least one Reading question, one Listening question, one Speaking task, and one Writing task, no section is scored at all.
• Requesting a score review after sending scores to an institution
  ETS does not allow a score review once you have requested that your scores go to any institution or agency. The review window is 30 days from the test date, covers Speaking and Writing only, costs US$80 for one section or US$160 for both, and can move your score down as well as up.
• Leaving screen-sharing software running for the Home Edition
  ETS requires Zoom, Skype, TeamViewer, Microsoft Teams, Apple Remote Desktop and similar tools to be disabled before the test and to stay disabled throughout, including checking that nothing opens automatically. You must also be alone with all doors closed, and the whole session is recorded and monitored.
• Booking a second attempt too soon after the first
  ETS allows unlimited attempts but not more than one in any three-day period, and you cannot hold an appointment within three days of an existing one. This applies even if you cancelled your scores from the earlier test, so cancelling does not reset the clock.

• Integrated tasks require note-taking skills
• Practice typing speed for writing section
• Use ETS official practice tests
• Speaking: structured responses win
• Target 100+ for top US universities
• Focus on academic English vocabulary