Written ByRituparna Nath Content Writer at Study Abroad Exams
TOEFL Writing score ranges from 0-30. The TOEFL writing section includes 2 tasks: Integrated writing task and Independent writing task. The duration of the TOEFL writing section is 50 minutes and you need to write 500-600 words compositely in two writing tasks. You must understand how ETS scores your TOEFL writing points. This will help you understand what you need to write to achieve a TOEFL writing grading between 24-30 points.
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TOEFL Writing Section Description
Before understanding the score calculation process let’s understand the contents of the TOEFL writing criteria. The test-takers have 2 tasks here
- Integrated writing task
- Independent writing task
Following table shows the exam pattern of TOEFL writing tasks:
| Task Type | Integrated Writing Task | Independent Writing Task |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | Write an essay after reading a passage and listening to a recording of a lecture. | Write an essay in response to a prompt. |
| Word Count | 150-225 words | 300 words |
| Time | 20 minutes | 30 minutes |
How is TOEFL Writing Scored?
Both essays are assessed on a scale of 0-5 which is the raw score for TOEFL iBT writing. Each essay will get a raw score between 0-5 and the raw score will be the average of 2 essays. TOEFL writing raw score conversion uses this average score to get the adjusted score or scaled score. This particular score is used to meet the sectional cut-off, as well as to meet the minimum TOEFL requirement of the universities worldwide.
How To Get A High Score in TOEFL Writing?
A good TOEFL score means the score that helps you in getting admission to the college or university you planned to study. From this perspective, a good TOEFL iBT writing score can be 24, 27, or 28. Every university has a different TOEFL writing marking scheme. A few universities in the US require a sectional cut-off and meeting the score in reading, listening, speaking, and writing is mandatory. Some universities worldwide ask for a minimum TOEFL score without mentioning the sectional cut-off (like 90 or 100 or 107 or more).
So, a good TOEFL writing score is the score that helps in meeting the admission requirements but a writing score above 25 is very good in terms of sectional cut-off and for an overall score.
TOEFL Writing Score Conversion
TOEFL writing sections have a specific number of questions and the candidates obtain a raw score based on the number of correct answers given. This is the raw TOEFL score and this raw TOEFL score is converted into the scaled score on a scale of 0-30. The candidates can check the TOEFL IBT writing conversion table for this purpose.
| Writing Raw Score Average | Scaled Score |
|---|---|
| 5.00 | 30 |
| 4.75 | 29 |
| 4.50 | 28 |
| 4.25 | 27 |
| 4.00 | 25 |
| 3.75 | 24 |
| 3.50 | 22 |
| 3.25 | 21 |
| 3.00 | 20 |
| 2.75 | 18 |
| 2.50 | 17 |
| 2.25 | 15 |
| 2.00 | 14 |
| 1.75 | 12 |
| 1.50 | 11 |
| 1.25 | 10 |
| 1.00 | 8 |
| - | 7 |
| - | 5 |
| - | 4 |
| - | 0 |
What is a Good TOEFL Writing Score?
TOEFL iBT Writing scores range from 0 to 30. There are two methods to define a good Writing score. The first is to use percentiles, and the second is to use scoring criteria for the institutions to which the individual is applying. In this part, we will look at both ways.
TOEFL Percentiles Writing Score
Percentiles indicate how well candidates fared on the test. The greater the TOEFL score, the higher the percentile. For example, a candidate who scored in the 40th percentile scored more than 40% of all individuals who took the TOEFL but lower than 60% of all people who took it.
The raw and scaled scores that correlate to some of the most important TOEFL Writing percentile levels are listed below. Remember that each essay is assigned a raw score ranging from 0 to 5, therefore your total raw score for both essays will range from 0 to 10. The raw score of the candidate is then translated to a scaled score ranging from 0 to 30, which is the number you'll see on your score report.
| Percentile Rank | Scaled Writing Score | Raw Writing Score |
|---|---|---|
| 90th | 27 | 9 |
| 75th | 25 | 8 |
| 50th | 22 | 7 |
| 25th | 19 | 6 |
| 10th | 15 | 4.5 |
To establish what a "good" TOEFL Writing score is, candidates must consider percentiles. "Good" might be defined as anything above average or in the 50th percentile. Using that criterion, any scaled Writing score better than 22 is considered good. Candidates may alternatively define good as being in the top quarter of test takers, or at the very least in the 75th percentile. That would need a minimum Writing score of 25.
A 90th percentile Writing score would suggest you outperformed 90% of other test takers on that part. This requires a minimum score of 27.
TOEFL Writing Score: Marking Criteria
The following tables show the marking rubrics of the TOEFL writing evaluation criteria for the integrated writing task and TOEFL independent writing task:
Marking Rubric of TOEFL Integrated Writing Task
Essays on the TOEFL iBT's writing section are graded with distinct rubrics for the independent and integrated writing tasks. Both are graded on a scale of 0 to 5. The marks obtained for TOEFL integrated writing task shows:
| TOEFL Essay Rating | What Does It Mean? |
|---|---|
| 5 | Excellent selection of the most important information from reading passage and recording Accurate presentation with no or very few grammatical errors |
| 4 | Good selection of the information from reading passage and recording Minor accuracy and vagueness or Slight lack of clarity |
| 3 | Well connected to the topic of the passage and recording Unclear and general information The major key point may be missing Incomplete sentences or inaccurate grammar use |
| 2 | The essay uses some relevant information from reading passage and lecture Misinterpretation of the topic or Multiple spelling, and grammar errors |
| 1 | Very little meaningful information or Use of extremely low level of language |
| 0 | No essay or Merely copied from the passage or recording with erred grammar. |
Marking Rubric of TOEFL Independent Writing Task
Marks obtained for TOEFL independent writing task shows:
| Score obtained | What does it mean? |
|---|---|
| 5 | Well-related to the prompt Well-developed with clear examples and details Written in a coherent manner Full of excellent vocabulary and no grammatical errors |
| 4 | Well-related to the prompt with a scope of further development Having sufficient examples Slightly unconnected paragraphs Showing a good use of language and vocabulary Containing a few minor grammatical errors |
| 3 | Addresses the topic to some extent Uses examples and details Contains occasional unconnected sentences Is inconsistent Uses accurate yet limited vocabulary |
| 2 | Not well-connected to the prompt given Less idea of the topic Insufficient examples or inappropriate examples Wrong choice of words Errors in sentence formations Too generalized sentences |
| 1 | Not connected to the prompt Extremely disorganized Irrelevant or questionable details Very few details provided relating to the topic Not organized with multiple grammatical errors No or inaccurate examples Limited vocabulary |
| 0 | Not written or Written without relating to the prompt Wrong use of words or phrases |
TOEFL Writing Evaluation: Percentile Calculation of TOEFL Writing
Here are the TOEFL writing evaluation criteria for percentile rank for the TOEFL writing for Scaled and raw writing scores:
| Percentile Rank | Scaled Writing Score | Raw Writing Score |
|---|---|---|
| 90th | 27 | 9 |
| 75th | 25 | 8 |
| 50th | 22 | 7 |
| 25th | 19 | 6 |
| 10th | 15 | 4.5 |
TOEFL Writing Sample
TOEFL writing topics can be on any academic or general topics or current affairs. To get through this section, you need to go through TOEFL Writing practice papers for furthermore practice. Here are a few for your help:
TOEFL Integrated Writing Sample
Independent Writing TOEFL Sample
*The article might have information for the previous academic years, which will be updated soon subject to the notification issued by the University/College.
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