Checked against the source
What prep sites claim about the 2026 TOEFL, and what ETS actually publishes
Every row below states the claim as it circulates, then what ETS's own page says, with a link to that page and the date we read it. Where ETS publishes nothing on the point, the row says that is what we found rather than inventing a rule — and where Reach120 uses a target of its own, the row labels it as ours. That is the whole method.
Commonly claimed
The 2026 Write an Email task requires 80-150 words.
What ETS publishes
ETS's TOEFL iBT test content page lists the Writing section as 12 items in about 23 minutes across Build a Sentence, Write an Email and Write for an Academic Discussion, and publishes no word-count requirement for any of them. We have found no ETS page that states a required word count for the email task.
Reach120's own, labelled as ours
Reach120 uses an 80-120 word practice target for the email because that length comfortably covers three required points and leaves checking time. It is our pacing guidance, not a rule, and we never mark a response down for passing it.
ETS: TOEFL iBT test content, read August 6, 2026 · verified absence, our reading
Commonly claimed
The Academic Discussion response has a maximum length you must not exceed.
What ETS publishes
The task instruction ETS publishes states that an effective response will contain at least 100 words. That is a floor. No maximum is published.
Reach120's own, labelled as ours
Reach120 practises against a 100-150 word target for pacing inside the ~10 minutes. Ours, again — a longer response is not penalised on our rubric or, so far as ETS publishes, on theirs.
ETS: TOEFL iBT test content (task list and section timing), read August 6, 2026 · verified absence, our reading
Commonly claimed
The TOEFL is scored out of 120.
What ETS publishes
For tests taken on or after January 21, 2026, official score reports use a 1-6 scale in half-band increments. Through the transition ending in January 2028, reports also carry a comparable overall estimate on the previous 0-120 scale, with the 1-6 band as the primary result.
Reach120's own, labelled as ours
Any /30 or /120 figure Reach120 shows is a pre-2026 comparison estimate, labelled as one — never presented as your current official score.
ETS: Understanding your TOEFL iBT scores, read August 6, 2026 · claims ledger E-001, E-002
Commonly claimed
Integrated Writing and the independent essay are still on the test.
What ETS publishes
As of January 21, 2026, the Writing section consists of three task types: Build a Sentence, Write an Email, and Write for an Academic Discussion. The ETS source states the current task list and the effective date; it does not name the pre-2026 tasks or map them onto the new ones.
Reach120's own, labelled as ours
Any sentence connecting a retired task to a specific current task is our reading, not ETS’s. Our bridge pages label it that way.
ETS: TOEFL iBT test content, read August 6, 2026 · claims ledger E-024
Commonly claimed
Build a Sentence decides half your Writing score.
What ETS publishes
The 2026 specification lists the Writing section at 12 items and 20 maximum raw points, with a maximum of 1 point per Build a Sentence item — so the ten of them account for 10 of the 20 listed raw points.
Reach120's own, labelled as ours
That is half of the listed RAW points, not a claim that it determines half of your final band: ETS does not publish a raw-to-band conversion for this section.
ETS: TOEFL iBT 2026 test specifications (PDF), read July 27, 2026 · claims ledger E-004, E-015, E-016
Commonly claimed
Every question on the test counts toward your score.
What ETS publishes
The specification lists Reading at 50 items and 35 raw points, and Listening at 47 items and 35 raw points, and its blueprint note states those item counts include non-scored items. Items are therefore not the same thing as points.
Reach120's own, labelled as ours
The specification also states its blueprint values are subject to minor revisions until the official launch, so treat every number on this row as dated rather than permanent.
ETS: TOEFL iBT 2026 test specifications (PDF), read July 27, 2026 · claims ledger E-009, E-010
Commonly claimed
Everyone sits the same Reading and Listening sections.
What ETS publishes
The specification describes Reading and Listening as two-stage adaptive designs — a router plus a lower or upper module — while Speaking and Writing are linear. Estimated section times are given as a router plus a module for the two adaptive sections.
ETS: TOEFL iBT 2026 test specifications (PDF), read July 27, 2026 · claims ledger E-005, E-014
Commonly claimed
AI scores everything on the new test — or AI scores none of it.
What ETS publishes
Per the specification's item-type notes, Reading and Listening items are machine-scored selected responses, and the email, the academic discussion and all Speaking tasks are AI-scored constructed responses. Build a Sentence is also machine-scored, so machine-scoring is not exclusive to Reading and Listening.
ETS: TOEFL iBT 2026 test specifications (PDF), read July 27, 2026 · claims ledger E-013
Commonly claimed
A mock-test score from an official practice product is the same score the real test would give you.
What ETS publishes
ETS states that its mock-test scores come from a system it calls TOEFL AI Lite, "built for speed and immediate feedback", while the real test is scored by a different system called TOEFL AI Deep that "integrates with advanced security protocols with a human in the loop". ETS also states: "You might see some small differences between your mock test scores and your real test scores, and that’s totally normal."
Reach120's own, labelled as ours
The same caution applies to us, more strongly: a Reach120 band is practice feedback from our own scorer, not a prediction of an official result. How ours works is on our methodology page.
ETS blog: Why TOEFL uses two AIs, read August 6, 2026 · claims ledger E-030
Commonly claimed
TOEFL ITP is just the paper version of the TOEFL you register for.
What ETS publishes
ETS operates TOEFL ITP as a separate assessment, administered by institutions rather than individual test-takers, for placement, progress monitoring, exit testing and skill-building. ETS states: "The TOEFL ITP tests should be used by institutions based on these recommended uses and not as a replacement for the TOEFL iBT test."
ETS: About the TOEFL ITP Assessment Series, read August 6, 2026 · claims ledger E-026
Commonly claimed
There is an official percentile table for the 1-6 bands.
What ETS publishes
We have found no ETS-published percentile table for the 1-6 scale. ETS's score guidance publishes the scale and the transition estimate, not a distribution of test-takers across it.
Reach120's own, labelled as ours
Any percentile Reach120 shows is our estimate derived from the public concordance, with the method stated on the page and the estimate disclosure in its first paragraph. If ETS publishes real percentile data, that page changes the same week.
ETS: Understanding your TOEFL iBT scores, read August 6, 2026 · verified absence, our reading
Where the rest of the evidence is
- What our own practice data shows — the figures we publish about Reach120, and the one we refuse to publish yet.
- TOEFL format news, tracked and dated — the same sourcing rule applied to what changes next.
- The full 2026 format and the 1-6 score scale — the sections these rows keep pointing back at.
- Methodology — how every figure we publish about ourselves is computed.
Frequently asked
Does the 2026 TOEFL email task have a required word count?
No word-count requirement appears on ETS's TOEFL iBT test content page, which lists the Writing section as 12 items in about 23 minutes across the three tasks. The 80-150 word rule that circulates is not an ETS rule. Reach120 practises against 80-120 words as pacing guidance and says so wherever it appears.
Is the TOEFL still scored out of 120?
Not as the primary score. For tests taken on or after January 21, 2026, official reports use a 1-6 scale in half-band increments, and through the transition ending in January 2028 they also carry a comparable overall estimate on the previous 0-120 scale.
How do you decide what goes on this page?
A row is added only when we can point at an ETS page that states the fact, or when we have checked that page and it states nothing at all — in which case the row says that is what we found, in our own voice, rather than putting words in ETS’s mouth. Every row carries its source link and the date we read it.
Can I cite this page?
Yes, and please check the ETS links rather than taking ours as authority: they are the source, this page is a reading of them with a date attached. If a row goes out of date because ETS publishes something new, the row changes here rather than being quietly removed.
Reach120 is an independent practice tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by ETS, and it does not provide official TOEFL® test scores.
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