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TOEFL Academic Discussion: how a response is checked
What the Academic Discussion task asks for, how it is scored, and what the checker reports back on a response to it.
The figures
- Listed time
- ~10 minutes
- Scoring
- Scored on a 0–5 rubric across the four dimensions below.
- Length
- ETS states: “An effective response will contain at least 100 words.” That is a floor describing an effective response; ETS publishes no maximum.
- Dimensions reported
- Content, Organization, Language, Engagement
How these figures were arrived at
Each dimension is scored 0–5, the scale ETS publishes for the open-response writing tasks. Scoring is automated. The rater reads the prompt and your response, scores each dimension, and states the rationale for each score; a second pass then produces the written analysis. The band shown next to a single response is a Reach120 estimate. ETS has published no method for combining task rubric scores into a section band, so nothing here is a conversion of one into the other.
Sources last checked 2026-08-06.
Other values on this scale
The next step
Scored responses are metered on a free account. A plan removes the meter.
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