How Important Is The TOEFL Score?

On this Page:

What is TOEFL?
About The Exam
How is Each Section Marked?
What’s a Good Enough TOEFL Score?
TOEFL Scholarships

On this Page:

The TOEFL Score is pretty important for an MS in the US. And this article discusses the various sections of the TOEFL score and how you can maximise each section in order to land a good score overall.

TOEFL MS

Jainesh Sinha

Jainesh is a co-founder at GyanDhan. Before starting GyanDhan, he spent 5 years at Capital One, a top 10 US bank, in a credit strategy role. He graduated from IIT Delhi and is also an alum of Super...

Updated on: 09 Jun 2025 | Reviewed By: Aman

Aman Jain graduated from IIT Kanpur, and currently functions as the CMO at GyanDhan. He is deeply passionate about creating equality in higher education and has directly interacted with 2 Lakh...

| 14.9K | 6 min read

It’ll be wrong to say that we’re not aware of “To be or not to be,” “Et Tu, Brute?” and many other such iconic one-liners in the English language. Given English’s pervasiveness (such as the fact that this article is in English!), it’s not surprising that most colleges abroad hold a certain partiality towards English proficiency, so much so that there are two internationally accepted exams exclusively to assess your English.

So, before you start browsing for foreign education loans, it’s more prudent to acquaint yourself with your high school grammar books.

What is TOEFL?

Test of English as a Foreign Language is basically an English exam that tests your basic knowledge of spoken and written English. It is accepted by more than 9000 institutions all over the world.

About The Exam

Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing are the 4 skills that’ll be tested through this exam.

Reading Section - You’re required to read an academic text and answer questions with reference to it.
Listening Section - Listen to lectures and answer questions. But you don’t get to ask questions; don’t bother asking “how to apply for an education loan”!
Speaking Section - Express your opinion verbally on a particular subject, usually other than the fees for MS in the USA.
Writing Section - Do everything related above using pen and paper.

How is Each Section Marked?

The reading and listening sections are marked on a scale of 0-30 whereas the writing and speaking sections are graded on a scale of 0-4. The latter 2 sections are also converted to a 30-point scale, post verification. The overall score is converted to a scale between 0-120.

What’s a Good Enough TOEFL Score?

Depends on who you’re asking. Most universities settle for scores near 100, and 80 points are the least you should get in order to get accepted into good graduate schools. TOEFL usually acts as a cutoff, rather than a selector, i.e. a score below a given university’s cutoff region hurts your chances, but a score significantly north of the cutoff doesn’t improve your chances significantly.

For the writing section, if you earn 24-30 marks, then you’ve got good enough marks for this particular section. The ranges for excellent scores in the reading or listening section and the speaking section are 22-30 marks and 26-30 marks, respectively.

If you’re applying for a teaching assistantship, that is, part-time teaching at the graduate school where you’ll be pursuing your graduate degree, then TOEFL scores need to be higher. The most stressed upon a section of the TOEFL is the speaking section for this particular job.

The minimum score must be 28 for good universities for them to accept your assistantship application. The TOEFL test examines the comfort with which you speak and comprehend English, so the speaking and listening sections hold great importance.

Read more about: What is a Good TOEFL Score?

Top US Universities & Their TOEFL Cut-off of 2019:

University Name	TOEFL Cut-off Total Score Requirement
University Name	TOEFL Cut-off Total Score Requirement
Boston University	90-100
Brown University	100
Carleton College	100
Columbia University	100
Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)	80
University of Michigan	100
Boston University	90-100
University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)	100
University of Washington	76
Yale University	100
University of Tulsa	76
University of San Francisco	65-80
University of Rochester	100
Tufts University	100
Rice University	100
Purdue University	80-88

TOEFL Scholarships

Don’t go about looking for education loans without collateral when TOEFL gives out an international scholarship for Indian students!

All you’ve got to do is get enrolled into a university, enlisted with TOEFL, after giving the TOEFL exam and apply for a scholarship. About $105,000 is awarded to exceptional Indian students. Bid adieu to the worries of getting an education loan for MS in the US!

GyanDhan, in partnership with Galvanize, brings you an opportunity to prepare for your TOEFL exams with expert guidance at reasonable fees (around 25-30% discount). It is a self-paced course with customization for every need of the student.

The instructors are TOEFL experts and graduates of top universities such as Stanford, The University of New Mexico, and more. This product is being used by students in more than 100 locations in India and more than 40 countries worldwide.

Are you also preparing for TOEFL? Get in touch with our counselor to avail Galvanize TOEFL preparation course at heavily discounted fees now!

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