How Important is TOEFL Score in Admissions?

Updated on: 15 May 2021

Why TOEFL Exam is Required?

TOEFL stands for Test of English as a Foreign Language and is conducted by Educational Testing Service (ETS). This test is primarily taken by non-native English speakers who wish to get enrolled in international universities. Additionally, TOEFL scores are accepted for visa, certification, scholarships, and immigration. TOEFL assesses the speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills of the candidate in the English language. 

How Important is the TOEFL Score?

The importance of TOEFL scores cannot be emphasized more, especially for students who are seeking admissions to graduate and undergraduate programs in English speaking foreign universities. As it has been mentioned before that the score is a determinant of a candidate’s proficiency in the English language, it is used by the universities to ascertain whether an applicant will successfully be able to complete a program taught in English. It is accepted by over 11000 universities in Australia, New Zealand, England, and the USA, for undergraduate programs (Bachelor degree) and graduate programs (Masters degree). 
In the USA, TOEFL test scores are accepted in almost 90% of the universities. In Canada, Australia, UK, Ireland, New Zealand, TOEFL can be the substitute for the IELTS, though IELTS is more popular. 

What is the Importance of a Good TOEFL Score?

To be eligible for admission to top universities in the aforementioned countries, for example, MIT, Harvard, UCL, Imperial College, you need to clear a minimum TOEFL Score criteria set by these universities. Generally, these cut-offs are high, and therefore, to make it to the cut, you need to aim for a high TOEFL score. Additionally, on a personal level, a high TOEFL score will benefit you. Since a good TOEFL score will indicate that you have acquired high proficiency in the English language, you will be naturally more confident throughout the tenure of the course knowing your comfort level with the language. Also, if you prepare well enough to fetch yourself top scores, you will have gained reasonably good mastery over the language which will benefit you in multiple ways, especially with respect to career. 

What are the TOEFL Requirements for Top Universities? 

Now that we have talked about the importance of high TOEFL scores, let us take a look at the minimum TOEFL criteria set by the top universities of the world. You can check the minimum criteria of your target university in the following table. If your dream university is not in the list below, then you can go to their official website and look for its minimum TOEFL cut-off in the admission requirements section.  
 

Top Universities and their Minimum TOEFL Score 

Is It Tough to Score well in TOEFL Examination?

The difficulty level of  TOEFL is neither too high nor too low. Rather, it will be safe to say that as much as it seeks to measure your aptitude in Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking skills in English, it also puts your concentration level and patience and tenacity to test.
Students who have taken the test earlier have said that although the test may be a little difficult, people who are already exposed to the language and do a lot of academic writing in English will not find it difficult to score a mark which is good enough to get the admission. However, the test is lengthy, and much of your performance in the test will have to do with your patience level and your ability to sit through the test without losing your concentration. 
Every test has some parts which are challenging for the test-taker. For example, the difficult part about the reading section is its academic language. For the listening section, listening to the recordings is a task which requires a lot of attention. You can hear a recording only for once.  Also, the recordings are slow and include fillers like ‘umms’, ‘likes’, ‘you know’ which can be distracting. Your performance on the writing and speaking sections will depend on your vocabulary and grammar.  
Well, there is no need to worry. If you prepare for the test on a regular and consistent basis, it should not be a problem for you to get your target TOEFL score.

What’s even better if you take help of our TOEFL preparation guides for effective tips and tricks to tackle each section: 

• How to Prepare for TOEFL by GyanDhan
• How did the Past Test-takers Fare in TOEFL? 

Speaking of the difficulty level of TOEFL, it will be good to check the performance of the test-takers in the past tests. ETS releases the performance summary of the test-takers every year showing the number of students from different groups scoring above and below a certain mark. Different groups have been organized on the basis of various levels like the purpose of study, country, level of study, and so on. You could check these reports to understand how difficult it may be to score a certain TOEFL score or determine the difficulty level of the paper by checking the average marks. This will, in turn, help you set more concrete and realistic targets. 

How to Get a Good TOEFL Score?

• Start preparing for the test at least 3 to 4 months in advance.
• Practice sample question papers here.
• Watch preparation videos on YouTube on TOEFL exam, especially the ones posted by ETS.
• Try keeping your concentration intact and undisturbed while reading through the long passages.
• In the listening and speaking sections, take good care of your voice modulation.

Kickstart Your TOEFL Prep Today!

Don't Get Anxious During the Test; You're Going to do Great!

Want more guidance on preparation to get high TOEFL scores? GyanDhan has strong ties with the most popular TOEFL coaching institutes out there which boast of having years of experience in preparing students for the exam. Contact us right away if you too are a TOEFL aspirant, and we will get you in touch with the best TOEFL institutes. 

• TOEFL 

First published date: 07 Feb 2020