🇬🇧 Step-by-Step: TOEFL 2026 — Listen & Repeat + Take an Interview

① TOEFL Speaking was redesigned January 21, 2026. The traditional 4-task iBT set has been retired and replaced with TWO new task families: Listen & Repeat (7 short items) and Take an Interview (4 longer items). The full set takes ~17 minutes and produces a 0-30 final score plus a CEFR estimate. ② Listen & Repeat (7 items, ~5 min total) — a sentence is played once, you have 2-3 sec lead-in, then you repeat it as accurately as possible into the mic. Each item scores 0-5 on two rubrics: Exactness (how verbatim your repeat was) and Intelligibility (how clearly it was pronounced). Sentences progress in length and complexity from short (5-7 words) to long (15-20 words). The L&R section is scored out of 35 points and scaled into your final 0-30. ③ Take an Interview (4 items, ~12 min total) — you receive an opinion-style question (e.g. "Should universities require mandatory community service? Explain why or why not."), get 15 sec to plan, then speak for 60 sec. Each response is scored 0-5 on three rubrics: Fluency, Elaboration, Vocabulary. The Interview section is scored out of 20 points and also scaled into your final 0-30. ④ Final report: a 0-30 scaled score, a CEFR estimate (A2 / B1 / B2 / C1) based on the combined performance, per-section breakdown (L&R out of 35 + Interview out of 20), per-item drill-down with transcripts, and a bilingual examiner comment per item. ⑤ Strict timers mirror the real test: you cannot record before the prep timer ends, and the mic auto-stops at zero. ⑥ Save any weak item as a Speaking Flashcard or "Write this up" to convert into written practice. ⑦ Tips: for L&R, focus on exact word recall — even a single substituted word drops Exactness. For Interview, plan one specific example or anecdote in your 15 sec prep — examiners reward concrete elaboration over abstract claims. ⑧ Legacy TOEFL Speaking sessions (the old 4-task format from before 2026) remain viewable read-only in your Speaking Stats and on every shared link. They show a "Legacy 2025 format" chip so you know which spec they were scored against — your stats keep historical continuity but the active surface is the 2026 format only. ⑨ Drill any single TOEFL 2026 task type from the Practice Hub at /speak/practice — both Listen & Repeat single-item and Take an Interview single-item are available there.