TOEFL 2026 Score Conversion: 1-6 Band to 0-120, CEFR, IELTS

The number your university asks for is probably on the old scale

Since January 21, 2026, every TOEFL iBT score report carries a band from 1.0 to 6.0 in half-point steps, for each section and overall^{1ETS OfficialTOEFL Transformation AnnouncementOpen source ↗Jump to footnote2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}. Most university admissions pages still say things like "TOEFL 90" or "TOEFL 100," because institutions update their published requirements at their own pace^{3CialfoWhy Universities Are Showing Different TOEFL Scores in 2026 (And What It Means for You)Open source ↗Jump to footnote}. So you end up doing the conversion yourself, usually the night before a deadline.

The tables below are the official ETS ones, taken from the ETS score comparison page and from the April 2026 ETS research report that describes how the new scale was built^{2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote4ETS OfficialA Banded Score Scale for the TOEFL iBT Test: Rationale, Development, and Score Linking (April 2026)Open source ↗Jump to footnote}. Use them to convert a target score, to read your own report, and to compare a TOEFL band with an IELTS band.

TOEFL 2026 band to 0-120 conversion table (overall)

The overall band and the comparable old total, straight from ETS^{2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}:

The CEFR column comes from the ETS mapping table, which assigns the same band to the same CEFR level on every section and overall: 6 is C2, 5 and 5.5 are C1, 4 and 4.5 are B2, 3 and 3.5 are B1, 2 and 2.5 are A2, and 1 and 1.5 are A1^{5ETS OfficialTOEFL Score Scale UpdateOpen source ↗Jump to footnote4ETS OfficialA Banded Score Scale for the TOEFL iBT Test: Rationale, Development, and Score Linking (April 2026)Open source ↗Jump to footnote}.

Two things to read off this table before you go further. The bands are not evenly spaced: the jump from Band 4.0 to 4.5 covers 14 old points, but the jump from 5.5 to 6.0 covers only 7^{2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}. And an old requirement of 100, the most common selective-program cutoff, lands in the middle of Band 5.0, not at its edge, so a 5.0 comfortably clears it^{2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}.

Section score conversion: 0-30 to 1-6

Each section is scored on its own 1-6 band^{2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}. If your program publishes per-section minimums on the old scale (Cambridge, for instance, asked for 25 in each section), this is the table you need^{2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote6College CouncilTOEFL Scores for Studying in EuropeOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}:

Notice that the same band sits at different old scores in different sections. A Reading 28 is Band 5.5, but a Listening 28 is Band 6.0^{2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}. That is deliberate. On the old scale the minimum score for B2 was 18 in Reading, 17 in Listening, 17 in Writing and 20 in Speaking; the new scale was built so that a 4 means B2 everywhere^{4ETS OfficialA Banded Score Scale for the TOEFL iBT Test: Rationale, Development, and Score Linking (April 2026)Open source ↗Jump to footnote}. If you ever wondered why Speaking felt harder to score on than Reading, those old cutoffs are the answer.

How the overall band is calculated

The old test added four 0-30 section scores into a 0-120 total^{4ETS OfficialA Banded Score Scale for the TOEFL iBT Test: Rationale, Development, and Score Linking (April 2026)Open source ↗Jump to footnote}. The 2026 test averages the four section bands and rounds to the nearest half band, so an average of 5.25 reports as 5.5^{2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}.

That change matters more than it looks. Averaging means a single weak section pulls the overall down in a way that summing never quite did, and it means you cannot make up for a Speaking 3.5 with a Reading 6.0 and hope the total hides it. Worked through: Reading 5.0, Listening 5.0, Writing 4.5 and Speaking 3.5 average to 4.5, and your report shows 4.5 overall, one band below what three of your four sections earned.

The comparable 0-120 figure printed on your report is not a fresh calculation. ETS built the 0-120 column of the comparison table by adding up the lowest section scores for each band, which is why the totals are shown as "95+" style floors (a floor is the lowest number that still counts) rather than exact numbers^{4ETS OfficialA Banded Score Scale for the TOEFL iBT Test: Rationale, Development, and Score Linking (April 2026)Open source ↗Jump to footnote}. Treat the old-scale number as a floor, not a precise equivalent.

What is a good TOEFL score in 2026

Among 2024 test takers, whose results ETS converted to the new scale to build it, the average overall band was 4.40, with section averages of 4.59 in Reading, 4.77 in Listening, 4.37 in Writing and 3.96 in Speaking^{4ETS OfficialA Banded Score Scale for the TOEFL iBT Test: Rationale, Development, and Score Linking (April 2026)Open source ↗Jump to footnote}. So a 4.5 puts you slightly above the typical test taker, a 5.0 puts you clearly above, and Speaking is the section where most people score lowest.

Against admissions cutoffs, the picture in mid-2026 looks like this. European universities still mostly publish 0-120 thresholds: Politecnico di Milano at 78, Maastricht at 80, TU Delft and Trinity College Dublin at 90, ETH Zurich, LSE and Sciences Po at 100, and Oxford at 100 rising to 110 for some humanities departments^{6College CouncilTOEFL Scores for Studying in EuropeOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}. Converted, that is Band 4.0 for the first group, Band 4.5 for the 90s, and Band 5.0 for the 100s^{2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}. Guides that survey US and global cutoffs land in the same place: Band 5.0 for the most selective programs, 4.5 for the next tier, and 3.5 to 4.0 for most state universities and colleges outside the top hundred^{7TOEFLMockTOEFL Score Requirements 2026: What Top Universities ExpectOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}.

Two cautions. First, some UK universities have not accepted the redesigned test at all while they review it. Cambridge undergraduate admissions stopped accepting TOEFL tests taken after December 31, 2025, and Oxford will not accept tests taken from January 21, 2026 until its review is complete, which it calls a temporary measure^{8TOEFL ResourcesUniversity of Cambridge Rejects Revised TOEFLOpen source ↗Jump to footnote9TOEFL ResourcesOxford Not Accepting New TOEFL (For Now)Open source ↗Jump to footnote}. Second, where a page shows both scales, the two numbers were sometimes converted by someone in the admissions office rather than taken from the ETS table, and they do not always agree. When in doubt, email admissions with your band and the comparable 0-120 figure from your report; tutors who track this transition recommend exactly that^{10ArnoHow TOEFL iBT Is Scored: The 1-6 Scale, CEFR Alignment, and the January 2026 UpdateOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}.

TOEFL band to IELTS conversion

ETS published its own comparison with IELTS Academic in the same April 2026 report, built on a 2025 study that matched scores on the two tests, run jointly with the three IELTS owners^{4ETS OfficialA Banded Score Scale for the TOEFL iBT Test: Rationale, Development, and Score Linking (April 2026)Open source ↗Jump to footnote}. For the overall score, ETS rounded up to the next half band so that a TOEFL taker is not placed at a higher IELTS band than their ability^{4ETS OfficialA Banded Score Scale for the TOEFL iBT Test: Rationale, Development, and Score Linking (April 2026)Open source ↗Jump to footnote}.

The practical reading of this table is that TOEFL Band 5.0 is the IELTS 7.0 equivalent, and Band 4.5 is the IELTS 6.5 equivalent, which are the two cutoffs most graduate programs use^{4ETS OfficialA Banded Score Scale for the TOEFL iBT Test: Rationale, Development, and Score Linking (April 2026)Open source ↗Jump to footnote}. If a program lists only an IELTS requirement, convert through this table rather than through the old 0-120 number, because this one was built directly by ETS for the new scale.

What your 2026 score report shows

For two years after the January 2026 launch, every report carries three things: your CEFR level, your 1-6 overall and section bands, and a comparable 0-120 overall score^{5ETS OfficialTOEFL Score Scale UpdateOpen source ↗Jump to footnote2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}. Reports also show MyBest scores, the highest section scores across your valid tests, in the new format^{2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}. Scores stay valid for two years from the test date^{2ETS OfficialUnderstand Your TOEFL iBT ScoresOpen source ↗Jump to footnote}.

Because the comparable 0-120 score is derived from the band, two people with the same overall band get the same comparable score even if their old-style totals would have differed by ten points. Do not expect the old number to add precision the band does not have.

Turn a target into a section plan

Converting the cutoff is the easy half. The useful half is knowing which section band you need to move. Say your program wants a 100, so Band 5.0 overall. Four 5.0s would do it, but so would Reading 5.5, Listening 5.5, Writing 5.0 and Speaking 4.0, because the average is 5.0 and no rounding is needed. Whether that is realistic depends on where you are now, and the fastest way to find out is a full-length TOEFL 2026 mock test, which reports a band per section on the same 1-6 scale and shows you how far each one sits from the target.

Once you know the gap, spend your practice time on the section that is furthest below its needed band, not on the one you enjoy. For most people that is Speaking, where the average is lowest^{4ETS OfficialA Banded Score Scale for the TOEFL iBT Test: Rationale, Development, and Score Linking (April 2026)Open source ↗Jump to footnote}, and the two Speaking task guides, Listen and Repeat and the Interview, explain what the AI scorer rewards. If you are still getting oriented on the redesigned exam, the TOEFL 2026 format guide walks through all twelve tasks, and the practice hub lets you drill any one of them with a daily free allowance.

Take the mock first, though. A target band means nothing until you know your current one.