TOEFL Junior: What It Is, Who Takes It and How It Is Scored

Aswathy Mohandas

30/10/2026

9 min read

TOEFL Junior is a family of English tests from ETS for students aged 11 and over, mostly in middle school and the first years of high school. It measures how well a student uses English for school and social life. There are three tests: Standard, Speaking and Writing. Schools use the scores for placement and progress, not for admission.

Parents usually meet TOEFL Junior because a school asks for it. This guide covers what each test contains, how scores and CEFR levels work, how families register, and where TOEFL Junior sits between TOEFL Primary and the TOEFL iBT that universities ask for.

Every figure here comes from ETS’s own pages and the TOEFL Junior Test Taker Handbook (2025 edition), read on 24 October 2026. Price and format are set country by country, so confirm them locally.

What is TOEFL Junior, and who is it for?

ETS describes the tests on its TOEFL Junior home page as designed for ages 11+. The handbook is more specific: the tests measure how far students in middle school and the lower levels of high school have reached the academic and social English used in English-medium classrooms. TOEFL Junior is now grouped with TOEFL Primary under the name TOEFL Young Students.

The questions draw on three areas of school life: social English with friends, the English of getting around school (such as a teacher’s homework instructions), and academic English for learning subject content. TOEFL Junior is not tied to any curriculum, and it has no pass or fail mark. It shows where a student is now and how their English changes over time.

Which TOEFL Junior tests are there?

ETS’s About the TOEFL Junior Tests page lists three tests. A school can use one of them or combine them. This is how they compare:

Some older guides describe the family differently, for example as Standard versus a “Challenge” test. As of 24 October 2026, ETS’s pages and the 2025 handbook list only Standard, Speaking and Writing. If a school names a different test, ask it which ETS product it means.

What is on the TOEFL Junior Standard test?

The Standard test is the one most students sit. It has 126 multiple-choice questions in three sections, set out on ETS’s TOEFL Junior test content page:

Listening covers English for social, school and academic purposes. Language Form and Meaning tests grammar and vocabulary in context. Reading uses academic and non-academic texts. The handbook says students may get a five-minute break before Reading.

What do the Speaking and Writing tests involve?

Both are taken on a computer or tablet, and the handbook says students need a compliant headset for each. These are the tasks it describes.

TOEFL Junior Speaking: four tasks, 18 minutes

• Read Aloud: one minute to read a short passage silently, then one minute to read it aloud.
• Picture Narration: tell a story from six pictures, with one minute to prepare and one minute to speak.
• Non-academic Listen-Speak: listen to a teacher or students talk about a school topic, then talk about it, with 45 seconds to prepare and one minute to answer.
• Academic Listen-Speak: listen to a teacher on an academic topic, then explain what you heard, with the same timing.

TOEFL Junior Writing: four tasks, about 40 minutes

• Edit: two paragraphs on academic topics. Students choose the correct options to complete sentences, with two and a half minutes for each paragraph.
• E-mail: reply to a school-related email that asks questions, with seven minutes in total.
• Opinion: a paragraph of about 100 to 150 words giving a view on a topic, in ten minutes.
• Listen-Write: listen to a short academic talk, supported by pictures, then write about it, in ten minutes.

ETS publishes sample questions for every one of these tasks on its TOEFL Junior preparation page. Going through them once before test day removes surprises about the format.

How is TOEFL Junior scored?

According to ETS’s TOEFL Junior scoring and reporting page, the Standard test counts correct answers only, with no penalty for wrong answers. Each section’s correct answers are converted to a scale of 200–300, in steps of five. The total is the sum of the three sections, so it runs from 600 to 900. Because the scores are scaled, a section score is not a percentage, and ETS advises against comparing one section with another directly.

The score report also gives an overall score level, from 1 to 5. The handbook says the bands were set from a 2015 study and refined in 2021:

Speaking and Writing scores are the sum of the task scores, out of 16. The handbook says the Writing engine is trained on human ratings.

How do TOEFL Junior scores map to the CEFR?

The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) is the international scale most schools use to describe language level, from A1 (beginner) upwards. ETS maps each Standard section to it separately:

The handbook maps the Speaking and Writing tests like this:

The scale stops at B2, so TOEFL Junior cannot show a C1 level. A very strong student simply reaches the top of the scale.

What are TOEFL Junior scores used for?

The handbook lists the uses ETS recommends:

• Checking whether a student has enough English to cope in a class taught in English.
• Placing students in English programmes at the right level.
• Tracking progress over time.

It is just as clear that the tests are not for high-stakes decisions such as admissions or exit testing. They do not replace the TOEFL iBT or TOEFL ITP, and they are not designed to predict a future TOEFL iBT score. ETS sets no passing score: each school decides what score it accepts. Scores stay available for reporting for two years after the test date.

On retakes, the handbook says students following a regular English curriculum should show gains if they take the tests about every six months.

How do you register for TOEFL Junior, and what does it cost?

You cannot book TOEFL Junior through an ets.org account the way you book the TOEFL iBT. The handbook says testing is arranged through the institution that asks the student to take it, usually the school. If the school has not arranged it, families contact their local ETS TOEFL Junior Associate.

Outside the United States, ETS’s TOEFL Junior contact page sends you to the ETS Preferred Network directory to find the office for your country. Where there is no office, ETS gives an email contact.

ETS does not publish a single global fee. The handbook says the price varies worldwide and that the local associate gives prices for your area. Format varies too: paper at school, digital, or a digital at-home option with a proctor arranged through the institution, depending on the test and the country.

How does TOEFL Junior fit with TOEFL Primary and TOEFL iBT?

The three tests are aimed at different stages of school:

TOEFL Primary has four tests: Reading and Listening at two levels, Step 1 and Step 2, plus Speaking and Writing. Each Reading and Listening section has 36 questions in 30 minutes. Like TOEFL Junior, its score reports give CEFR levels.

The TOEFL iBT is a different test with a different job. It has four sections, Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking. Since the January 2026 update each section gets a score on a 1–6 scale, and the test takes about two hours, according to ETS’s TOEFL iBT test content page. For two years after January 2026, ETS also reports a comparable score on the old 0–120 scale.

So TOEFL Junior leads to the iBT only in a broad sense. The skills overlap (academic listening, reading, writing an email, speaking about a talk), so a strong Junior student has a good base. But ETS says plainly that a Junior score does not predict an iBT score, so you cannot convert one into the other. iBT scores are also valid for two years, as our guide to how long TOEFL scores stay valid explains.

How should a student prepare for TOEFL Junior?

ETS says last-minute study does not help much, because the test measures general proficiency built over a long period. What it suggests instead:

• Use English every day: read, listen, watch and talk.
• Type in English on a computer or tablet, because the Speaking and Writing tests are digital.
• Work through ETS’s free sample questions for each section and task.
• Ask your local ETS Preferred Network office for the Official Guide to the TOEFL Junior Standard Test, which includes a full practice test with answer explanations.

For older students moving from TOEFL Junior towards the TOEFL iBT, the next step is to try the university-level test. Our free TOEFL practice test follows the iBT format, not the Junior one, so it suits a student who is close to applying to universities rather than an 11-year-old. Afterwards, the TOEFL score calculator shows how section scores combine into an overall result.