TOEFL Integrated Writing: What Happened to It, and What to Do Instead

TOEFL integrated writing no longer exists. ETS removed it from the exam on January 21, 2026, along with every other integrated task, but the search term has not caught up: it still gets roughly 1,300 searches a month in the United States, and almost every page that ranks for it describes the task as if you might still see it on test day. If you are one of those searchers, this article is for you. It explains what integrated writing used to be, why the old advice is now misleading rather than just outdated, what replaced it in the current Writing section, and which of your existing preparation habits still carry over.

Key Takeaways

• TOEFL integrated writing was removed on January 21, 2026, along with every other integrated task on the exam. It was not replaced by a single new task; it was replaced by a redesigned Writing section with three different task types.
• The current Writing section has three tasks: Build a Sentence, Write an Email, and Write for an Academic Discussion. None of them asks you to read a passage, listen to a lecture, and summarize how the two relate, which was the core of the old task.
• Build a Sentence is not the new integrated writing task. It is a grammar exercise with a single correct answer built from a fixed set of words. The two tasks are unrelated, and confusing them leads to preparing the wrong skill entirely.
• Of the three current tasks, Write for an Academic Discussion comes closest to integrated writing in surface structure, since you read multiple texts before writing. But it asks for your opinion on a discussion question, not a summary of a reading passage against a lecture, so it rewards a different skill.
• The note-taking habit built for integrated writing still has value, just not for the task it was built for. It now matters most for the Listening section's longer tasks.

What TOEFL Integrated Writing Used to Be

Before the 2026 redesign, the TOEFL Writing section opened with a task most people called integrated writing, or TOEFL Writing Task 1. You had three minutes to read a short academic passage, then you listened to a lecture that agreed or disagreed with points from that passage, and then you had twenty minutes to write a summary explaining how the lecture responded to the reading (Magoosh). Scoring depended on accurately reporting both sources and showing the relationship between them, not on your own opinion. That structure, one reading, one lecture, one synthesis, is why so much of the older advice online focuses on two-column note-taking: a system for tracking the reading on one side of the page and the lecture on the other, so you could compare them while writing.

That task is gone. It was removed in the same redesign that replaced the 0-120 scoring scale with 1-6 bands and introduced adaptive testing in Reading and Listening, changes covered in full in our complete guide to the TOEFL iBT 2026. This article does not repeat that overview. It exists because knowing that integrated writing was removed is not the same as knowing what to actually study instead, and almost nothing published online answers that second question directly.

Why the Top Search Results Are Misleading You

If you search for TOEFL integrated writing today, the pages that rank are, almost without exception, written for the old exam and never updated. Templates, sample essays, and practice prompts built around reading-plus-lecture summaries still occupy the top positions, presented with no note that the task has been retired (example). The same site does have a separate, updated page describing the current three-task Writing section (toeflresources.com), but that page does not rank for the integrated writing search itself, so most people searching for the term never see it.

That gap matters because studying from an outdated template does not just waste time, it teaches the wrong skill. Practicing how to summarize a reading passage against a lecture builds no capability that transfers to Write an Email or Write for an Academic Discussion, since neither task asks you to reconcile two outside sources. If your preparation plan still includes integrated writing templates or reading-lecture practice sets, the honest answer is that this material now has no task on the exam to apply it to.

What Replaced It: Three Separate Tasks, Not One

Integrated writing was not swapped for a single new task. It was replaced along with the independent essay by a redesigned Writing section built from three different task types, and ETS's own published test structure lists all three together: twelve total Writing items across the three tasks, with a combined section time of about 23 minutes (ETS).

Build a Sentence. A grammar-focused task where you arrange a fixed set of words into the one grammatically correct sentence. There is no reading passage, no lecture, and no written response to compose; it is scored as correct or incorrect, not by a rubric. This is the task most likely to be confused with integrated writing, because both once shared the label "Task 1" in casual conversation among test-takers, but the two have nothing else in common. Preparing for Build a Sentence means practicing sentence structure and word order, not summarizing outside sources.

Write an Email. A short, practical writing task: you are given a scenario, such as writing to a professor or a housing office, along with two or three specific points you must address, and about seven minutes to read the scenario and write a response of roughly 100 to 120 words. There is no separate reading or planning period; the clock covers everything from the moment the prompt appears.

Write for an Academic Discussion. You read a professor's discussion question along with two classmates' posts responding to it, then write your own contribution in ten minutes total, with a target length of roughly 100 to 130 words. Like Write an Email, there is no separate reading period, the same ten-minute timer covers reading all three texts and writing your response.

Both Write an Email and Write for an Academic Discussion are covered in depth, with adaptable response structures mapped to what the scoring rubric rewards, in our TOEFL writing templates guide. That article is the right next stop if you are looking for a genuinely current template; this one focuses on the transition itself.

The Task People Confuse With It: Build a Sentence

Because Build a Sentence is new, unfamiliar, and appears first in the Writing section on many test forms, it is easy to assume it must be the task that replaced integrated writing. It is worth stating plainly why that assumption is wrong. Integrated writing tested your ability to process two outside sources and produce a written synthesis of them, a skill related to comprehension, note-taking, and paraphrasing. Build a Sentence tests grammatical control over a single sentence built from words the exam already gives you. There is no source material to read or listen to, no synthesis to perform, and no rubric-scored writing involved. If you came looking for a way to prepare for "the new version" of integrated writing by practicing Build a Sentence items, you are practicing a different skill for a different purpose. The task that most resembles the old one in shape, not in scoring, is Write for an Academic Discussion, covered next.

The Closest Thing to It Now: Write for an Academic Discussion

Of the three current Writing tasks, Write for an Academic Discussion is the only one that asks you to read more than one piece of text before you write, which is the surface feature that made integrated writing distinctive. That surface similarity is worth being precise about, because it is also where the two tasks diverge in what they actually reward.

Integrated writing scored you on accurately reporting two outside sources and showing how they related to each other; your own opinion was not the point, and inserting one could hurt your score. Write for an Academic Discussion asks for the opposite: you state a position on the professor's question, engage with what a specific classmate already said, and support your view with a reason and an example. It is closer to a short opinion post in a class forum than to a source-synthesis summary. The reading load is genuinely there, three texts under one shared timer with no separate reading period, but what earns credit is your own argument, not a neutral account of what the sources said.

That distinction matters for how you prepare. Practicing to summarize two sources without adding your own view, the old integrated writing skill, will not help you engage with a classmate's post the way this task requires. Practicing to state and defend a position quickly, under a ten-minute combined clock, will. The full breakdown of that task's structure, timing, and what its rubric rewards is in the writing templates guide linked above.

What Still Transfers: Note-Taking, Just for a Different Task

Not everything built for the old task is wasted. The habit of taking fast, selective notes while processing spoken or written material under time pressure is still useful on the 2026 exam, it has simply moved. Integrated writing was the task that most demanded two-source note-taking, tracking a reading passage against a lecture; with that task gone, there is no current Writing task that asks you to reconcile two separate outside sources in the same way.

Where note-taking now earns its keep is the Listening section. Three of its four task types, Listen to a Conversation, Listen to an Announcement, and Listen to an Academic Talk, each play a single audio clip once with no replay, followed by several questions, which is exactly the situation note-taking is built for. A smaller, secondary case exists in Write for an Academic Discussion, where a short note next to each classmate's post can save you from rereading it later in the ten-minute window. Our TOEFL note-taking guide covers this task by task, including which tasks reward notes and which don't, and what ETS's own rules actually allow. If you built a note-taking system for the old integrated task, that guide is where to learn how to redirect it, rather than repeating the same skill audit here.

What to Actually Do If You Were Studying for Integrated Writing

If your preparation so far has centered on integrated writing templates, sample essays, or reading-lecture synthesis practice, the practical path forward has three parts. First, set that material aside; there is no task on the 2026 exam it applies to, and continuing to practice it will not move your Writing score. Second, confirm which of the three current tasks you need the most work on: Build a Sentence rewards grammar accuracy under no time pressure to plan, Write an Email rewards addressing every required point with the right tone, and Write for an Academic Discussion rewards taking a clear position and engaging with a classmate's post. Third, redirect any note-taking habit you already built toward the Listening section, where it still earns a direct return, rather than trying to force it into a Writing task that no longer needs it.

The one part of your old preparation that stays useful without modification is general writing fluency: organizing ideas clearly, using accurate grammar and varied vocabulary, and writing quickly under a hard time limit. Those skills are scored on every current Writing task. What changed is the shape of the task you apply them to, not whether writing well still matters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is TOEFL integrated writing coming back?

There is no indication of that. ETS removed integrated writing, along with the independent essay and all other integrated tasks, as part of the January 21, 2026 redesign, and its own published test structure describes the current Writing section as three tasks: Build a Sentence, Write an Email, and Write for an Academic Discussion. Preparation should be based on the exam as it currently exists, not on the chance of a reversal.

Can I still use TOEFL integrated writing templates for practice?

Not for the current exam. Those templates are built around summarizing a reading passage against a lecture, a structure no current Writing task uses. The closest task in reading load, Write for an Academic Discussion, is scored on stating and supporting your own position, not on neutrally reporting two sources, so an integrated writing template does not transfer.

Is Build a Sentence the new version of TOEFL integrated writing?

No. Build a Sentence is a grammar task with a single correct sentence built from fixed words, scored as correct or incorrect. Integrated writing was a rubric-scored synthesis of a reading passage and a lecture. The two tasks test different skills and have no structural relationship beyond both once being associated with "Writing Task 1" in casual usage.

What is TOEFL Writing Task 1 called now?

There is no direct one-to-one renaming. The old "Task 1" label referred to integrated writing, which no longer exists. The current Writing section's three tasks, Build a Sentence, Write an Email, and Write for an Academic Discussion, replaced it collectively rather than one task taking over the old name or format.

Which current TOEFL writing task is hardest for someone who prepared for the old integrated writing task?

Write for an Academic Discussion tends to be the adjustment point, because it looks similar on the surface, multiple texts read under a timer, but scores your own argument rather than your accuracy in reporting outside sources. Test-takers who default to neutrally summarizing the professor's question and the classmates' posts, instead of taking and defending a position, tend to underperform on this task until they recognize the difference.

Put This Into Practice

Knowing what replaced integrated writing only helps once you have practiced the actual current tasks under real timing. Take a free practice session covering Build a Sentence, Write an Email, and Write for an Academic Discussion, and use our writing templates guide and note-taking guide to check your responses against what each task's rubric actually rewards.