What Is a Good TOEFL Score? University Requirements in 2026

A good TOEFL score is the lowest score accepted by the universities on your list, and in 2026 the published requirements cover a much wider range than the "you need 100" advice that dominates search results. Among the institutions that have published their requirements, the overall requirement runs from band 3.5 at Arizona State University to band 5.5 at University College London, with one individual section requirement as high as 6.0. Most competitive research universities publish an overall total between 88 and 100 on the retired 0-120 scale.

That range is the whole answer, and almost nobody publishes it. Pages that rank for this question say the requirement depends on the university and then name no universities. Every number in this article was read from the institution's own admissions page in August 2026. Where a university has not published a figure, it is absent rather than estimated.

Key Takeaways

• The TOEFL iBT moved to a 1-6 band scale on 21 January 2026. The overall score is now the average of the four section scores rounded to the nearest half band, not the sum (ETS).
• Published overall minimums range from band 3.5 (Arizona State) to band 5.5 (UCL Level 5), with most selective universities at band 4.5 to 5.0. One individual section requirement reaches 6.0.
• Several universities set section requirements independently of the total. Cornell publishes no total requirement at all, only four section floors (Cornell Graduate School).
• The University of Oxford is not accepting TOEFL tests taken from 21 January 2026 until its review of the revised test is complete (University of Oxford).
• ETS publishes comparable-score ranges between the two scales, not a one-to-one conversion, and warns against using them as the only basis for a cut score (ETS).

What Changed on 21 January 2026

The TOEFL iBT now reports scores from 1 to 6 in half-band steps, for each section and overall. Three details matter for anyone reading a university requirement.

First, the overall score is calculated differently. It used to be the sum of four sections scored 0 to 30, giving a total out of 120. It is now the average of the four section bands, rounded to the nearest half band, and ETS gives the example of an average of 5.25 rounding up to 5.5 (ETS). A single weak section now pulls the overall score down proportionally rather than costing a fixed number of points.

Second, dual reporting is in effect. Score reports carry both the new band and a comparable 0-120 figure for two years from 21 January 2026 (ETS). This is why most university pages still list a 0-120 number: their applicants still receive one.

Third, scores remain valid for two years from the test date, and ETS will not report them after that (ETS). If you are applying in a later cycle, check that your result will still be reportable on the deadline, not on the day you sit the test.

For the full picture of what else changed in the 2026 test, see our complete guide to the TOEFL iBT 2026.

What Universities Actually Publish

Below are published requirements, grouped by country. Where an institution has released figures on both scales, both are shown. Where it has released only the 0-120 figure, the new-scale column says "not published" rather than converting on the university's behalf.

One thing to expect in these tables: the two figures a university publishes do not always line up with the ETS comparable ranges shown later in this article, and different universities pair the same 0-120 number with different bands. Each pair below is reproduced exactly as that institution published it. Universities set their own equivalences and are not obliged to follow the ETS ranges.

United States

Sources: Harvard Griffin GSAS, MIT Office of Graduate Education, Cornell Graduate School, UC Berkeley Graduate Division, Arizona State University. Retrieved 3 August 2026.

Two things in this table contradict common advice. Arizona State admits undergraduates at 61, which is band 3.5, so the idea that a degree in the United States requires 100 is simply wrong for a large public university. And Cornell sets no total requirement at all, which means a 110 total with a 20 in Speaking fails there while a much lower total with balanced sections passes.

Several highly selective universities publish no minimum score at all. Yale's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences states that it has no set test minimums for admission and that departments use scores as part of a holistic review. Princeton's Graduate School says the same and leaves departments to set their own. When a university publishes no number, that is not permission to submit a weak score. It means the score is read alongside everything else in the application, and that the requirement which actually applies is set by the department.

Sources: Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Princeton Graduate School. Retrieved 3 August 2026.

United Kingdom

UK universities are unusually specific, and they tier their requirements by subject rather than publishing one figure.

Sources: Imperial College London, University College London. Retrieved 3 August 2026.

UCL Level 5 asks for 6.0 in Speaking, the maximum the scale allows. UCL publishes which programmes sit in each tier, so check your specific programme against that list rather than assuming the standard level applies.

One point about UK visas is widely misreported. The TOEFL iBT is not on the UK Home Office list of approved Secure English Language Tests. That does not block most university applicants, because a licensed sponsor teaching at degree level is allowed to assess English proficiency itself, provided the standard is equivalent to CEFR B2 (GOV.UK). Below degree level, a Secure English Language Test is required and TOEFL will not satisfy it. If you are comparing the two tests on this point specifically, our TOEFL and IELTS comparison covers the acceptance differences in more detail.

Canada, Australia, Europe and Asia

Sources: University of Toronto, UBC Graduate School, UNSW Sydney, University of Sydney, Technical University of Munich, University of Hong Kong. Retrieved 3 August 2026.

Three restrictions in that table are expensive to discover late. Toronto and Hong Kong both require the score to come from a single test date, so a strong Reading result from March cannot be combined with a strong Speaking result from June. Hong Kong rejects the Home Edition outright. Sydney and UNSW accept only the TOEFL for Australia version. Check the format restriction before you book, not after.

Some Universities Have Paused Acceptance of the New TOEFL

This is the part of the 2026 transition that no ranking page mentions, and it can invalidate a test you have already paid for.

The University of Oxford states that it will not accept TOEFL tests taken from 21 January 2026 to meet an English language condition until its review of the revised test is complete. Results from tests taken before that date are still accepted as normal, so the suspension affects new test bookings rather than scores already in hand. UNSW Sydney says the new format is under review and not being accepted until further notice. The University of Cambridge does accept it for postgraduate study, but applicants who meet their condition after 21 January 2026 are asked to sit an additional assessment at the Cambridge Language Centre. Cambridge does not list TOEFL among its accepted qualifications for undergraduate admission at all.

Sources: University of Oxford, UNSW Sydney, University of Cambridge postgraduate, University of Cambridge undergraduate. Retrieved 3 August 2026.

Harvard, Berkeley, Imperial, UCL, Toronto, UBC and Arizona State, by contrast, have already published minimums on both scales. Universities are therefore in two groups: those that have published requirements for the revised test, and those still reviewing it. Before you book a test date, open the English language requirements page of every institution on your list and confirm it accepts a test taken after 21 January 2026. These positions are being revised through the year, so a policy you read in January may have changed.

A Weak Section Can Disqualify a Strong Total

Several universities check section scores independently of the total, which means a high total does not compensate for one low section.

Cornell's Graduate School publishes no total requirement at all. It publishes four section minimums: Speaking 4.0, Reading 4.0, Writing 4.0 and Listening 3.5. For a research degree carrying a teaching assistantship, the Speaking requirement rises to 27 on the old scale (Cornell Graduate School). Harvard's Griffin GSAS requires Speaking 23 alongside its total of 95. UCL Level 5 requires 6.0 in Speaking.

Speaking is the constraining section at Harvard and at UCL Level 5, and it is the section Cornell raises for a teaching assistantship. It is also the section where planning around a total is least useful, because a candidate who raises a 95 to a 100 gains nothing if a 19 in Speaking is what fails the check.

If you do not know which section is your weakest, find out before you build a study plan around a target total. You can take a free practice test and get section-level results, which tells you where the shortfall actually is.

How the 1-6 Band and the 0-120 Total Line Up

ETS publishes comparable-score information between the two scales, produced by a linking study that does not assume equally spaced score points. The approximate lower bound of each band on the old scale is as follows.

Source: ETS. Retrieved 3 August 2026.

These figures apply to the overall score only. Section bands do not convert through this table, because section scores on the old scale run from 0 to 30 rather than 0 to 120.

ETS is direct about the limits of the comparison. It describes the tables as useful general guiding tools that cannot predict the exact score an individual test taker would receive, and it does not recommend using them as the only resource for setting a cut score.

That caution matters because three separate things are easy to confuse here, and much of the advice online merges them. ETS publishes the scale and the comparable ranges. Each university publishes its own requirement. Everything else, including any exact conversion chart, is inference. Use inference to estimate, then check the university page for the number that actually decides your application.

What TOEFL Score Equals CEFR B2 or C1?

The new scale is aligned to the Common European Framework of Reference by design, running from band 1 at roughly A1 to band 6 at roughly C2, and a section score of 5 aligns with C1 for that section (ETS).

On the 0-120 scale, ETS publishes the following minimum scores for each level.

Source: ETS. Retrieved 3 August 2026.

B2 is the level UK immigration rules treat as the degree-level standard (GOV.UK). C1 at 95 is very close to the level the selective universities in the tables above require, and matches Harvard's published total exactly.

Is 500 a Good TOEFL Score?

500 is not a score on the current test at all. It comes from the retired paper-based TOEFL, which many people still remember and which still appears in older university documents.

The useful comparison is CEFR. ETS still runs the TOEFL ITP, an institutional test that uses the same paper score scale, and publishes CEFR cut scores for it: C1 begins at 620 and A2 at 343 (ETS). The ITP is a placement test rather than an admissions test, and several universities in this article do not accept it, but its cut scores are the clearest published reference for what a number on that scale means. Measured against them, 500 sits well below C1, which is the level the selective universities in this article effectively require. If a university document quotes a paper-based minimum, treat it as a sign that the page has not been updated, and ask the admissions office for the current TOEFL iBT equivalent rather than converting it yourself.

Setting Your Own Target

Work in this order. List your universities. Open the English language requirements page for each one and record three things: the total, every section minimum, and whether the page accepts a test taken after 21 January 2026. Take the highest total and the highest individual section minimum across your whole list, then add a margin of half a band. That is your target.

The margin matters because section scores vary between attempts. Aiming exactly at the minimum leaves no room for a below-average result on test day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 120 a good TOEFL score?

120 was the maximum on the retired scale, so yes, it satisfies every published requirement. On the current scale the equivalent ceiling is band 6.0. No university in this article requires the maximum band in all four sections. The highest single section requirement found was 6.0 in Speaking for UCL's Level 5 programmes, which is the top of the scale for that one section.

Is 5.0 a good TOEFL score?

Band 5.0 meets the overall requirement at Harvard's Griffin GSAS, UC Berkeley's Graduate Division, Imperial College London's higher tier and UCL Level 3. At all four it is sufficient only if the section minimums are met as well: 4.5 in Speaking at Harvard, 4.5 in Speaking and Writing at Berkeley, and 5.0 in every section at Imperial's higher tier and UCL Level 3. It is below the overall requirement at UCL Levels 4 and 5. Band 5 aligns with CEFR C1 at section level, which is the standard most selective universities effectively require.

Is 82 a good TOEFL score?

On the retired scale, 82 is above Arizona State's general undergraduate requirement of 61 but below Toronto at 89, Berkeley at 90 and Imperial at 92. It is sufficient for a broad range of universities and insufficient for the selective group. Check your specific list rather than treating 82 as generally sufficient or insufficient.

Is it hard to get 79 in TOEFL?

79 on the retired scale is just above CEFR B2, which ETS places at 72. It is an achievable target for a candidate with solid upper-intermediate English, and it exactly meets Arizona State's engineering requirement of 79, with no margin. It is below the minimum at every selective institution listed in this article.

What is a good TOEFL score for the Ivy League?

The Ivy League does not set a common standard, and several members publish no minimum at all. Harvard's Griffin GSAS is the clearest published figure at 95, or band 5.0, with Speaking 23. Cornell publishes section minimums instead of a total. Yale's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences states that it sets no minimum and that departments use scores as part of a holistic review. Princeton's Graduate School sets no minimum and leaves departments to set their own. Treat band 5.0 with balanced section scores as the working target, then check the department page, because at this level the department requirement is usually the one that applies.

How long is a TOEFL score valid?

Two years from the test date. ETS will not report scores after that period (ETS). Check the validity against your application deadline rather than your test date.

The Short Version

There is no single good TOEFL score, and the published range is much wider than search results suggest. Band 3.5 is enough for admission to a large public university in the United States. Band 4.5 to 5.0 covers most selective research universities. Band 5.5, with one section requirement at 6.0, applies only to a small number of specialised programmes.

Two checks matter most. Read the section minimums, because several universities apply them independently of the total. And confirm your target university accepts a test taken after 21 January 2026, because some well known ones currently do not.

Once you know your target, the practical question is which section is furthest below it. Practise by section and measure the gap before you book a test date.