There are no TOEFL iBT previous-year papers worth practising from, for two reasons. The test is adaptive — ETS says test time and items may vary as it adapts — so there is no fixed paper; and the test changed for sittings on or after 21 January 2026, with new task types and a new score scale, so anything written for the old format practises the wrong thing. What does carry over is each task type. The items below are drawn from the Myndaq practice bank and are not reproductions of any official item. They are written to the current task types, grouped by section, with worked answers, alongside the Myndaq TOEFL iBT course.
The pattern you are practising for
- Reading — 30 minutes, 50 items: Complete the Words, Read in Daily Life, Read an Academic Passage.
- Listening — 29 minutes, 47 items: Listen and Choose a Response, Listen to a Conversation, Listen to an Announcement, Listen to an Academic Talk.
- Writing — 23 minutes, 12 items: Build a Sentence, Write an Email, Write for an Academic Discussion.
- Speaking — 8 minutes, 11 items: Listen and Repeat, Take an Interview.
- About two hours in total including directions, with no scheduled breaks; times and items may vary as the test adapts.
- Scores from 1 to 6 in half bands for each section; the overall is the average rounded to the nearest half band. For two years reports also show a comparable 0–120 score.
The task names are ETS's. ETS's pages do not describe each task in text, so the formats below are how the Myndaq practice bank models them; the Writing and Speaking production tasks, which are scored on a recorded or written response, are not reproduced here.
Reading: Complete the Words
As Myndaq models it, you see a paragraph in which parts of words are missing, with the first letters given, and type the rest.
Question 1. Complete the words.
Reading every day is one of the best hab___ a student can develop. It buil__ vocabulary, improves writ___ skills, and helps the mind sta_ focused for longer periods. Many teachers belie__ that even fifteen minutes of reading streng_____ memory and concentration. Books also expo__ readers to new ideas and cultures, which broadens their hori____. Some students fi__ reading boring, but choosing topics they truly enjoy can change their attit___. With practice, reading becomes a lifelong source of pleasure.
Answer: habits, builds, writing, stay, believe, strengthens, expose, horizons, find, attitude.
The grammar decides several before the meaning does. "One of the best ___" needs a plural noun, habits. "It ___ vocabulary" needs a third-person verb, builds, and the same agreement gives strengthens after "fifteen minutes of reading". "Helps the mind ___ focused" takes a bare infinitive, stay. "Broadens their ___" is a fixed phrase — horizons. The task is a fast test of grammar and collocation together, so read the whole sentence before typing the first word.
Reading: Read in Daily Life
As Myndaq models it: a short everyday text — an email, a notice, a message thread — with a few questions.
Text.
Hi team,
Quick update on our presentation. I've finished the slides for sections 1 and 2 and uploaded them to our shared folder. Maya, could you review the data charts on slide 6? I'm not sure the numbers match our report. Diego, please record your voiceover by Wednesday so we have time to edit. Let's meet Thursday at 4 p.m. in Room 210 for a final run-through.
Thanks, Liam
Question 2. Why did Liam write this email?
- A. To cancel the Thursday meeting
- B. To coordinate remaining presentation tasks
- C. To complain about late submissions
- D. To request a new room booking
Answer: B. He reports progress and hands out the remaining jobs. A and D misuse the meeting details; nothing in the tone is a complaint.
Question 3. What is Maya asked to do?
- A. Record a voiceover by Wednesday
- B. Upload slides to the shared folder
- C. Check the data charts on slide 6
- D. Book Room 210 for Thursday
Answer: C. "Maya, could you review the data charts on slide 6?" A is Diego's job and B is what Liam has already done — everyday-text items often test who does what.
Question 4. When will the team meet to practise?
- A. Wednesday afternoon
- B. Thursday at 4 p.m.
- C. Friday morning
- D. Monday at 2 p.m.
Answer: B. "Thursday at 4 p.m. in Room 210 for a final run-through." Wednesday is the voiceover deadline, not a meeting.
Reading: Read an Academic Passage
Passage. The planet Neptune occupies a special place in the history of astronomy because it was found not by chance observation but by mathematical prediction. After Uranus was identified in 1781, careful tracking of its motion revealed small but persistent deviations from the path predicted by Newton's laws. Some astronomers suspected that an unseen body farther from the Sun was tugging on Uranus and disturbing its orbit. In the 1840s, working independently, the English mathematician John Couch Adams and the French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier each calculated where such a planet must lie if it existed. Le Verrier sent his coordinates to Johann Galle at the Berlin Observatory in September 1846; that very night, Galle pointed his telescope to the indicated region and saw Neptune within a degree of the predicted position. The discovery was widely celebrated as a triumph of reason. It demonstrated that the laws of mechanics, applied with patience and precision, could reveal objects that no eye had ever observed. The episode also sparked a bitter dispute over priority between Britain and France, since Adams's earlier calculations had not been promptly pursued by British observers. Today both men are usually credited jointly, though some historians argue that Le Verrier's contribution was the more decisive.
Question 5. The passage is mainly about
- A. the rivalry between British and French scientists in the nineteenth century.
- B. how Neptune was predicted and discovered through mathematical reasoning.
- C. the limitations of Newton's laws of motion.
- D. the history of the Berlin Observatory.
Answer: B. The opening sentence states the thesis and everything else serves it. A is real but secondary — one paragraph-end detail. C inverts the point: Newton's laws are what made the prediction possible.
Question 6. What first suggested that another planet might exist beyond Uranus?
- A. Strange flashes of light near Uranus.
- B. Reports from amateur astronomers.
- C. Small irregularities in Uranus's orbit.
- D. Predictions made by Johann Galle.
Answer: C. "Small but persistent deviations from the path predicted." D reverses the roles — Galle observed; Adams and Le Verrier predicted.
Question 7. The word "deviations" in the passage is closest in meaning to
- A. departures.
- B. speeds.
- C. signals.
- D. reflections.
Answer: A. Deviations from the path are departures from it. Test your choice by substituting it into the sentence: "small but persistent departures from the path" keeps the meaning.
Question 8. Why does the author describe the discovery as "a triumph of reason"?
- A. Because the planet was named after a Roman god.
- B. Because telescopes had recently been improved.
- C. Because Adams and Le Verrier worked together.
- D. Because calculation alone located an object never before seen.
Answer: D. The next sentence explains the phrase: mechanics "could reveal objects that no eye had ever observed". C contradicts "working independently".
Question 9. What can be inferred about Adams's role?
- A. His calculations were not acted upon quickly by British astronomers.
- B. He observed Neptune before Galle did.
- C. He worked closely with Le Verrier from the start.
- D. His mathematics contained serious errors.
Answer: A. "Adams's earlier calculations had not been promptly pursued by British observers." An inference item still needs a sentence that licenses it — here, almost word for word.
Listening: Listen and Choose a Response
As Myndaq models it: you hear one line and choose the most natural reply. A web page cannot play the audio, so each line is printed.
Question 10. You hear: "Mind if I open the window?"
- A. Yes, I opened it earlier.
- B. Go ahead, some air would be nice.
- C. The window is across the room.
- D. No, I haven't seen him today.
Answer: B. "Mind if I...?" asks permission, and B grants it. A is the trap: "yes" to "do you mind" technically means you object, and it then talks about the past.
Question 11. You hear: "Mind dropping this off later?"
- A. It dropped on the floor.
- B. No, I don't mind waiting.
- C. Sure, I'm headed that way.
- D. Later sounds like a good movie.
Answer: C. It is a request for a favour; C agrees and gives a reason. A takes "dropping" literally, B answers a question about waiting, and D just echoes "later". Echoed words are the commonest distractor in this task.
Question 12. You hear: "Where's the writing center located?"
- A. It opens at nine sharp.
- B. On the second floor of Brown Hall.
- C. I wrote it yesterday afternoon.
- D. She's a really helpful tutor.
Answer: B. A "where" question needs a place. A answers "when", C echoes "writing", D describes a person. Hold the question word in your head while the options play.
Writing: Build a Sentence
As Myndaq models it: arrange the given words into one correct sentence.
Question 13. this / bring / forgot / my / class / I / morning. / to / to / textbook
Answer: I forgot to bring my textbook to class this morning. The capitalised word and the word with the full stop fix the ends. Then pair the pieces that must go together: forgot to bring, to class, this morning.
Question 14. I / find / challenging / balancing / is / study. / work / What / most / and
Answer: What I find most challenging is balancing work and study. A What-cleft: "What I find most challenging" is the subject, is the verb, and "balancing work and study" the complement. Recognising the pattern is faster than trying orders.
Question 15. harder, / exam / studied / easily. / she / would / passed / she / Had / have / the
Answer: Had she studied harder, she would have passed the exam easily. A third conditional with inversion — Had she studied replaces If she had studied. The capital H and the comma after harder tell you where the first clause starts and ends.
How to use practice like this
Match your practice to the current test, not the old one. The new Reading and Listening sections open with short, fast tasks — Complete the Words, Listen and Choose a Response — that reward instant recognition, and the Writing section begins with sentence-building rather than an essay. Practise those short tasks for speed and accuracy, then build stamina on the longer passages and talks. For the structure in full, see the TOEFL iBT syllabus and sections; for test-day rules, see the TOEFL iBT guide.
Quick answers
Are there TOEFL iBT previous year papers?
Not usefully. The test is adaptive, so there is no fixed paper, and it changed in January 2026, so older papers practise task types that no longer exist.
How many questions are on the new TOEFL iBT?
ETS's published design is 50 Reading, 47 Listening, 12 Writing and 11 Speaking items, though time and items may vary as the test adapts.
What is Complete the Words?
A Reading task type introduced with the January 2026 format. In Myndaq's practice version you complete partly written words in a paragraph.
Is there a break in the TOEFL iBT?
No. ETS says there are no scheduled breaks; allow about two hours in total.
How is the new TOEFL scored?
Each section from 1 to 6 in half bands, with the overall the average rounded to the nearest half band.
