Since January 2026 a TOEFL iBT score report shows a number between 1 and 6 where it used to show a number between 0 and 120. If your university's admissions page still says "TOEFL 90" or "TOEFL 100", you need to know what that means on the new scale, and if you have an IELTS or PTE score you need to know how it compares. This article reproduces the tables ETS and Pearson publish, explains how to read them, and is careful about the one thing those tables do not do: tell you what any institution will accept.
Every figure in this guide is taken from the ETS and Pearson pages linked below — last verified 6 September 2026. For an interactive version of the same tables, use the TOEFL, IELTS and PTE score converter.
What changed in the TOEFL score scale
For tests taken on or after 21 January 2026, ETS reports each of the four sections - Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking - on a 1 to 6 scale in half-band steps, and an overall score on the same scale. The overall score is the average of the four section scores, rounded to the nearest half band. ETS's own examples: an average of 5.125 becomes an overall 5, and an average of 5.25 becomes 5.5. Because rounding happens at the quarter-band boundary, two candidates whose section averages differ by a tenth of a band can receive different overall scores.
To ease the transition, ETS states that for two years every score report carries three things: the CEFR level, the 1 to 6 overall and section scores, and a comparable 0 to 120 overall score. That comparable score is what lets you read an old admissions requirement against a new report. Scores stay active for two years, so until early 2028 institutions will be receiving a mix of legacy 0 to 120 reports from tests taken before the change and new-scale reports with the comparable figure.
The official band to 0-120 table
ETS publishes the legacy total that corresponds to the bottom of each new band. Read each line as "this band or higher":
- Band 6 corresponds to a legacy total of 114 or more.
- Band 5.5 corresponds to 107 or more.
- Band 5 corresponds to 95 or more.
- Band 4.5 corresponds to 86 or more.
- Band 4 corresponds to 72 or more.
- Band 3.5 corresponds to 58 or more.
- Band 3 corresponds to 44 or more.
- Band 2.5 corresponds to 34 or more.
- Band 2 corresponds to 24 or more.
- Band 1.5 corresponds to 12 or more.
- Band 1 covers everything from 0 upwards.
The bands are not equal in width on the old scale. Band 4 spans 72 to 85, fourteen legacy points, while band 6 covers only 114 to 120. That matters when you convert a requirement: an old minimum of 80 sits inside band 4, an old 90 inside band 4.5, an old 100 inside band 5, and an old 110 inside band 5.5. An institution that used to ask for 80 therefore cannot simply ask for "band 4", because band 4 starts at 72; which way it rounds its requirement is the institution's choice, and you should read its current page rather than infer it.
The CEFR level of each band
ETS aligns the new scale to the Common European Framework in pairs of bands, for the overall score and for each section:
- Band 6 is C2.
- Bands 5 and 5.5 are C1.
- Bands 4 and 4.5 are B2.
- Bands 3 and 3.5 are B1.
- Bands 2 and 2.5 are A2.
- Bands 1 and 1.5 are A1.
This is the most useful table for anyone whose target is expressed as a level rather than a number - many European universities and some visa routes ask for B2 or C1. On the legacy scale, B2 corresponds to 72 to 94 and C1 to 95 to 113.
TOEFL to IELTS: how ETS publishes the relationship
The IELTS comparison is the one most often misquoted, because ETS publishes it the other way round from how people search for it. The table is keyed by IELTS band and gives, for each band, the TOEFL 1 to 6 score in each section and in total. The total column reads:
- IELTS 9, 8.5 and 8 all correspond to a TOEFL total of 6.
- IELTS 7.5 corresponds to a TOEFL total of 5.5.
- IELTS 7 corresponds to 5.
- IELTS 6.5 corresponds to 4.5.
- IELTS 6 corresponds to 4.
- IELTS 5.5 corresponds to 3.5.
- IELTS 5 corresponds to 2.5.
- IELTS 4.5 corresponds to 2.
- IELTS 4 corresponds to 1.5.
Three consequences follow. First, going from TOEFL to IELTS is not always a single answer: a TOEFL 6 corresponds to IELTS 8, 8.5 or 9, and no IELTS band at all lands on a TOEFL total of 3 or 1. Second, the section-level equivalents are not the same as the total. For IELTS 7, ETS gives Reading 4.5, Listening 5, Writing 5 and Speaking 4.5, with a total of 5; for IELTS 8.5 it gives Reading 5.5 and 6 in the other three sections. If an institution sets section minimums, use the section columns on the ETS page, not the total. Third, read against the legacy table, the total column places IELTS 7 with a TOEFL of 95 or more and IELTS 6.5 with 86 or more, which is how a paired requirement such as "IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL 90" can be checked for consistency.
Where PTE Academic fits
Pearson has not published a PTE to TOEFL relationship for the 2026 scale; its page says updated relationships with other providers, including TOEFL, will follow. What Pearson does publish, from research released in July 2025 on the updated PTE Academic, is a PTE to IELTS Academic concordance. It gives the minimum PTE score related to each IELTS band:
- PTE 90 relates to IELTS 9.
- PTE 86 relates to IELTS 8.5.
- PTE 79 relates to IELTS 8.
- PTE 71 relates to IELTS 7.5.
- PTE 63 relates to IELTS 7.
- PTE 55 relates to IELTS 6.5.
- PTE 47 relates to IELTS 6.
- PTE 39 relates to IELTS 5.5.
- PTE 31 relates to IELTS 5.
- PTE 24 relates to IELTS 4.5.
Pearson describes these as minimum thresholds, so a PTE score between two points has reached the lower band. Any PTE to TOEFL figure you see, including the one our converter shows, is produced by chaining the Pearson table into the ETS table through IELTS. That is a reasonable way to set a study target and an unreasonable thing to put on an application; we label it indicative for that reason.
Reading an old requirement on the new scale
A practical method, in order:
- Find the institution's current English requirement page. If it already states a 1 to 6 minimum, that number is the requirement and no conversion is needed.
- If the page still shows a 0 to 120 number, find the band whose lower bound is at or below it in the ETS table above, and note that the requirement sits inside that band rather than at its edge. An old 100 is inside band 5, not equal to it.
- Check whether the page sets section minimums. If it does, the section columns of the ETS IELTS table, or the institution's own section list, are what count.
- If your report is a new-scale report, the comparable 0 to 120 score printed on it is the figure to compare directly against an un-updated requirement, and the one to quote when you email admissions to ask.
- Write to the institution when the two readings disagree. ETS's tables describe how the scales relate; they do not bind any admissions office.
What counts as a good TOEFL score in 2026
There is no pass mark, so "good" means "meets the receiving institution's minimum with margin". In level terms, the ETS alignment puts B2 at bands 4 to 4.5 and C1 at bands 5 to 5.5. Legacy requirements of 80, 90 and 100, the figures commonly seen on admissions pages, fall between the start of band 4 and the start of band 5; a programme that asks for a legacy 100 or more is asking for band 5. Set the target from the institution's page, then use the rounding rule to your advantage: because the overall is an average of four sections, a half-band gain in your strongest section can lift the overall as effectively as the same gain in your weakest.
Preparation for the new-format test is covered in the TOEFL iBT 2026 guide, and the Myndaq TOEFL iBT course practises the 2026 task types with section-level feedback. If you are still deciding between tests, the IELTS vs TOEFL vs PTE vs Duolingo comparison sets format against format.
Quick answers
What is TOEFL 100 on the new scale?
A legacy total of 100 falls inside band 5, which ETS defines as 95 or more, and corresponds to CEFR C1. Band 5.5 begins at 107.
What is TOEFL band 4 in the old scale?
Band 4 corresponds to a legacy total of 72 or more, up to 85, and to CEFR B2. Band 4.5 begins at 86.
What is the IELTS equivalent of TOEFL 5?
On ETS's table an IELTS 7 corresponds to a TOEFL total of 5. Section equivalents differ: for IELTS 7 ETS lists Reading 4.5, Listening 5, Writing 5 and Speaking 4.5.
Is TOEFL 6 the same as IELTS 9?
ETS lists IELTS 8, 8.5 and 9 all against a TOEFL total of 6, so a 6 corresponds to the whole top of the IELTS scale rather than to 9 alone.
How is the TOEFL overall score calculated in 2026?
It is the average of the four section scores rounded to the nearest half band. ETS's examples are 5.125 becoming 5 and 5.25 becoming 5.5.
Will my score report still show a 0-120 score?
For two years from the January 2026 change, ETS states that every report shows the CEFR level, the 1 to 6 scores and a comparable 0 to 120 overall score.
Can I convert PTE to TOEFL officially?
Not yet. Pearson publishes a PTE to IELTS concordance from July 2025 and says relationships with other providers including TOEFL will follow. Any PTE to TOEFL figure today is chained through IELTS and indicative.
