IELTS vs TOEFL vs PTE vs Duolingo: TOEFL changed its scale in 2026

Most comparison pages for these four tests are describing a TOEFL that no longer exists. The scale changed in January 2026, and the change is not cosmetic — it altered what a TOEFL section score means.

What changed with TOEFL in 2026?

From ETS:

As of January 21, 2026, TOEFL iBT score reports feature a new 1 – 6 scale, in half point increments, with a more intuitive alignment to the Common European Framework of References for Language (CEFR).

The old 0–120 total, built from four 0–30 sections, has been replaced by a 1–6 scale in half-point steps — eleven possible values, deliberately close in shape to the CEFR’s six levels.

The old scores have not vanished overnight:

For a two-year transition period after January 2026, you will also receive a comparable overall score on the 0 – 120 scale, representing the midpoint of the corresponding total range.

So through to early 2028, a TOEFL report carries the CEFR level, the 1–6 scores and a 0–120 equivalent. After that, the 0–120 scale goes.

The reason ETS gives for the change is the interesting part. Under the old system, the CEFR level a section score represented varied by section — a 24 in reading did not mean the same thing as a 24 in speaking. Under the new scale, as ETS puts it, “a score of 5 on any section aligns with C1 proficiency for that particular section”. The scale was rebuilt so that the same number means the same level in every skill.

What is the official TOEFL to CEFR table?

Note that TOEFL covers A1 and A2, where IELTS does not — the official IELTS alignment stops at band 4, the bottom of B1, as we cover in IELTS to CEFR.

What is the official TOEFL to IELTS table?

This is the rarest document in this whole subject: a comparison between two competing exams, published by one of them.

Two independent boards agree on the boundaries. Chain the tables together: IELTS 7 maps to TOEFL 5, which ETS places at C1. IELTS’s own diagram also places band 7 at C1. IELTS 6.5 maps to TOEFL 4.5, which is B2 — and IELTS also calls 6.5 B2. IELTS 8 maps to TOEFL 6, which is C2, matching the IELTS diagram again.

That agreement matters because the two organisations compete for the same candidates and have no incentive to flatter each other. When rivals converge on the same thresholds, the thresholds are probably real.

The section rows disagree with the totals, and that is the useful detail. At IELTS 7, the total maps to TOEFL 5 — but reading and speaking map to 4.5 while listening and writing map to 5. The two tests do not weight the four skills identically. If you are converting a score to decide whether to switch tests, converting the total will mislead you; convert the skill you are weakest in.

How do the four tests compare side by side?

PTE reports “an overall score of between 10 and 90, with 90 being the highest possible score”, and its published CEFR chart runs roughly from A2 at the low thirties to C2 above 76 — with substantial overlap between adjacent levels, which is itself an admission that these boundaries are fuzzy.

Which test should you take?

For most people this is decided by someone else, and that should be your first check rather than your last.

Take the test your institution accepts. Regulators in particular are restrictive. The UK’s nursing regulator, for example, accepts IELTS Academic and OET — and not TOEFL, PTE or Duolingo. Details in IELTS for nurses.

If a person makes you perform better than a microphone, IELTS. It is the only one of the four with a live human speaking examiner. Some candidates gain a band from that; others freeze.

If you need a result quickly and cheaply, PTE or Duolingo. Both are computer-delivered with fast turnarounds, and Duolingo is significantly cheaper and takes about an hour. Acceptance is narrower, especially for visas and professional registration.

If you are already inside the American university system, TOEFL is the most familiar to admissions offices there — and the new 1–6 scale makes reading it against CEFR far easier than it used to be.

Does the choice of test decide your application?

Whichever test you choose, the score you are judged on is usually not the overall one. Institutions overwhelmingly set minimums per skill, and an overall score can clear the bar while one skill fails it.

We enumerated the full IELTS scoring space — all 130,321 possible score reports — to measure how large that gap is. Of the 4,255 reports producing an overall IELTS 7.0, only 15 satisfy the UK nursing regulator’s per-skill floors: 0.4 per cent. Even at an overall 8.0, fewer than half of possible reports comply. The full analysis is in what is a good IELTS score.

The same logic applies to TOEFL and PTE. Switching tests to chase a friendlier-looking number rarely helps, because the weakness travels with you. If your reading is B2, it is B2 on all four exams, and every one of them will find it.

That is a comprehension problem, not an exam-technique problem, and it responds to volume rather than tactics — consistent reading slightly above your comfort level, which is what the CEFR level pages here map out and what Leo is built to sustain.

Where do these figures come from?

• TOEFL 1–6 scale, effective date and transition: ETS, TOEFL iBT Score Breakdown and TOEFL iBT Score Scale Update. Checked 29 August 2026.
• The TOEFL–CEFR and TOEFL–IELTS tables: same ETS score scale update page.
• TOEFL validity: ETS, Scores and Score Reports FAQ.
• IELTS CEFR alignment: Guide to IELTS scores, IELTS, 2025 edition, page 12.
• PTE scale and CEFR chart: Pearson, Understand your PTE Academic Score.
• The 130,321 count: our own exhaustive enumeration of the IELTS scoring space.

Exam boards are revising their scales right now — TOEFL changed seven months ago and the transition runs to 2028. Every figure here carries the date it was checked. Confirm with your institution before booking, and be wary of any comparison table that does not tell you when it was written.