TOEFL 2026 Speaking: The Interview-Style Format and How to Prepare

The delivery still happens on a computer at a test centre or in a proctored at-home environment. You are not talking to a live human examiner. What changed is the pacing and the way prompts are framed: instead of six discrete tasks with hard cut-offs, you now move through a shorter, more coherent sequence that feels closer to a natural conversation.

ETS lists two Speaking task types for the current test: Listen and Repeat, and Take an Interview. Together they account for 11 Speaking items with roughly 8 minutes of base time, so individual responses are short and the section moves quickly.

The scoring criteria for Speaking are broadly the same as before, and align with the CEFR bands used across the new test:

Because the format is more conversational, candidates trained on the old six-task drills often make three mistakes:

Practise speaking to a timer, out loud, every day for two to four weeks before the test. Recording yourself and listening back is the single highest-leverage habit — you will hear filler words, hedging, and unclear pronunciation that you do not notice while speaking.

For interview items, build the habit of taking a few seconds to pick one position and one supporting reason before you start speaking. A short pause is much better than false starts.

For Listen and Repeat items, practise repeating spoken sentences of increasing length immediately after hearing them, focusing on complete phrases, stress, and clear endings.

Older prep materials still help with the fundamentals: pronunciation drills, common academic vocabulary, note-taking on lectures, and the habit of structuring a spoken response.

What does not transfer well: the rigid six-task templates, the strict 45- or 60-second timing markers baked into old practice apps, and the memorised opening phrases ("There are two main reasons why I believe...") that used to open independent responses. On the new format, these sound obviously scripted.