TOEFL iBT Reading from January 2026
About 30 minutes, about 50 items
- Reading is about 30 minutes and about 50 items.
- The test is adaptive, so the exact time and mix can vary.
- There are three task types, not one long paper in the old style.
Practice
About how many minutes is TOEFL Reading? Use the figure ETS publishes.
ETS says about 30 minutes and 50 items. The test is adaptive, so the exact time can vary.
Complete the Words and Daily Life
- Complete the Words: a short text with missing words. You use grammar and vocabulary, not a passage map.
- Read in Daily Life: emails, notices and other short practical texts.
- These two are why practising only academic articles is no longer enough.
Practice
Complete: Reading has about ___ items.
About 50 items across the three task types.
Read an Academic Passage
- A longer academic text with questions on it.
- You still need to find the main idea, a detail, and the writer's purpose.
- Do not spend the whole 30 minutes here. The other two tasks count as well.
Practice
Which Reading task uses everyday English, not a campus lecture?
Read in Daily Life is emails, notices and similar short texts. Academic Passage is the long one.
How to practise
- Use official sample tasks in the Library, then a full timed sitting on the ETS site if you want the adaptive mix.
- For Complete the Words, read the whole sentence before you fill the gap.
- For Daily Life, answer from the text in front of you, not from what an email "usually" says.
Practice
Everyone sees the same Reading questions in the same order.
From January 2026 the test adapts. A stronger first block leads to a harder second block.
2026 format
- Facts below follow the January 2026 test. A pre-2026 paper is a different exam.
- Sources, checked on 19 September 2026: TOEFL iBT content and structure, TOEFL iBT prepare.
Practice
Match each Reading task to what it is.
Practise all three. Only doing academic passages misses two of the three tasks.