Why this printable beats the TOEFL PDFs you find elsewhere
Search for a TOEFL practice test PDF and most of what comes back is old. The files circulating on page one include a 2003 practice test, a scan of a 2011 Official Guide, and assorted uploads to document-sharing sites. They all use the retired format: 700-word reading passages, four separate speaking tasks, and the old independent essay. If you practise on those, you are rehearsing a test that no longer exists.
This page is the alternative: a complete practice test written for the current 2026 format, with an answer key, on one printable page. Hit the button above (or press Ctrl+P / Cmd+P) and choose Save as PDF as the destination. Same result as a downloaded file, except that when the test is updated, the printable page reflects it. No email, no signup, no ad-walled download.
What the 2026 test actually looks like
Roughly two hours, four sections, adaptive Reading and Listening.
| Section | Time | Tasks in this printable |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | 18–27 min | Complete the Words, Read in Daily Life, Academic Passage |
| Listening | ~29 min | Conversation and Academic Talk, printed as transcripts |
| Writing | 20–25 min | Build a Sentence, Write an Email, Academic Discussion |
| Speaking | ~16 min | Listen and Repeat, Take an Interview |
One honest limitation: paper cannot play audio. The Listening section below is printed as full transcripts, so you can either have someone read them aloud to you at a natural pace or use them to study the question types. For the real timed audio, take the free online listening test.
Section 1 — Reading
Task 1: Complete the Words
Type or write the missing second half of each word so the paragraph makes sense. 10 items.
Coral reefs support a quarter of all marine spec____ despite covering less than one per cent of the ocean floor. The reef itself is built by tiny anim____ called polyps, which secrete a hard skele____ of calcium carbonate over thou____ of years. Warming water causes the polyps to expel the algae living inside them, a process known as blea____. Without those algae the coral loses both its col____ and its main food sour____. Scien____ monitor reef temperature closely, because a rise of only one or two deg____ sustained for weeks can dam____ a reef that took centuries to for____.
Task 2: Read in Daily Life
A campus notice. Answer questions 11 and 12.
Notice: Library Group Study Rooms
From 1 October, group study rooms on floors 2 and 3 must be booked online at least 24 hours in advance. Walk-in use is no longer possible during term time. Bookings are limited to three hours per group per day, and a room is released if nobody arrives within 15 minutes of the start time. Floor 4 remains open for individual study with no booking required.
- What is the main purpose of this notice?
A. To announce longer library hours B. To explain a new booking rule for group rooms C. To close floor 4 D. To advertise a new library building - A group books a room for 10:00 but arrives at 10:20. What happens?
A. They keep the room B. They are fined C. The room has been released D. They must move to floor 4
Task 3: Read an Academic Passage
About 200 words, as on the current test. Answer questions 13 to 15.
Passage: The cost of birdsong
Male songbirds sing to attract mates and to warn rivals away from a territory. Singing, however, is expensive. A bird that sings at dawn burns energy it could have spent foraging, and a loud, sustained song advertises its position to predators as clearly as it does to potential mates. Biologists therefore treat song as an honest signal: only a bird in genuinely good condition can afford to sing long and loudly without starving or being caught. This explains an otherwise puzzling observation. In years when food is scarce, dawn choruses are noticeably shorter, and the birds that do sing tend to be the heaviest individuals in the population. It also explains why females appear to prefer complex songs. Complexity requires a large repertoire, and building a repertoire takes months of learning during a bird's first year, a period when a weak or poorly fed bird has little spare capacity. A complex song is thus a record of a healthy youth, not merely a pleasant sound.
- According to the passage, why is singing costly for a songbird?
A. It damages the bird's voice B. It uses energy and reveals the bird's location to predators C. It reduces the size of the territory D. It prevents the bird from learning new songs - The word "honest" in the passage is closest in meaning to:
A. truthful about the singer's actual condition B. pleasant C. loud D. inherited - It can be inferred from the passage that a bird with a very complex song:
A. was probably well fed in its first year B. sings only when food is scarce C. has a small territory D. avoids predators entirely
Section 2 — Listening (transcripts)
Have someone read these aloud once, at normal speed, while you take notes. Do not read ahead to the questions.
Task 1: Conversation
Answer questions 16 and 17.
Student: Excuse me, I registered for the field methods course but it's not showing in my schedule.
Advisor: Let me look. Ah, I see the problem. Field methods has a lab component, and the lab section fills separately. You registered for the lecture but not the lab, so the system dropped the whole thing.
Student: Nobody told me that. Can I still get in?
Advisor: There's one lab section left, Thursday afternoons. If that works, I can add both right now. But I should warn you, that section meets off campus, so you'd need to arrange transport.
Student: Thursday is fine, and I have a bike. Let's do it.
- Why is the course missing from the student's schedule?
A. The course was cancelled B. He did not register for the required lab section C. He missed the deadline D. He has unpaid fees - What does the advisor warn the student about?
A. The lab is off campus B. The course is very difficult C. The lecture is full D. The lab has extra fees
Task 2: Academic Talk
Answer questions 18 to 20.
Professor: Today I want to talk about why some inventions spread quickly and others don't, and the answer often has little to do with how good the invention is. Take the QWERTY keyboard. It was designed in the 1870s, and one common story is that the layout deliberately slowed typists down to stop mechanical typewriter arms from jamming. Faster layouts were proposed later. The Dvorak layout, for instance, claimed real efficiency gains. But QWERTY had already been learned by a generation of typists, and typewriter manufacturers had built their machines around it. Switching would have meant retraining everyone at once. Economists call this path dependence: an early, somewhat arbitrary choice locks in because the cost of coordinating a change grows with every new user. The lesson is that in technology, being first and being widely taught often beats being best.
- What is the main idea of the talk?
A. QWERTY is the fastest keyboard layout B. Early adoption can lock in a technology regardless of quality C. Typewriters were poorly built D. Dvorak never worked - Why does the professor mention the Dvorak layout?
A. To give an example of a better design that failed to displace an established one B. To show QWERTY was fastest C. To criticise economists D. To describe a modern invention - What does "path dependence" mean here?
A. An early choice becomes locked in as more people adopt it B. Inventions always improve C. Typists prefer slow keyboards D. Manufacturers control research
Section 3 — Writing
Task 1: Build a Sentence
Write one grammatically correct sentence using all the given words. Do not add extra ideas.
- library / because / closed / renovation / the / is
- if / had / studied / she / more / passed / would / have / she
- despite / rain / the / match / continued / the
Task 2: Write an Email
About 7 minutes. Cover every point the situation asks for.
You booked a group study room for a project meeting, but when you arrived another group was using it and refused to leave. Write an email to the library administrator. Explain what happened, state when you had booked the room, and ask what will be done so it does not happen again.
Task 3: Writing for an Academic Discussion
About 10 minutes. At least 100 words. State and support your own opinion, and engage with the classmates.
Professor Adeyemi
Some universities now record every lecture and post it online. Critics say attendance collapses when students know a recording exists. Should universities record all lectures? Why or why not?
Priya
Record everything. Students who work part time or get sick should not be punished for missing a class they paid for.
Tomas
I disagree. Discussion dies when half the room is absent, and lectures are where you ask questions in real time.
Section 4 — Speaking
Task 1: Listen and Repeat
Have someone read each sentence once. Repeat it exactly, at a natural pace.
- The seminar has been moved to the room across the hall.
- She submitted her application well before the deadline.
- Most of the equipment we ordered has not arrived yet.
Task 2: Take an Interview
15 seconds to prepare, 45 seconds to answer each. Record yourself.
- Do you prefer to study in the morning or in the evening? Explain why, with an example.
- Some people say a university should teach practical skills rather than theory. What is your view?
- Describe a place in your home town you would recommend to a visitor, and say why.
- Is it better to work alone or in a team on an important project? Give reasons.
Answer key
Reading
Complete the Words (1–10): species, animals, skeleton, thousands, bleaching, colour, source, Scientists, degrees, damage, form. (Accept "color" for the US spelling.)
11. B — the notice exists to announce the new 24-hour booking rule. A and D are not mentioned; floor 4 stays open, so C is wrong.
12. C — "a room is released if nobody arrives within 15 minutes." Twenty minutes is past that.
13. B — the passage says singing burns energy that could go to foraging and advertises position to predators.
14. A — "honest signal" means the song truthfully reflects the bird's real condition. Substituting each option back into the sentence is the reliable method here.
15. A — a repertoire takes months of learning in the first year, when a poorly fed bird has little spare capacity. The inference is forced by the text, which is what makes it correct rather than a guess.
Listening
16. B — the lab section fills separately and he only took the lecture, so the system dropped it.
17. A — "that section meets off campus, so you'd need to arrange transport."
18. B — the talk's point is that early, widely-taught choices lock in.
19. A — Dvorak is the example of a better design that still lost.
20. A — the professor defines it directly.
Writing
21. The library is closed because of the renovation. 22. If she had studied more, she would have passed. 23. Despite the rain, the match continued.
Email: a strong answer opens by stating why you are writing, gives the booking time and what you found, and closes with a specific request. Missing any one of the three required points caps the band no matter how good the English is.
Academic Discussion: put your opinion in the first sentence, name Priya or Tomas to show you read the thread, give one reason with a concrete example, and land between 100 and 130 focused words. See the writing practice guide for a full model answer and breakdown.
Speaking
Listen and Repeat is scored on how completely and accurately you reproduce the sentence, so repeat the whole thing even if you miss a word. For the interview questions, state your choice in the first two seconds, then give two reasons, each with one specific detail. Aim to start your second reason by the 25-second mark.
What to do after you print this
A printed test gets you the questions and the reasoning. What it cannot give you is real audio, real timing pressure, or a score. Do the paper version first to learn the shape of each task, then sit the same format online:
- Free full-length TOEFL mock test — all four sections, timed, with a 1 to 6 band score at the end
- Listening tests with real audio — what a printable cannot replicate
- Reading tests and writing tests — section practice with expert feedback
- Score calculator — turn a raw score into a band and CEFR level
- TOEFL practice test guide and the 2026 format changes — the wider picture
FAQ
Why not give an actual PDF file?
Because a downloaded PDF goes stale the moment the test changes, which is exactly what happened to the 2003 and 2011 files still circulating today. The browser-print path always renders the current version. Press the button at the top or Ctrl+P / Cmd+P and pick "Save as PDF" as the destination.
Does this printable test include the listening audio?
Paper cannot play audio, so the Listening section is printed as full transcripts. Have someone read them aloud once at normal speed while you take notes, or use them to study the question types. For real timed audio, take the free online listening test.
Is this the current 2026 TOEFL format?
Yes. It uses the current tasks: Complete the Words, Read in Daily Life and a roughly 200-word academic passage for Reading; Build a Sentence, Write an Email and Writing for an Academic Discussion for Writing; and Listen and Repeat plus the interview for Speaking. Most PDFs you will find elsewhere still use the retired 700-word passages and the old independent essay.
Does it come with answers?
Yes. Every Reading and Listening question has an answer with a short explanation of why it is right, and the Writing and Speaking tasks have marking notes describing what a strong response does. The explanations matter more than the letters, because the same reasoning repeats on every test.
How many pages does it print to?
The full test with the answer key runs to roughly 6 to 8 pages depending on paper size and margins. Use your browser's print preview to check before printing, and print the answer key separately if you would rather not see it while working.