How to use these samples
Speaking samples don't include audio. The transcripts are designed to be read aloud — pair the band 5 Interview transcript with a recording of yourself reading it, then compare. The gap you hear is the same gap a TOEFL examiner would score against the rubric. The Listen-and-Repeat walkthrough includes stress patterns marked with capitalisation; reading those aloud gives you a precise rhythm template that's far more reliable than guessing where the stress falls.
The TOEFL 2026 Speaking rubric in plain English
The official ETS TOEFL iBT 2026 Speaking rubric scores each task on five criteria: pronunciation (intelligibility, not native-like accent), fluency (continuous speech without long pauses), grammar (accuracy and range of structures), vocabulary (range and precision), and content (substantive engagement with the question). The most leveraged criterion to improve at the band 3-4 boundary is fluency. Eliminating filler words ('um', 'ah', restarted sentences) is worth more points than vocabulary expansion at this level. The most leveraged criterion at the band 4-5 boundary is content: replacing generic answers with one specific concrete example.
Practise on real TOEFL Speaking tests
Reading transcripts builds pattern recognition. Recording your own responses and submitting them for rubric-anchored expert evaluation is what actually moves your band. Take a free TOEFL Speaking practice test — 7 Listen-and-Repeat items plus 4 Interview questions in the live-test 7-second / 44-second format.