Nivelo Guide
TOEFL Writing: What a 24 Became on the New 1–6 Scale
ETS retired the 0–30 section score on 21 January 2026 and rebuilt the Writing section around three tasks. Here's the number to aim at now — and what to do in the two years while everyone still quotes the old one.
What is a good TOEFL Writing score now?
Aim for 5.0 on the 1–6 Writing scale — that is where a 24 out of 30 landed, and it is the bottom of ETS's C1 band. Since 21 January 2026 TOEFL iBT reports each section from 1 to 6 in half-point steps, and ETS maps those bands straight onto the CEFR: 6 is C2, 5.0 and 5.5 are C1, 4.0 and 4.5 are B2, 3.0 and 3.5 are B1. So a Writing 5.0 is a C1 performance, and a 4.5 is strong B2 — competitive for a great many programmes but short of the selective ones.
If you came here looking for "24", here is the honest translation. On the retired 0–30 Writing scale, ETS's own CEFR mapping put 24–28 at C1 and 17–23 at B2 — so 24 was the first score inside C1, which is exactly what a 5.0 is on the new scale. The target hasn't moved. Only the number describing it has.
| New Writing band (1–6) | CEFR | Old Writing score it replaces (0–30) | Roughly means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 | C2 | 29–30 | Precise, controlled, essentially error-free |
| 5.5 | C1 | ~26–28 | Comfortably above the bar at selective programmes |
| 5.0 | C1 | ~24–25 | The old "24+" target — competitive almost everywhere |
| 4.5 | B2 | ~21–23 | Solid upper-B2; meets many but not all requirements |
| 4.0 | B2 | ~17–20 | The bottom of B2 — clear but with visible limits |
| 3.0–3.5 | B1 | ~13–16 | Ideas arrive, control does not hold up under pressure |
What happened to the 0–30 TOEFL score?
ETS retired it on 21 January 2026 and replaced it with a 1–6 scale in half-point increments, designed to line up with the CEFR. The change runs through the whole report: each of the four sections is now scored 1–6, and — this is the part that catches people — the overall score is the average of the four section scores, rounded to the nearest half band, not a sum. Under the old system four section scores of 24 added up to 96 out of 120. Under the new one, four 5.0s produce an overall 5.0.
ETS did not simply switch the numbers over, though, and that is what makes the transition survivable. For the two years from January 2026 to January 2028, every score report carries three things at once: a CEFR level, the 1–6 overall and section scores, and a comparable overall score on the old 0–120 scale. ETS puts an overall 5.0 at 95+ on that comparable scale, 5.5 at 107+, 4.5 at 86+ and 4.0 at 72+.
What are the TOEFL Writing tasks now?
Three of them, across 12 items in about 23 minutes: Build a Sentence, Write an Email, and Write for an Academic Discussion. This is the part most TOEFL Writing advice online still gets wrong. The Integrated Writing task — read a passage, listen to a lecture that contradicts it, summarise how they relate — is not in ETS's current published structure. Neither is the 30-minute independent essay it replaced back in 2023. If a guide, a course or a tutor is drilling you on either, they are preparing you for a test that no longer exists.
| Task | What you do | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Build a Sentence | "Arrange words or phrases to form a complete and grammatical sentence or question" | Understanding of English sentence structure |
| Write an Email | "Write an email in an academic or social situation, such as making a request, giving information, or proposing a solution" | Writing clearly, staying on topic, following basic writing conventions |
| Write for an Academic Discussion | "Contribute to an online classroom discussion by stating and supporting your opinion" | Developing ideas, responding to others' viewpoints, writing in an academic tone |
Read the three together and the design intent is obvious. The section no longer tests whether you can execute one long academic essay under exam conditions; it tests whether you can produce accurate sentences, handle a real practical message, and hold your own in a discussion — three different registers in about twenty minutes. That rewards range and accuracy over a memorised template, which is the single biggest strategic change for anyone who prepared under the old format.
How do you score well on Build a Sentence?
By reading the whole set of fragments before you place any of them, and by letting grammar rather than meaning drive the order. The task gives you words or phrases to arrange into one complete, grammatical sentence or question, and it is testing structure specifically — which means the fastest route in is to find the pieces whose position is forced.
- Find the verb first. It tells you what the subject has to be and how many clauses you are building.
- Anchor the fixed pieces. A capitalised fragment starts the sentence; a question word forces question order; a subordinator (*because*, *although*, *which*, *that*) has to sit at the head of its clause.
- Check agreement and word order last. Subject–verb agreement, article before noun, adverb placement — these are what the item is actually scored on, and they are also what a rushed answer gets wrong.
- Read it back once, silently. If it sounds like something a person would write, it is almost certainly right; if you have to argue yourself into it, it isn't.
How do you write a strong TOEFL email?
Do everything the prompt asks, in the register the situation demands, and stop. ETS describes this task as writing an email in an academic or social situation — making a request, giving information, proposing a solution — and says it measures whether you write clearly, stay on topic and follow basic writing conventions. Every word of that is a scoring criterion, and "stay on topic" is where most candidates leak marks by padding.
- Count the tasks in the prompt. If it asks you to explain a problem *and* propose a solution, an email that only does the first is incomplete no matter how well written it is.
- Match the register to the recipient. Writing to a professor or an administrator is not writing to a classmate. Get the greeting, the level of directness and the sign-off consistent with each other — mixed register reads worse than plain, uniformly polite English.
- Open with the purpose. One sentence saying why you are writing. The reader — and the rater — should know your reason before the second line.
- Be specific. "I can't attend Thursday's seminar because of a medical appointment, and I'd like to ask how to catch up on the reading" scores over "I have a problem and need help."
- Close the loop. State what you want to happen next: a reply, a decision, a document, a meeting.
How do you score high on Write for an Academic Discussion?
Take a clear position, develop one reason properly, and engage with what a classmate has already said. ETS states that this task measures your ability to develop ideas, respond to others' viewpoints, and write in an academic tone — so a post that states an opinion without engaging anyone else is answering only two-thirds of the question, however fluent it is.
- Position in the first sentence. No warm-up. The rater should know where you stand before the second line.
- One reason, developed with a specific example. Depth beats a list. A concrete example — personal, hypothetical or drawn from something you know — is what turns an assertion into a developed idea.
- Engage a classmate by name. "While Marco is right that cost is the constraint, I'd argue the bigger problem is…" This is the move that demonstrates responding to others' viewpoints, and it is the one most candidates skip.
- Keep the tone academic but human. Hedge where you should (*tends to*, *in most cases*), avoid slang, and do not inflate the vocabulary to sound clever — precision reads as control, thesaurus English reads as strain.
How is TOEFL Writing scored?
Your responses are scored by a combination of automated scoring and certified human raters, and the result is reported as a single Writing band from 1 to 6 in half points, with a CEFR level attached. ETS does not publish how the three tasks are weighted against each other, or a raw-to-band conversion — so anyone showing you a precise formula is guessing.
What ETS does state is what the scoring is looking for, and it is consistent across the three tasks: clear communication of ideas, staying on topic, following basic writing conventions, developing an argument, responding to other viewpoints, and control of academic tone. Grammar and vocabulary are not scored as a separate category, but they are what every one of those judgements rests on — a good idea expressed inaccurately reads as a less clear idea.
It is worth knowing where your Writing band sits against the other exams, because that is how requirements get compared. ETS publishes its own IELTS concordance: a Writing 5.0 lines up with IELTS Writing 7.0, a 4.5 with 6.5, and a 4.0 with 6.0. Our TOEFL score to CEFR level page carries the full mapping, and if you are still choosing between exams, our guide to which English test to take compares TOEFL against IELTS, Duolingo and Cambridge on cost, speed and validity.
How long does it take to reach a 5.0 in Writing?
It depends almost entirely on where you are starting, because a Writing 5.0 is a C1 performance and no amount of task practice manufactures a C1. If you are already solidly B2 — a 4.0 or 4.5 in Writing terms — the gap is real but closeable: a few weeks of focused, feedback-driven practice on the three task types, with someone or something actually correcting the language, usually moves a half band. If you are at B1, the honest answer is months, and the work is range and accuracy before it is technique.
That ordering is the whole point. Drilling TOEFL tasks when the real gap is grammar and vocabulary is the most common way candidates waste a preparation cycle: the templates get sharper, the score doesn't move, and the sitting fee goes with it. Measure first, then decide what you are practising. Our free five-minute check gives you a CEFR-aligned estimate of where you stand, and the free week of Nivelo Pro that follows turns the gaps into daily writing practice with feedback.
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