Raushan
Raushan Kumar
Assistant Manager Content
Updated on Nov 19, 2025 22:01 IST
Getting a perfect score of 120 on the TOEFL iBT is a big goal that needs careful planning and practice. This guide will have useful TOEFL preparation tips to help you study effectively. You’ll learn about the test format, key strategies, tips to do well, and how to practice.

Scoring 120 in TOEFL iBT is not so easy, but you can still do it when you plan things right and keep practicing almost daily. You don’t need to be perfect, just stay steady with your TOEFL preparation. This small guide will help you score good TOEFL score.

How to Score 120 in TOEFL

Even when you get 100 in TOEFL iBT, many top universities still accept you. But scoring more always make you look better than other students. Getting full TOEFL 120 score is little difficult because the test is long and sometimes you get confused or make silly mistakes if you not prepare enough.

The TOEFL exam got four parts. Reading, then Listening, later Speaking, and at last Writing. Each one is 30 marks.

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Understanding TOEFL Exam Pattern

Before you do any practice, you should know how the test look like. When you know exam pattern, you will be less burdened on test day.

Section

TOEFL Exam Pattern

Description

TOEFL Reading Section

Duration: 35 minutes

Number of Questions = 20

Read passages and respond to questions.

TOEFL Listening Section

Duration: 36 minutes

Number of Questions = 28

Answer questions about brief lectures or classroom discussions.

TOEFL Speaking Section

Duration: 16 minutes

Number of Tasks 4 tasks

Talk about a familiar topic and discuss material you read and heard.

TOEFL Writing Section

Duration: 29 minutes

Number of Tasks = 2 tasks

Read a passage, listen to a recording, and type your response.

State and support an opinion in an online classroom discussion.

 

Total Duration: 116 minutes

 

Section Wise TOEFL Preparation Strategies

Below you see some easy tips for each TOEFL section. These points can help you get better score or maybe reach 120 in TOEFL if you try well.

TOEFL Reading

The Reading section checks how nice you understand big academic texts.

  • You can read small articles or journals every day. It slowly grow your vocabulary.
  • Try reading many different things like news or story books or study texts. Every writing style teach you something else.
  • Train yourself to find the main idea quickly, so you save more time in exam.
  • Use official TOEFL practice because it feels same like the real test.

TOEFL Listening

The TOEFL Listening has recordings of people talking or teaching something. It checks how good your ears understand English.

  • You might listen to English podcasts or news or even movies. Anything helps.
  • Try to listen for main idea first, then small details later. Take notes, even tiny ones, because they help a lot.
  • Do full listening tests with a timer so you know how fast you need to finish.
  • Watching movies in different accents also helps your brain adjust.
  • Read the transcript after listening so you see what you missed.

TOEFL Speaking

The Speaking section checks how clear and understandable you speak. Each task has score 0–4. If you want full marks, try getting 4 in most tasks.

  • Talk about simple things, but inside a small time limit. It makes your speaking faster and more smooth.
  • You can check ETS speaking guidelines to understand scoring.
  • Record speaking and listen again. You will notice mistakes you didn’t feel earlier.
  • Speak how you normally speak, just keep thoughts organised and pronounce words slow but clear.

TOEFL Writing

The TOEFL Writing section has 2 tasks: one uses reading and listening, and the other is an essay you write alone.

  • Reading ETS writing rules helps you know what they want.
  • Try writing essays with simple structure so ideas don’t get lost.
  • Practice writing with a timer or you may run out of time in the exam.
  • Check grammar mistakes at the end if you have few seconds.

Slowly work on vocabulary and try different sentence shapes.







Q&A Icon
Commonly asked questions
Q:   What is a good TOEFL score to study at Harvard University?
A: 

The TOEFL score requirement for MS courses in Harvard is 80-103. Candidates looking to take admission into Harvard can check out TOEFL score requirements for Harvard. 

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Written by
Raushan Kumar
Assistant Manager Content
Raushan Kumar is a skilled writer and a Study Abroad Expert in the Editorial Team at Shiksha. He oversees various aspects of studying abroad, including educational opportunities, entrance exams, colleges, latest new Read Full Bio
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