TOEFL 2026 Reading: three task types, and the one that decides the band
The old Reading section was two long academic passages and twenty questions. The 2026 section is fifty items in three task types, most of them on texts shorter than this paragraph, and thirty of them belong to a task that did not exist before: Complete the Words. It is also adaptive, and the only section that lets you move around. This guide covers what each task asks as ETS defines it, how the section runs on screen, and how to spend a clock you are allowed to manage.
The three task types
Counts and CEFR ranges are ETS's: 50 items, 35 raw points, one point per scored item.
| Task type | Items | CEFR | What you see | What it tests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complete the Words | 30 | B1–C1+ | A short academic text with words partly removed; the opening letters stand and the rest is blanks, one per missing letter | Whether you know the word the sentence needs: word-order rules, lexical knowledge and comprehension working together, which is why ETS files it under reading for form as well as meaning |
| Read in Daily Life | 5–15 | A1–C1 | Short non-academic texts drawn as the real thing — a notice, a message, a social-media post, a schedule, a menu — in sets of two or three questions | Purpose, the specific detail, and what the text implies but does not say |
| Read an Academic Passage | 5–15 | B1–C2 | A passage in the academic register of up to about 200 words, which stays on screen throughout | Main ideas, key details, inferred meaning, the relationship between ideas, and rhetorical structure; a vocabulary item highlights its target word in the text |
How the section runs
Two stages. The router, which ETS times at 18 to 21 minutes, is the same for everyone; how you do on it decides whether the second module, 9 minutes, leans easier or harder. Both stages hold the same mix of the three tasks. The clock belongs to the module, not to the question: within a module you choose the order and the pace.
- 1
Directions
A screen naming the three task types and the item range for the section. Not on the clock.
- 2
Complete the Words
Ten gapped words on one screen. Each gap is a row of boxes, one per missing letter; typing a letter fills a box and moves the cursor on, and a completed word loses its grey. The counter shows the ten as a block, not one at a time.
- 3
Everything else, one question per screen
The text fixed on the left — a notice or a post drawn as it would really look, or the academic passage — and one question with plain options on the right. A vocabulary question highlights its word in the text.
- 4
Back, Next, and free movement
Both buttons are present. You may leave a question blank and return to it, and move to any question in the module. A blank at the end of the module is simply wrong; there is no penalty beyond that.
- 5
End of module
A screen closes the router; the second module begins with its own clock. The router cannot be reopened.
Each task, and where it goes wrong
Complete the Words
Thirty of the fifty items, and new to the TOEFL. A short academic text has words cut in half: the opening letters are printed, the rest is a row of boxes, one per missing letter. You type the ending. Because the gap's length is fixed, the task is not a synonym hunt — there is one word that fits the letters shown, the number of boxes, the grammar of the slot and the sense of the sentence, and the task is to find it. ETS describes what it measures as word-order rules, lexical knowledge and comprehension working together, which is why the task counts as reading and not as spelling.
Where it goes wrong:filling gaps left to right without reading the sentence to its end. The slot's part of speech, its number and its tense are decided by words that may come after it. Read the whole sentence, decide what kind of word is missing, then let the printed letters and the box count narrow it. If nothing comes, move on: Reading lets you return, and the next sentence often gives the word away.
Read in Daily Life
Texts you meet outside a classroom, drawn as themselves: a notice with a heading, a post inside a phone screen, a message, a timetable. ETS puts the easiest at 15 to 50 words. Sets of two or three questions ask what the text is for, what one detail is, and what follows from it — who a rule applies to, what a reader is expected to do, what a writer is implying but not stating. This is the task that reaches down to A1, so its easier items lift a low band; its C1 items turn on implication.
Where it goes wrong: reading the text as prose and missing the format. A date in a masthead, a name under a post, a line struck through in a schedule are all part of the text, and the question may rest on one of them.
Read an Academic Passage
A passage in the academic register — the sciences, history, the arts, social studies — of up to about 200 words, calibrated for difficulty rather than length. The passage stays visible while you answer. The questions are the ones the old test asked of seven-hundred-word passages, now asked of a paragraph or two: the main idea, a key detail, an inference, how two ideas relate, why the writer put a sentence where it is, and what a word means in this context — that last one with the word highlighted in the text. It is the only Reading task that runs to C2.
Where it goes wrong: answering from memory of the passage rather than from the passage. It is on screen; the inference and structure questions are answered by finding the exact sentence and reading what precedes and follows it.
How hard the texts are, in ETS's own numbers
The blueprint is unusually specific about text difficulty. Easier texts run 15 to 50 words; the most complex extend to about 200. Complexity is calibrated with ETS's TextEvaluator: medium texts score roughly 800 to 1,100, which ETS equates to grades 10–11, and harder texts 1,100 to 1,360 and above, grades 11–12 and beyond. In Flesch–Kincaid terms, medium is 7.4 to 10.5 and hard is 10.5 upward.
The practical reading: the test is not asking you to survive length, it is asking you to read dense sentences accurately. A 200-word passage at grade 12 has fewer places to hide a misunderstanding than a 700-word one, and the questions are written to find it.
What the CEFR ranges mean in this section
ETS's descriptors for Reading, condensed:
A1–A2
Recognise familiar words and basic phrases in short, simple texts; apply spelling and word-form knowledge to fill predictable gaps; recognise simple syntactic patterns; understand information in common non-linear formats; identify the purpose of a short written communication; recognise what a pronoun refers to; read both prose and telegraphic language.
B1–B2
Understand moderately complex texts; use morphological and syntactic cues to infer a missing word or phrase; handle informal language and common idiom; identify a writer's purpose in a piece of correspondence; find supporting facts; scan for detail and skim for main ideas; read with independence across text types, identifying arguments, viewpoints and support.
C1–C2
Understand a wide range of longer texts on complex subjects that call on lexical, morphological and discourse knowledge together; follow advanced syntax and cohesive devices; connect information across a text; infer what is implied but not stated; interpret nuance, idiom and subtle distinctions in meaning.
Note where Complete the Words sits: B1 to C1+. The gaps are not a beginner's task, and the harder ones assume the vocabulary of academic prose. It is the task most worth building a word stock for.
Spending a clock you are allowed to manage
- The router is longer than the module. ETS gives the router 18 to 21 minutes and the second module 9. Whatever the exact item split, the second module is shorter than the first, and it is the one whose difficulty you earned. Do not arrive at it with the router's habits.
- Do the gaps first, fast, then return. Complete the Words rewards a first pass at speed — fill what is obvious, skip what is not — and a second pass with the sentences already read. Free movement is what makes the second pass possible; use it.
- Read the question before the daily-life text. These texts are short and formatted; the question tells you which part of the format to look at.
- Keep the passage on screen and go back to it. Every academic-passage question is answerable from a specific sentence. Find it.
- Leave nothing blank at the end of a module. There is no penalty for a wrong answer and no way back after the module closes. A guess is worth a quarter of a point on average; a blank is worth nothing.
- Treat the router as the exam. It decides the second module, and with it the ceiling on the band.
How the Reading practice here works
A 20-item router with the test's task mix — ten gapped words, two daily-life sets, an academic passage — then a 20-item second module chosen on the server from your router score, so the branch you did not take is never sent to you. Gaps are drawn as they are on the test, one box per missing letter, with the cursor moving on as you type; daily-life texts are drawn as notices and posts, not as prose; the vocabulary question highlights its word; Back, Next and free movement work as they do on test day. The report marks every item against the sentence it turned on and gives an estimated band, and says which branch you sat, because the same raw score means different things after each.
Questions about Reading
How long is the Reading section?
ETS times the router at 18 to 21 minutes and the second module at 9 minutes — 27 to 30 minutes in all, excluding the direction screen. The clock counts the module, not the question, so inside a module you decide where the time goes.
Can I skip a question and come back?
Inside a module, yes. Reading has Back and Next, you may leave a question unanswered, and you may move freely among the module's questions until its clock runs out. What you cannot do is return to the first module once the second has begun. That makes Reading the one section where a deliberate order of attack pays.
What exactly is Complete the Words?
A text in which some words have been cut: the first letters are printed and the remainder is a row of blanks, one blank per missing letter, so the length of the gap is itself a clue. You type the letters; the cursor moves on as each word fills. Ten words share a screen. ETS ranges it B1 to C1+ and gives it 30 of the section's 50 items, which makes it the largest single task on the whole test.
How long are the passages now?
Short. ETS puts the easiest texts at 15 to 50 words and says the most complex extend to about 200. The academic passage is calibrated for difficulty, not length — ETS cites TextEvaluator scores of roughly 800–1100 for medium texts and 1100–1360 and above for harder ones, or Flesch–Kincaid 7.4–10.5 and 10.5 upward. The seven-hundred-word passages of the old test are gone.
Which task decides my Reading band?
Arithmetically, Complete the Words: 30 of 50 items. For the highest bands, the academic passage: it is the only task that runs to C2, and inference, idea-relationship and rhetorical-structure questions live there. A candidate who is quick and accurate at the gaps but loses the passage's harder questions plateaus; one who is strong on the passage but slow at the gaps runs out of clock.
How is Reading scored?
One point per scored item. ETS reports 50 items and 35 raw points, and says the item total includes unscored items being trialled — you are not told which. The raw score becomes a 1–6 band by equating against a calibrated pool, and because the second module differs in difficulty by branch, the same raw score is worth a different band after the upper and the lower module. ETS does not publish the conversion.
Sources: ETS, TOEFL iBT Test: 2026 Update — Test Blueprint and Specifications (task types, item counts, CEFR targets, text-length and readability figures, timing), with the CEFR descriptors condensed from that document; screen behaviour from the official TOEFL iBT practice interface as observed. Checked 5 September 2026. ExamStep is an independent practice resource and is not affiliated with ETS. TOEFL® and TOEFL iBT® are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service.
In this series: the whole 2026 format · what changed · Listening · Writing · Speaking · The 1–6 score scale · registration, fees and dates.