BestMyLingo GMAT TOEIC IELTS TOEFL
TOEFL Writing rubric: how the email and academic discussion tasks are scored

TOEFL Writing Rubric: How the Writing Score Works, Band 1 to 6

The TOEFL writing rubric is the set of rules the raters use to score your writing. This page explains it in plain words: how the email and discussion tasks are scored from 0 to 5, how your Writing band from 1 to 6 is built, and where our learners lose points. It covers all three tasks in the current TOEFL Writing test, so you’ll know exactly what the raters are looking for.

Table of Contents

What Is the TOEFL Writing Rubric?

The TOEFL iBT writing rubric is ETS’s scoring guide for the Write an Email and Write for an Academic Discussion tasks. Each task gets a score from 0 to 5 from a combination of AI scoring and certified human raters. Build a Sentence items are simply marked right or wrong. The three results then become one Writing section score on a band from 1 to 6.

ETS publishes the rubric for each task, but not how much each task counts toward the band, so the safest plan is to prepare for all three. The band uses half-point steps (3.0, 3.5, 4.0) and lines up with the CEFR levels in the table below.

TOEFL Writing Band Scores and CEFR Levels

Your TOEFL writing score is a band from 1 to 6 in half-point steps, and each band matches a CEFR level. The table below shows the match, as published by ETS, so you can see what your band says about your level.

TOEFL band

CEFR level

6

C2

5 to 5.5

C1

4 to 4.5

B2

3 to 3.5

B1

2 to 2.5

A2

1 to 1.5

A1

Most universities that ask for the TOEFL ask for band 4 or higher in Writing, which means B2. Every school is different, though, so check the exact band yours wants before you set your target.

TOEFL Write an Email Rubric

The TOEFL write an email rubric scores your email from 0 to 5 on one question: did you accomplish all three communicative goals in the prompt, in language the reader can follow? ETS uses a separate TOEFL writing grading rubric for each task, but the six levels run in parallel. In plain words, the email levels are:

  • 5, fully successful: all three goals are covered and well explained, the sentences vary, and there are almost no errors beyond a typo.
  • 4, generally successful: all three goals are covered with enough detail, the word choice fits, and there are few errors.
  • 3, partially successful: all three goals are addressed, but a detail is missing or unclear, and errors in sentence structure or word form are noticeable.
  • 2, mostly unsuccessful: the ideas are hard to follow, the language range is limited, and errors pile up.
  • 1, unsuccessful: the email attempts the task with few coherent ideas and serious, frequent errors.
  • 0: blank, off topic, not in English, or copied from the prompt.

Here’s a TOEFL write an email task from our practice bank with a sample email. Check it against the rubric as you read: it covers all three goals, in the order the task gives them, in a polite tone. That’s what a top-level email looks like.

Write an Email TOEFL Writing Sample Question
You recently visited a neighborhood cafe and had a very positive experience with both service and atmosphere. You would like to thank the owner, Ms. Flores, and suggest one new menu option that could help students who study there in the evening.

Write an email to Ms. Flores. In your email, do the following:

- Describe what you enjoyed about your visit.
- Suggest one new menu option and briefly describe it.
- Explain why you think this option would benefit customers.

Write as much as you can and complete the sentences.

Sample Email

Dear Ms. Flores,

I recently visited your cafe with my family, and I wanted to share how much we enjoyed the visit. The drinks were excellent, and the staff were welcoming and patient even during a busy time.

I would like to suggest one additional menu option: a small "study combo" that includes a drink and a light snack at a discounted price during evening hours. This could be especially useful for students who stay late to read or prepare assignments.

I believe this would be a good addition because it supports regular customers, encourages longer visits, and makes your cafe even more attractive for study groups.

Thank you for creating such a pleasant environment.

Best regards,
Jordan Kim
Feedback

The writing could be considered 6/6 because it addresses all required parts of the email task clearly and fully. The message uses an appropriate email format, maintains a polite tone, and develops each required point with specific supporting detail rather than simply listing ideas. Its organization is smooth from opening to closing, and the language is varied and accurate throughout. Because the response is complete, coherent, and well controlled, it fits a top-band answer.

Task Fulfillment — Email

Learn how to answer this question in a step-by-step interactive exercise

In 9,981 emails scored by our tutors, grammar was the lowest score most often, in 92% of them. The lowest average score was grammar at 2.6 out of 5, and the highest was task fulfillment at 3.7. In the emails our AI reviewed, spelling made up 23% of all corrections, and 78% of emails had at least one misspelled word. In other words, most learners reach the goals and lose their points on grammar.

Bar chart of the share of TOEFL discussion posts and emails by BestMyTest learners in which each of the six criteria was the lowest score

TOEFL Academic Discussion Rubric

The TOEFL academic discussion rubric scores your post from 0 to 5 as a contribution to the online discussion. The raters look for relevant, well-explained ideas, a variety of sentence structures, precise word choice, and few errors. The levels follow the same six steps as the email rubric:

  • 5: a relevant, very clearly expressed contribution with well-elaborated explanations and examples, varied syntax, and almost no errors.
  • 4: a relevant contribution that is easy to understand, with adequate explanation, varied syntax, and few errors.
  • 3: a mostly relevant contribution in which part of an explanation or example is missing or unclear, with some noticeable errors.
  • 2: an attempt to contribute, but the ideas are poorly elaborated or partly relevant and the errors make them hard to follow.
  • 1: an ineffective attempt with few coherent ideas and language mostly borrowed from the prompt.
  • 0: blank, off topic, not in English, or copied.

In 30,982 AI-reviewed discussion posts, grammar was the lowest criterion 84% of the time. The average scores out of 5 were grammar 2.6, vocabulary 2.8, coherence 2.9, support 3.0, organization 3.1, and task fulfillment 3.4. Length matters too. Longer posts score higher: 107 words at a score of 1, 120 words at a score of 1.5, 124 words at a score of 2, 129 words at a score of 2.5, 131 words at a score of 3, 138 words at a score of 3.5, 144 words at a score of 4, 150 words at a score of 4.5 and 154 words at a score of 5.

Bar chart of the average score per criterion, out of 5, of TOEFL academic discussion posts scored by AI and emails scored by tutors, written by BestMyTest learners

TOEFL Build a Sentence Scoring

Build a Sentence has no rubric. Each of the 10 items is simply right or wrong, and a reply is right when every piece sits in the correct gap. In 48,852 practice tests, the average was 3.6 out of 10. Our TOEFL build a sentence practice page explains the task with a free question and six tips.

How BestMyTest Scores Your TOEFL Writing Practice

When you submit an email or a discussion post for review, our AI review and our tutors score it on six TOEFL writing scoring criteria, each from 0 to 5. Your score report then turns the mean of the six into your band: it scales the mean to 6 and rounds to the nearest half point. The six criteria are:

  • Task fulfillment: you answer every part of the task directly.
  • Overall organization: your ideas sit in a clear order with an opening and a close.
  • Relevance and quality of support: your reasons and examples are on topic and convincing.
  • Connections and coherence: your sentences link naturally from one idea to the next.
  • Vocabulary usage: you use a range of words correctly and precisely.
  • Grammatical usage: your grammar, sentence structure, and spelling are correct, and your mistakes never hide your meaning.

By this rule, our learners’ emails average band 3.8, and 57% reach band 4 or higher. Discussion posts average band 3.6, and 47% reach band 4 or higher. Band 5 is harder to reach: 14% of emails and 12% of posts get there.

Bar chart of the share of TOEFL emails and academic discussion posts by BestMyTest learners that reached band 4 or higher and band 5 or higher under our score-report rule

How to Raise Your TOEFL Writing Score

The rubric rewards clear, complete, correct writing, and our data says the first gain is in grammar. Grammar was the lowest criterion in 84% of AI-reviewed discussion posts, and task fulfillment was the lowest in 18%. In tutor-scored emails, grammar was the lowest in 92%, and task fulfillment in 22%. So start with the basics: fix the grammar mistakes your review marks, and check spelling and capital letters. The fixes our reviews make most often in emails are i to I, for to to and in to on. Then develop each reason with an explanation or an example, because posts at an AI score of 4 carry about 20 more words of support than posts at a score of 2.

Bar chart of the average length in words of TOEFL academic discussion posts and emails by BestMyTest learners at each AI score from 1 to 5

Ready to put this into practice? Start with our TOEFL writing practice guide, use the TOEFL writing templates for the email and discussion structures, and get your practice reviewed so you can see your six scores and every correction. A free Sample Test 1 gives you the whole Writing section under the real clock.

What Students Are Saying About BestMyTest

Trustpilot reviews 4.8 173 reviews
5

It’s the best platform to practice for the toefl test, there is a lot of useful excercises that helps you improve the section that you struggle the most. Definitelly, I recommend using bestmytest as it is a practical way to prepare for the exam.

Sebastian
5

The Vocabulary lessons were absolutely amazing. I can vividly remember that I was struggling with new word across different topics, and those lessons assisted me to learn the needed vocabulary for the TOEFL test in a short matter of time, thanks to Ms., Sonya. I appreciate the efforts made by the best my test as a whole.

Ahmad Jalal Qarizada
5

This application is easy, fun, and very helpful for anyone who wants to learn or practice for the TOEFL exam. The questions are well designed and make studying more enjoyable. I definitely recommend it for TOEFL preparation!

Jacob

The figures on this page come from the BestMyTest TOEFL learner performance data, our records of TOEFL practice on BestMyTest up to October 2026. That page explains how we measure each figure. Last updated 15 October 2026.