Scoring and Reporting for TOEFL Primary® Writing Test

Scoring

The TOEFL Primary® Writing test is scored at ETS by ETS-trained human raters. TOEFL Primary Writing levels are shown as Ribbons. Proficiency descriptors and next steps for learning are provided for each level. The descriptors and next steps are appropriate for typical students at that score but may not apply to all students. Student ability for each includes the skills from lower levels.

Scores are shown at the bottom of the score report and can help show student progress within a level. The score range is 0-17.

For more information, download Understanding Your TOEFL Primary Writing Score Report (PDF). This document includes tables outlining proficiency descriptors, Ribbon score levels, scale scores and how those scores map to Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) levels.

Score Reports

Each Writing test score report provides:

Information about the student’s current level of English proficiency
Recommendations about next steps that students should take to improve their English-language abilities
The CEFR level

Primary Writing Level
Primary Writing Score Report Primary Writing Cert

Writing

Ribbons	Abilities
4	Students at this score range are typically able to produce short, coherent texts with details and mostly accurate language use.They typically can: Use their vocabulary knowledge to consistently name and describe a wide range of everyday actions and objects Produce short narrative texts with details that describe everyday events Use transition words to maintain coherence throughout a text (examples: and, then, but, first, next, finally, and after) Construct simple and complex sentences with mostly correct syntax, word choice, and grammatical form, and with adequate capitalization and punctuation
3	Students at this score range are typically able to describe familiar situations and begin to connect ideas in narratives.They typically can: Use their vocabulary knowledge to name and describe some everyday actions and objects, such as daily routines, clothes, body parts, animals, and school supplies Produce short narrative texts with some details about everyday events Use transition words to give coherence to parts of a text (examples: and, then, but, first, next, and finally) Construct simple sentences and questions with some correct syntax, word choice, and grammatical forms
2	Students at this score range are typically able to describe some objects, places, and routines, and they begin to write narrative texts.They typically can: Write common words describing familiar objects and activities at school and at home Attempt to write short narrative texts with a few short sentences Construct short, simple sentences
1	Students at this score range attempt to describe familiar situations using words and phrases.They typically can: Use phonetic knowledge in attempts to write basic words and phrases Use a basic noun-verb syntactic in attempts to write sentences