ScoreFluentTOEFL Writing, task by task.
Three task types, 23 minutes, linear. One is key-scored and free; two are scored 0–5 by ETS’s own AI engines, with human raters checking a sample.
Section 3, linear.
Order
3 of 4
Adaptivity
None — linear, same tasks for everyone
Items
12, all scored
Time
23 minutes
Scoring
10 key-scored + 2 AI-scored
Three tasks, two scoring engines.
| Task | What it asks |
|---|---|
| Build a Sentence | 10 sentences. Reorder shuffled words and phrases into a grammatical sentence, in a chat-style frame. Key-scored — a deterministic exact match, not a report. Free and uncapped on ScoreFluent. |
| Write an Email | A scenario plus a graphic, with 3 sub-goals to hit, informal-to-semi-formal register. One response, scored 0–5 against ETS’s published rubric. The only Writing task carrying the Social Conventions rubric dimension. |
| Write for an Academic Discussion | An online class-discussion forum: a professor’s post frames the topic, two student posts give differing views, and you add your own. Formal academic register, at least 100 words. One response, scored 0–5. |
Free key-scoring, a Verified report for the rest.
Build a Sentence scores instantly and is free every day — it’s a mechanical check, not a report. Write an Email and Write for an Academic Discussion score for free under the standard daily caps, and a Verified report unlocks the deep coaching breakdown on both: content, syntactic and lexical variety, register, and error analysis, following the same criteria ETS’s own AI engines score against. Full detail on the exam-wide scoring split is on the scoring page.
Writing questions, answered.
What are the TOEFL Writing task types?
Three: Build a Sentence (word-ordering, key-scored), Write an Email (a scenario-driven message, AI-scored 0–5), and Write for an Academic Discussion (a forum-reply response, AI-scored 0–5). None involves reading a passage or listening to audio first — Writing dropped every integrated task in the 2026 redesign.
Is Build a Sentence free to practise?
Yes. It’s a deterministic word-ordering check against an ordered key, not a graded report, so ScoreFluent keeps it free and uncapped rather than gating it behind a paid unlock.
How is TOEFL Writing scored?
Build a Sentence is key-scored — exact match against an ordered answer, no AI involved. Write an Email and Write for an Academic Discussion are each scored 0–5 by ETS’s own AI engines, with human raters stepping in on low engine confidence and a QA sample.
How many words does the Academic Discussion task need?
ETS states verbatim that an effective response contains at least 100 words. No word limit is published for Write an Email, and no per-task time limit is published for either open-response task — only the 23-minute total for the whole Writing section is public.
Is TOEFL Writing AI-scored?
Two of its three tasks are: Write an Email and Write for an Academic Discussion, both scored by ETS’s proprietary AI engines with human QA backstop. Build a Sentence is not — it is scored by deterministic rules, the same way as Reading and Listening.
ScoreFluent is not affiliated with or endorsed by ETS. Figures on this page come from ETS’s TOEFL iBT test content page and its TOEFL iBT Technical Manual (RR-25-12), which publishes the 0–5 rubrics verbatim.
Practise all three Writing task types.
Build a Sentence is free and uncapped — start there.
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