Method notes
Twelve task types on the 2026 iBT. Each note is short on purpose. The test rewards habits, not slogans.
Reading
Complete the Words
A short academic paragraph with letters missing from selected words. You type the missing letters. Spelling, word form, and meaning all have to be right.
Reading
Read in Daily Life
Short real-world texts from campus and everyday life. Questions target purpose, detail, and what is not said.
Reading
Read an Academic Passage
A compact textbook paragraph with factual, vocabulary, purpose, and inference items. The descendant of the old long-passage set.
Listening
Listen and Choose a Response
You hear a single campus or everyday line, in one of several English accents. The reply choices appear only after the audio ends.
Listening
Listen to a Conversation
Two people talk, each in a different voice and often a different accent. You listen once and take notes. Questions appear afterwards, one at a time. There is no transcript.
Listening
Listen to an Announcement
A one-speaker notice: hours, closures, schedule changes, safety. Facts move quickly. Listen first; the questions come after, one by one.
Listening
Listen to an Academic Talk
A professor talks for about two minutes. Listen once and take notes; then answer one question at a time. Structure is usually definition, example, caveat, then what the class should do next.
Writing
Build a Sentence
Scrambled words must be tapped into a grammatical sentence. Word order, agreement, and punctuation all count.
Writing
Write an Email
A situation plus three required points. Register (formal / semi-formal / informal) is scored.
Writing
Write for an Academic Discussion
A professor posts a question; two students disagree. You add a post that contributes a new reason, with a concrete example.
Speaking
Listen and Repeat
You hear a sentence and repeat it as closely as possible. Content words first, then grammar words, then ending sounds.
Speaking
Take an Interview
A simulated interview. Answers get longer. Natural repair (“sorry, what I mean is”) is fine; emptiness is not.