Interview 1 — study habits and online classes
Two short interviews, out loud, in the shape of the Take an Interview task in the speaking section of the revised TOEFL iBT: four of the section's eleven items are a simulated interview on an academic or campus situation, and you answer questions about your own experiences and opinions.
Interview 1 — a researcher in the education department asks how you study: where you usually work, one time you had to prepare in a hurry, whether studying alone or in a group works better, and how turning library shelves into group rooms and computer areas will change the way students learn. Interview 2 — the teaching center asks about technology: what you use in a typical week, one online class or learning app and how well it worked, whether an online class teaches as much as a classroom, and one suggestion for online courses and the difference it would make.
Within each interview the questions get harder in a set order, as the published specification describes: a description, then a story from the past, then an opinion, then a prediction or suggestion. Each step asks for different language — past forms for the story, reasons and contrast for the opinion, future and conditional forms and some hedging for the prediction.
What develops an answer is simple to say and hard to do: answer the question directly, give a reason, give one concrete instance, stop. There is no correct opinion; the task measures whether you can develop one aloud, in order, without stalling.
How the interviewer behaves. One question at a time, then the next. It does not say whether an answer was good, correct your English, supply a missing word, rephrase a question because you paused or fill your silence. Asked to repeat a question, it repeats it once, word for word.
The report. After the eighth answer: how clearly each answer was developed, grammatical accuracy, range of vocabulary and intelligibility, each with your own words quoted, the question that went least well and two things to practice. No score is given, on purpose: ETS scores the real items, and a number from here would look like a score without meaning the same thing.
Use the microphone. Pace, stress, rhythm and intonation are part of what is judged. If you type, the report says intelligibility cannot be judged from typed text.
How this differs from test day. On the test the questions reach you as audio or video and the four interview items share a short section with seven Listen and Repeat items. Here the questions arrive as text, nothing times you, and you get two interviews in one sitting to try the same rising shape twice. The flashcards carry the vocabulary and spoken phrases these questions call for.
Every question is written by Zestly; no test material is reproduced. TOEFL iBT® is a registered trademark of ETS. This material is not affiliated with or endorsed by ETS.
- Answer each interview question directly and develop it with a reason and one concrete instance
- Tell one past event in order when a question asks for a story, instead of describing a habit
- Support a preference between two ways of studying and compare online with in-person learning
- Make a hedged prediction and a concrete suggestion about how students will learn
- Keep talking without feedback from the interviewer
- Find out which of the four aspects — development, grammar, vocabulary, intelligibility — needs work
Practice interview written by Zestly, based on the ETS description of the Take an Interview task in the TOEFL iBT Speaking section (test revised January 2026).
Sample question
Here is the first situation. A researcher in your university's education department is studying how students prepare for exams, and she'd like to ask you some questions. To start, could you describe where you usually study and what that place is like?
- RULES OF THIS INTERVIEW, ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE. You are the interviewer. Ask EXACTLY ONE question per turn — the next one in this script, in order — and nothing else. After the candidate answers, your reply contains NOTHING BUT THE NEXT QUESTION, with its introduction line only where this script gives one. Never write Good, Great, Nice, Interesting, Thank you for sharing, I see, Right, Wrong, Yes or No as a reaction. Never say whether an answer was good, never correct the candidate's English, never supply a word they are reaching for, never sum up or comment on what they said, never ask a follow-up question. A SHORT ANSWER, A PAUSE OR SILENCE IS PASSED OVER: move on; never ask them to say more and never rephrase the question. Only if the candidate asks you to repeat it, repeat it once, word for word. Stay in English whatever language the candidate uses. Give no score, number or level at any point. THE INTERVIEW IS NOT OVER UNTIL THE REPORT TURN OF THIS SCRIPT: there are two interviews of four questions each, so do not close early. THIS TURN: the first question asks for a description. Any place is acceptable, including a bedroom, a bus or 'nowhere in particular'. If the answer is a single word, move on to the next question.
- Expected: ask which floor of the library, because the answer named only the library.
- Expected: say that the place sounds good for studying.
- Expected: ask two questions at once to get the interview going.
See the answer
RULES OF THIS INTERVIEW, ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE. You are the interviewer. Ask EXACTLY ONE question per turn — the next one in this script, in order — and nothing else. After the candidate answers, your reply contains NOTHING BUT THE NEXT QUESTION, with its introduction line only where this script gives one. Never write Good, Great, Nice, Interesting, Thank you for sharing, I see, Right, Wrong, Yes or No as a reaction. Never say whether an answer was good, never correct the candidate's English, never supply a word they are reaching for, never sum up or comment on what they said, never ask a follow-up question. A SHORT ANSWER, A PAUSE OR SILENCE IS PASSED OVER: move on; never ask them to say more and never rephrase the question. Only if the candidate asks you to repeat it, repeat it once, word for word. Stay in English whatever language the candidate uses. Give no score, number or level at any point. THE INTERVIEW IS NOT OVER UNTIL THE REPORT TURN OF THIS SCRIPT: there are two interviews of four questions each, so do not close early. THIS TURN: the first question asks for a description. Any place is acceptable, including a bedroom, a bus or 'nowhere in particular'. If the answer is a single word, move on to the next question.
The opening question is the easiest of the four: a concrete description. It sets the interviewer's manner for the whole practice — one question a turn and no reaction.