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30 minutes, 50 questions, 3 parts — the real 2026 TOEFL Reading shape
TOEFL Reading here is the real 2026 adaptive redesign — 50 questions in three parts, on a 30-minute clock, with your second part actually depending on how you did on your first. Here’s the shape you’ll see every time.
The shape: 50 questions, numbered straight through
Every real test here has the same shape: 50 questions total, numbered 1 through 50 straight through, in 3 fixed parts — questions 1–30 are Complete the Words, 31–40 are the Router, and 41–50 are your Module. You get 30 minutes on the clock for the whole section, not a separate timer per part.
Part 1 (Q1–30): Complete the Words
The first 30 questions are always the same shape: 3 academic paragraphs, 10 truncated words each. You’re given the start of a word and have to type the missing ending — a classic C-test format, and it’s fixed, not adaptive.
Parts 2 & 3 (Q31–50): the Router, then your Module
Questions 31–40 are the Router — 10 items, identical for every test-taker, mixing Read in Daily Life and Read an Academic Passage. How you do here decides questions 41–50: score 60% or better (6 out of 10) and you get the harder Module, weighted toward academic passages; score below that and you get the easier Module, weighted toward daily-life reading. You won’t find out which one you got until your results.
30 minutes total, and instant local grading
The whole section runs on one shared 30-minute countdown, and if it hits zero the test submits and grades itself automatically. Grading is instant and fully local — nothing subjective here, so there’s no wait for a result. A Dictionary button and a “Skip to Section 2” link (for jumping straight into practicing a Module) are both available from the start.
DEB
4 things to know about TOEFL Reading here