From 1964 until 1998, test-takers took the TOEFL paper-based test, which was given like a traditional exam. This test was originally based on discrete-point testing, which tests one particular area of language knowledge per question and extrapolates a score that gives an overall view of the student's level. The paper-based test was scored from 310 to 677. However, as linguistic models changed, the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers the TOEFL, decided to change the test format as well.
Started in 1998, the computer-based TOEFL test kept some discrete-point questions, but also tested vocabulary and other skills directly. The computer-based test worked on an adaptive model: the questions a student saw depended on his answers to the first question in a given section. If he got the first few questions wrong, he would receive easier questions and thus a lower score. The computer-based test was scored on a scale of 0 to 300 points.
In 2005, ETS began to phase out the computer-based test in favor of the current Internet-based test. This test contains no discrete-point questions and is not adaptive: all students see the same questions, regardless of whether or not they answer the first questions correctly. The TOEFL Internet-based test appeared first in the United States, Canada, France, Germany and Italy in 2005, before gradually spreading to other parts of the world in 2006. It is scored on a scale of 0 to 120.
Today, the TOEFL is broken down into four sections, designed to measure the test-taker's skills in reading, listening, writing and speaking. Each section is scored on a scale of 0 to 30, for a maximum total of 120 points. The paper-based test is still available in some parts of the world; however, the Internet-based test is much more common and more widely accepted.