A 6-week TOEFL 2026 study plan, week by week

The short version

Take a scored mock first, so the plan starts from a real band and a named weakest task type instead of a guess. Then practise by task type with feedback on every set, and take a second mock to measure what moved. Spend the last week on timing and on whatever is still weak.

The plan assumes about 45 to 60 minutes a day, five days a week. That is our recommendation. Shorter versions are near the end.

Week 1: the free mock and the report

Goal: a band for each section and a named list of weak task types.

Day 1 or 2: take the free mock in one sitting. It is the full test in the real order and takes about two hours, including a microphone check and a one-minute break before Listening. Use headphones in a quiet room. The recordings play once, and the timers keep running if you leave the page.

Days 3 to 5: read the report slowly. Look at the band for each section, the three weakest task types it names, your part 1 result in Reading and in Listening and which part 2 you were sent to, and every wrong answer next to the correct one. Write the three weakest task types down; they are the next two weeks. Then do one free practice set of each, untimed.

Weeks 2 and 3: the weakest task types

Goal: fewer wrong answers on the task types that cost you the most marks.

Each day, one set of a weak task type first, then one set of something else so the rest of the test does not go cold. Rotate the three weak types, one a day. Start untimed and read the explanation of every wrong answer; switch to timed sets in week 3, which use the same clock as the test.

Reading and Listening sets, and Build a Sentence, are marked as soon as you finish, with the reason each option is right or wrong. The first set of each task type is free; the rest need a pass, and so do the band and feedback on Speaking and Writing sets.

What to look at: when several wrong answers in a set are the same kind of question, the result page says so and gives a tip. The same pattern three sets in a row is the thing to fix. In Reading and Listening, part 1 decides which part 2 you get, so accuracy there matters more than speed.

Week 4: the second mock and the comparison

Goal: a second set of bands under the same conditions as the first.

Take the second mock on the Saturday, same room, same headphones, one sitting. There is one free mock per person, so this one needs a pass (see pricing) or a single mock, which your dashboard offers under Mock 2. On the other days keep the week 3 habit, timed.

Compare the two reports in writing: the band for each section, the part 1 results and which part 2 you got, and the weakest task types named. A weak task type dropped off the list: move the next one in. Still there with fewer wrong answers: keep going. Unchanged: go back to untimed sets and the explanations, because speed was not the problem.

Week 5: Speaking and Writing feedback loops

Goal: fix the two or three errors that repeat across your Speaking and Writing answers.

Each scored answer has its own feedback page: a band for each criterion in the rubric, your errors quoted with a correction, your answer rewritten one band higher, a band 6 model answer and next steps. Speaking adds a delivery line: words per minute, pauses, fillers and how long you took to start.

The loop, four days a week: write or record one answer, read the feedback, then do the same task type the next day with the corrections in mind. Alternate Writing days (Write an Email, Write for an Academic Discussion) with Speaking days (Take an Interview, Listen and Repeat). On Listen and Repeat the feedback shows what percentage of the words came back exactly, which tells you whether endings like -s and -ed are what you drop. This week needs a pass.

Week 6: timing, test-day checks and rest

Goal: nothing new. Make the timing automatic and arrive rested.

Monday to Wednesday: timed sets only, one from each section a day, Reading and Listening first. Thursday: a last untimed look at the two weakest task types. Friday: nothing. The site's plan leaves the day before the test empty, and so does this one.

The checks, once this week and again on test day: the headphones you used in the mocks, a microphone that passes the check, and a room where you can sit for about two hours, because the test runs in one sitting and ETS asks you to allow about two hours for it.

Four weeks or two weeks instead?

The loop compresses; the order does not. Four weeks: the mock in week 1, the weak task types in weeks 2 and 3 with the Speaking and Writing loop folded in, the second mock on the Saturday of week 3, week 4 on timing and rest. Two weeks: the mock on day 1, the weak task types on days 2 to 9 with a scored Speaking or Writing answer every other day, a second mock on day 10, then timed sets and the checks, and nothing on the day before the test. Below two weeks, skip the second mock and give the time to the weak task types. A mock you cannot act on measures nothing.

The plan the site builds for you

After you sign up and add your test date, Skorway builds this plan for you on your study plan page: your three weakest task types from your latest mock get the first slot every day, Reading and Listening sets fill the rest, a mock lands every second Saturday, Sundays are off, and the day before the test is empty. Pick a pace, 20, 35 or 60 minutes a day, and the plan rebuilds. The first week is free; a pass opens every week to your test date. Start with the free mock, because until you take it the plan uses the task types most students find hardest, not yours.

Common questions

Is 6 weeks enough to prepare for the TOEFL?

It depends on where you start, which is why the mock comes first. Nobody can promise a band from a calendar. The first report shows the gap between your bands and the band your programme asks for, and that gap, not the number of weeks, decides whether a date is realistic. Small gap: six weeks on the weakest task types is a reasonable plan. Large gap: take the mock first and book the date after it.

How many hours a day should I study for the TOEFL?

Our recommendation: 45 to 60 minutes on five days, Sunday off, nothing the day before the test. Longer sessions are not wrong, but the test is short tasks back to back, and a tired hour of them teaches less than a fresh half hour. If an hour is not possible, the site's plan has 20- and 35-minute paces.

Should I take a mock before studying?

Yes. Without one, a study plan is a guess about which task types are weak, and with 12 task types the guess has a lot of room to be wrong. A mock also shows you the format once under the clock, so the second time you meet Build a Sentence it is a task, not a surprise.

Skorway's bands are practice estimates, not official scores. TOEFL® is a registered trademark of ETS. Skorway is not endorsed or approved by ETS.