TOEFL Home Edition 2026: can you take the TOEFL at home? Rules, equipment and test day

The short answer

Yes. The TOEFL iBT Home Edition is the same 2026 test, the same four sections, timing, scoring and score report, taken on your own desktop or laptop with a live proctor watching through your webcam. ETS offers it any day, at any time. You need a private room, one screen, a webcam and a microphone that is not a headset, and an ID; you cannot use headphones, paper notes, food, drink or breaks. If your setup fails the check on the day, there is no refund.

Home Edition and test centre, side by side

	Home Edition	Test centre
The test	The same TOEFL iBT: Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking, about 90 minutes	The same
When	Any day, any time, by appointment	On the centre's test dates
Where	A private room at home, door closed	An ETS test centre
Supervision	A live proctor by webcam and chat, plus a recording	Staff in the room
Audio	Built-in or external speakers and microphone; no headset or earphones	The centre's headset
Notes	A small whiteboard or one sheet in a plastic sleeve, erasable marker only	The centre's paper and pencil
Breaks	None	As the centre's schedule allows
Scores	The same report: Reading and Listening shown unofficially at once, official scores in 3 days	The same
Accepted by	The same 13,500+ institutions; a few programmes state a preference, so check yours	Everywhere

What you need

ETS's requirements page is specific, and the proctor checks every item. In short:

Computer

• A desktop or laptop. Tablets and phones are not allowed.
• Windows 11 or later, or macOS 10.13 or later. Licensed, not test-mode, versions.
• One monitor and one keyboard. A second screen must be disconnected.
• The TOEFL Test App, downloaded from your ETS account. Run its Equipment Check before the day, and again on the day with the proctor.
• Screen-sharing and remote-access software switched off, Grammarly and spell-check included.
• Power connected throughout.

Sound and picture

• Speakers, built into the computer or external. No headset and no earphones, for any part of the test, Speaking included.
• A microphone that is not part of a headset.
• A webcam, built in or separate, that can be turned to show all four walls, under the desk and the whole work surface.
• Some candidates are asked for a second camera: a charged phone or tablet (iOS 12 or Android 8 or later) propped on something heavy, placed to show the screen, the keyboard, both hands and your side profile.

The room

• You alone, with every door closed, and nobody entering until the end. Not a public place.
• Transparent walls, doors and large windows covered. Nothing on the walls related to the test.
• A desk and a standard chair. No bed, sofa or armchair.
• A clear desk: no notes, study materials, cameras or phones, apart from the second camera if you use one. Your check-in phone goes behind you, out of reach.
• The door in the webcam's view.

You

• Face and ears visible throughout. Religious head coverings are fine if the ears show; face masks are not.
• No headphones, smartwatch, jewellery, tie clip, hair clips or headbands. Wedding and engagement rings can stay.
• An ID: a passport, a national ID or a driving licence, valid and original. ETS asks many candidates to verify their identity in advance through its Entrust app; do it as soon as you register.
• Notes only on a small whiteboard or on one sheet inside a transparent sleeve, with an erasable marker, shown erased to the proctor at the end. No paper, no pen or pencil.
• No food, no drink, no breaks. Leaving your seat invalidates the test.

If any of this fails on the day, ETS's rule is plain: you cannot take the test, and you get neither a refund nor a free reschedule. The Equipment Check is there to be run a week before, not an hour before.

What test day is like

1. You start from the "Start Test" button in your confirmation email or ETS account. The TOEFL Test App opens on its own.
2. You wait in a virtual waiting room until a proctor joins. If you need a second camera, you connect it now by scanning a code.
3. The proctor checks your ID against your face, then asks you to turn the camera slowly around the room: every wall and corner, under the desk, the whole desk surface.
4. One more equipment check with the proctor. The test clock does not start until this is done, so a slow check costs you nothing.
5. The test runs as at a centre: Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking, about 90 minutes of timed work. Ignore any on-screen instruction about a headset; at home, speakers and an open microphone are the setup.
6. The proctor stays available by chat and can hear you; speak or wave to get attention, and expect a moment's delay in the reply.
7. If your internet drops briefly, the app reconnects you. If it does not, you restart the check-in. If the second camera drops during the test, the proctor pauses the test and talks you through reconnecting.
8. At the end you erase the whiteboard or sleeve and show both sides to the camera. Reading and Listening appear at once as unofficial scores; the official report with all four bands follows in three days.

Is the Home Edition easier or harder?

Neither. It is the same test, and the same scoring. What differs is the setting, and that cuts both ways. At home there is no travel, no strangers typing beside you, and your own chair. Against that: you are responsible for the room and the equipment, there are no breaks, a headset is not allowed, so your Speaking answers go through an open microphone in a room that must be quiet, and a proctor can interrupt by chat. Candidates who are easily distracted by their own surroundings, or who share a flat, often do better at a centre.

Which should you choose?

Take the Home Edition if you have a quiet private room you can control for two hours, a computer that passes the Equipment Check, and a reason to test on a date or at a time no centre offers, or no centre near you.

Take the test centre if your home has other people in it, your internet is unreliable, your computer is old or shared, or you want someone else to be responsible for the technology. Also check your programme: nearly all accept Home Edition scores, and the score report does not single them out, but a few state a preference.

Either way, book the mock first.

Practise the way you will test

The one preparation most Home Edition candidates skip is the setup itself. Skorway's free mock runs the full 2026 test on your own computer, with the same section order and timers, so run it in the room you will test in, at the desk you will use, through speakers and an open microphone, not a headset. You find out two things at once: your band for every section, within minutes of finishing, with every Speaking and Writing answer marked up; and whether your room, your microphone and your internet can carry 90 minutes of test. No credit card.

Can you take the TOEFL at home?

Yes, anywhere ETS offers the Home Edition, any day and at any time, by appointment. It is the same TOEFL iBT, scored the same way and reported on the same score report.

Do universities accept the TOEFL Home Edition?

ETS reports the same acceptance for both: more than 13,500 institutions in over 160 countries. The score report is the same document. A small number of programmes state a preference for test-centre scores; the programme's own page is the place to check.

Can I use headphones for the TOEFL Home Edition?

No. Headsets and earphones are banned for the whole test. You listen through speakers and speak into a microphone that is not part of a headset.

Can I take notes in the TOEFL Home Edition?

Not on paper. You may use one small whiteboard or one sheet of paper inside a transparent sleeve, with an erasable marker, and you erase it in front of the proctor at the end.

What happens if my internet drops?

A brief loss reconnects by itself. If it does not, you go back through check-in with the proctor. The test is not cancelled for a short interruption; a room you leave, or a person who walks in, is a different matter.

Checked against ETS's Home Edition, requirements and test-day pages on 6 November 2026. TOEFL® is a registered trademark of ETS. Skorway is not endorsed or approved by ETS.