Michael Goodine's Blog, page 6

More Thoughts on TOEFL Essentials in Canada

I was quoted a few times in this PIE News article about TOEFL Essentials being approved by IRCC.  I have a few thoughts: Like most things in Canada, English tests are terribly expensive.  As is often the case, this is partially due to a lack of competition.  In introducing a whole new product to the […]

TOEFL Test and Score Data for 2024

The 2024 “Test and Score Data” summary for the TOEFL iBT is now available.  This represents the first full year of the revised two-hour TOEFL test.  A few notes: The mean score (overall) is 86 points.  That’s a one-point drop from last year. The mean reading score is 21.9 (-0.4), the mean listening score is […]

IDP Annual Results for FY 2025

IDP Education Ltd has released Full Year Financial results for FY 2025. IELTS volumes are down 18% for the year for a total volume of 1,293,800 tests.  Last year’s volume was 1.5 million tests.  The peak for IDP was 2022, when 1.9 million tests were administered. IELTS volumes are down 50% in India for the […]

Duolingo English Test Results Mapped to CLB

A new study aligns Duolingo English Test scores with the Canadian Language Benchmarks.

You Should Read More – Part 60

I read some stuff this month! First up, I read a wonderful book called “How Scholars Write.”  It’s a guide to good writing that is often assigned to first year students at Columbia University.  It’s meant to give readers an understanding of how to approach academic writing early in their careers as students.  It could […]

New Duolingo Demographic Stats!

Duolingo has published a new “Demographic and Score Properties” document, tracking Duolingo English Test takers for the year ending June 2025.  Link below. Notably, China now accounts for the largest percentage of test takers per test taker ID, at 12.88% of all test takers (down from 15.88% last year).  India now accounts for the second […]

This Should Not be Happening

I wrote a few weeks ago about an at-home test taker who was contacted on social media by a proctor who tracked her down using the personal information he had access to during the test.  He then sent inappropriate messages to the test taker.  I didn’t mention the specific test at the time, but most […]

Pharmacy Tech Programs in Ontario Stop Accepting TOEFL

I noticed that since last month most of the popular pharmacy tech programs in Ontario (Canada) have stopped accepting TOEFL scores for admissions. This brings them in line with the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities, which dropped TOEFL from its list of acceptable English tests in 2024. See, for instance, Sheridan College, which I […]

The Final Word on the ACT (and its selling price)

A new 990 form for the non-profit that used to be called ACT, Inc. is now available via Propublica. This form reveals that the organization (now called “IntermediaryEd”) received 240 million dollars when it sold the ACT test (and related products) to private equity.  The form also notes that 4.6 million dollars was the selling […]

The Final Word on ACT (and its selling price)

A new 990 form for the non-profit that used to be called ACT, Inc. is now available via Propublica. This form reveals that the organization (now called “IntermediaryEd”) received 240 million dollars when it sold the ACT test (and related products) to private equity.  The form also notes that 4.6 million dollars was the selling […]