MyBest takes your best score in each section from every valid TOEFL iBT sitting in the last two years and reports them together. The 21 January 2026 move to a 1–6 band scale changed what those numbers look like — and left one question that ETS has not answered. This guide separates the documented part from the undocumented part, and shows exactly how the overall band is worked out.
By the LingoLeap TOEFL Content Team · Last reviewed:
MyBest is the best score you have achieved in each section across all valid TOEFL iBT scores from the last two years, shown on the same report as the scores from the test date itself. From 21 January 2026 those scores are reported 1–6 in half-point steps, and the overall score is the average of the four sections rounded to the nearest half band. Whether a university will accept MyBest is the university's decision, not ETS's. ETS has not published how a pre-21-January sitting (0–120) and a post-21-January sitting (1–6) combine into one MyBest.
The ETS 2025–2026 Information Bulletin defines MyBest scores as your best scores for each section, combined from all your valid TOEFL iBT scores from the last two years. It is a per-section maximum, not a best-single-sitting: Reading can come from one test date and Speaking from another.
Two points follow from the definition and are worth stating because they are where most confusion starts. First, MyBest is not something you apply for — it is printed on your score report alongside the scores from the test date itself, so every report carries both. Second, "valid" means inside the two-year window; a sitting that falls out of the window drops out of MyBest, which can make your MyBest go down without you taking another test.
A third point is specific to 2026. For a two-year transition period, score reports on the 1–6 scale also print a comparable 0–120 score alongside, so a report issued now can show both numbers at once. That comparable figure is printed by ETS; it is not something you calculate.
For tests taken on or after 21 January 2026, each section is reported 1–6 in half-point steps. The overall score is the average of the four section scores, rounded to the nearest half band.
ETS gives two worked examples of that rounding: an average of 5.125 gives an overall 5, and an average of 5.25 gives an overall 5.5. The second example is the informative one — a value exactly halfway between two half-bands rounds up.
Reproducing ETS's own examples
The calculator on this page uses one rounding rule for every figure below. Run against ETS's two published examples it returns:
Three MyBest profiles, each built from two sittings. The per-section MyBest is the higher of the two sittings for that section; the overall is the average of those four, rounded to the nearest half band. Every number in the table is computed from the sitting scores shown, not written in by hand.
| Section | Sitting 1 | Sitting 2 | MyBest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 5.5 | 4.5 | 5.5 |
| Listening | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Speaking | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Writing | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Unrounded average | 5.125 | ||
| Overall (average, rounded to nearest half band) | 5 | ||
Neither sitting would have given an overall 5 on its own. MyBest does, because Reading and Listening come from the first date and Speaking and Writing from the second.
| Section | Sitting 1 | Sitting 2 | MyBest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Listening | 3 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Speaking | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Writing | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Unrounded average | 4.375 | ||
| Overall (average, rounded to nearest half band) | 4.5 | ||
When the second sitting is better in every section, MyBest is simply the second sitting. Retaking helps here; MyBest does not add anything.
| Section | Sitting 1 | Sitting 2 | MyBest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 5 | 4.5 | 5 |
| Listening | 4.5 | 5 | 5 |
| Speaking | 4.5 | 4 | 4.5 |
| Writing | 4 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Unrounded average | 4.75 | ||
| Overall (average, rounded to nearest half band) | 5 | ||
The unrounded average lands exactly halfway between two half-bands, and rounds up — the case ETS's 5.25 example covers. Half a point in one section is the difference between two reported bands.
If one of your sittings is from before 21 January 2026 and is reported 0–120, and another is from after and is reported 1–6, how do they combine into one MyBest?
The ETS pages we checked do not state it. We are not going to fill that gap with a rule of our own — a confidently stated answer here would be worth less than an honest blank, because an admissions office will read your actual report, not our page.
What to do instead. Go by what your score report actually shows: it is the authoritative document and it is issued by ETS, on whatever basis ETS uses. If a deadline or an offer condition depends on the answer, send the report itself to the admissions office and ask them to confirm how they will read it. Leave more time than you think you need — score sending is not instant, and it is blocked entirely if your scores are on hold.
If you are still deciding whether to retake, the practical consequence is that a post-21-January sitting is the one that produces a clean, unambiguous 1–6 report. That is a reason to prefer it, not a claim about how ETS combines scales.
That is each institution's decision. ETS's own FAQ says to check with the institutions where you are applying — it does not assert that MyBest is accepted anywhere.
The 2026 scale change makes this more than a formality. Some universities have not finished deciding what to do with the revised test at all, and a policy written for 0–120 scores will not tell you how a 1–6 MyBest is treated. Our sourced tracker records, per university and level, whether a TOEFL taken on or after 21 January 2026 is accepted and what band is published, with a link to the official page and the date it was read.
When you ask, ask the specific question: not "do you accept TOEFL" but "do you accept MyBest scores for a test taken on or after 21 January 2026, and do your section minimums apply to the MyBest figures or to a single sitting?" The section-minimum half of that question catches most people out, because a MyBest overall can meet a requirement that no single sitting met.
Two blocks of numbers
The scores from the test date you just sat, and the MyBest scores. They are different things and are labelled as such. A university that does not accept MyBest will read the first block.
A comparable 0–120 score alongside
For a two-year transition, reports on the 1–6 scale also carry a comparable 0–120 figure. It is printed by ETS for institutions still working to the old scale.
Half-point steps, not decimals
Sections and the overall are reported in half-point steps on the 1–6 scale. An unrounded average such as 4.375 is an intermediate value, never a reported score.
The two-year window moves
MyBest only draws on valid scores from the last two years. As an old sitting ages out, the section it was contributing falls back to your next-best result for that section.
A full-length 2026-format mock test scored on the 1–6 scale, with per-section results you can compare against your MyBest.
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