BOSTON - For American students, tests like the SAT, ACT and GRE mark the path to college and graduate school. But for hundreds of thousands of international students hoping to study in the United States, a major concern is proving their language skills on the TOEFL - the Test of English as a Foreign Language.

Now that test has undergone a major makeover, aimed at better evaluating how well applicants can communicate in English. As the test debuts Saturday, some students, particularly Asians, are worried they'll be disadvantaged because of how they were taught English in school.

Last year, 750,000 students took the old, mostly multiple-choice TOEFL. But in recent years, many of the 5,200 English-speaking colleges and universities that use the exam have grown concerned the test fails to identify students who master only "textbook" English.

After a decade's research, the Educational Testing Services will be giving the new TOEFL "iBT" (Internet-based test) this weekend in U.S. test centers. The exam will phase in worldwide over the next year.

Perhaps the biggest change is a new speaking component; previously, ETS offered a separate speaking test, but few students took it. More broadly, the focus shifts to how well students read, write and speak in combination. Students may be asked to listen to a recording and read a passage, then to speak about both. Their responses will be digitally recorded, then downloaded by experts to grade.

In school, "you're always using a combination of skills," said ETS senior vice president Mari Pearlman. "When you read, you take notes. When you're in a classroom, you're also speaking and writing. Students need all three skills outside the classroom, too, whether it's finding housing or figuring out the washing machine."