PREPARING FOR THE TOEFL WRITING
Table of Contents
The Two Types of TOEFL Writing
The TOEFL iBT Writing section includes two types of questions: an Integrated Writing section and an Independent Writing section. The total time you will have to complete the entire Writing section is 50 minutes. The grade for each essay ranges from 0 to 5 points, which will then be translated into a scale of 0-30 points that will be part of your overall TOEFL score.
Now we are going to explain what each of these writing models consists of, so that you have a better idea of what the person reading your essay is going to evaluate.
Integrated Writing
This will be the first question you will find in the Writing section. The first part will consist of reading a short text of approximately 300 words in 3 minutes. The text may be on a topic such as history, biology, art, science, or something else. However, you do not need to have any prior knowledge of any of these subjects to take the TOEFL test. In fact, the text will be written in a language accessible to people who have no background in these areas. Next, you will listen to an audio in which a professor will comment on the article you have just read. Some of these comments will refute or oppose some of the ideas in the article.
Once you have read the text and listened to the audio, you will have 20 minutes to write an essay. The integrated writing question will ALWAYS ask you to summarize the points of the audio and how the teacher discusses the main ideas of the text or article. Scoring well on this section will depend on your ability to:
- Clearly state the main idea presented in both the text and the audio.
- Explain in a coherent and organized way how the two materials complement or oppose each other.
- Use concrete examples or details that serve to develop the ideas in each paragraph.
- Have good use of grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and command of English writing.
Independent Writing
To complete this second part of the Writing section you will have 30 minutes. The Independent Writing section consists of writing an essay arguing your position, opinion or personal experience about a given fact. We have underlined the verb argue, because as in the previous section, your score in this essay will have a lot to do with your ability to state your opinion, and justify it coherently with examples, details, or secondary ideas. Remember, TOEFL test takers expect to see a structured essay with an introductory paragraph, argumentative paragraphs, and a conclusion.
The sample questions you will be asked in this section may be along the following lines:
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: …?
- Describe which country in the world you would like to visit. Explain your answer.
- What would you like to do this summer: a) practice a new hobby; b) get a temporary job; c) take a summer semester?
If you would like to learn in depth about the evolving criteria that ETS will use to score both essays, you can read the official Writing Scoring Guides (Rubrics).
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How to Prepare for the TOEFL iBT Writing?
There are several ways to prepare for the TOEFL iBT Writing. You may have already designed study plans that include daily TOEFL writing practice, you may have downloaded study materials from the Internet, or you may be practicing with ETS materials. While these forms of preparation may help you to improve a few points when you are at an intermediate level, they will hardly allow you to improve your writing to the level you need. Below, we will tell you what techniques to apply to maximize your effort and results:A Good Writer Needs a Good Reader
As with other types of writing, the most efficient way to improve your TOEFL essay writing ability is to have a professional tutor who is able to identify your strengths and areas for improvement in your writing style. Although we often have the necessary ideas to answer a TOEFL question, we often get blocked or paralyzed when we have to convey those ideas in writing. A professional tutor can help you, among other things, to:
- Write essays that are more coherent, structured, and persuasive.
- Manage your time preparing, writing, and editing your TOEFL essays.
- Adapt your vocabulary and grammar to the test taker’s expectations
- Provide you with strategies to overcome the roadblocks or weaknesses you tend to have as the test clock starts ticking.
Effective Content Preparation Strategies
In the Writing section of the TOEFL IBT, you will have the ability to take notes to prepare the content of your essay. However, when it comes to the TOEFL, remember that you are always in a race against time. Preparing for your essay involves developing the ability to create efficient outlines in the shortest possible time (1-2mins). This means an outline that contains keywords that you will later develop in your essay, and the relationship that exists between some keywords and others.
Practice Advanced Grammatical Forms
In the descriptive guide to TOEFL iBT scores, ETS indicates that people with scores ranging from 24-30 are those who can demonstrate a variety of grammatical structure and vocabulary. Take advantage of your writing practice to venture out and push yourself to use language structures that you may not use as often. For example, conditional sentences, adverbial clauses, synonyms of vocabulary you usually repeat, among others. However, remember that even when you introduce more complex forms of writing, you should not saturate your essay with words and phrases that are difficult to understand. You should always maintain the naturalness, fluency, and organization of your ideas.
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Preparing with Experts
Preparing for the TOEFL iBT is much easier when you have the support of an experienced TOEFL training company. Not only will they be able to facilitate the process of searching and finding preparation strategies, but they will also be able to quickly grasp the skills you need to strengthen to increase your TOEFL score. At EPIC Spain we have a team of instructors who specialize in training TOEFL candidates. Our mission is to provide you with quality preparation to maximize your score in a short period of time.
Hopefully this blog post has resolved all your doubts. However, if you have questions in regards to your TOEFL preparation, get in touch and we will let you know how EPIC PREP can help you achieve your goals. Differently, if you prefer to continue reading here is the link to our TOEFL courses page.
