8/11/2019 10 Tips for Writing a Successful TOEFL Essay
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10 Tips for Writing a Successful TOEFL Essay (These tips apply
mainly to the independent writing task.)
1. Plan your essay before you write. This is an absolute must.
If you just start writing, then you willend up losing track of your
main points and getting off topic. Even students with good English
skills dothis when they dont plan ahead. Take five minutes to plan
out your two or three supporting ideas, andthen youll know exactly
what you are doing in each paragraph before you begin writing
it.
2. Organize your essay clearly. ollow the boring but simple
format of !"# paragraphs, with paragraph $% introduction& one
paragraph for each supporting idea& last paragraph %
conclusion. If you are notfamiliar with the five paragraph essay
format, take a class or get a tutor who knows how to do it.
. !f you are offere" a c#oice between two t#ings $ i.e. w#ic# "o
you prefer% t#e city or t#e suburbs &c#oose only one. 'ever try
to argue both sides ( this is rarely successful and usually leaves
the writerwithout enough time to justify both arguments. '. Write
w#at you can write% not w#at you want to write. 'obody cares about
your opinion. )arsh,
but true. *hen you are asked which you prefer, the city or the
country, do not sit around pondering allyour experiences and
preferences and trying to decide which you really like. The essay
raters dont care.There is no rule that says you have to express
your true feelings on this test. +y the time the raters seeyour
essay, they will have read a do en essays on the exact same topic
and will not be interested inanything other than whether or not you
have an ade-uate introduction and conclusion, if you stayed
ontopic, made your points clear, etc. They have a rubric for
grading. 'owhere on the rubric does it say your essay should be
interesting, cute, clever, funny, or honest. Its all about
structure and language use.
or instance, if you are writing about why you like the city, you
dont have to describe that indefinablesomething in the air, the
excitement of the throng, the scent of roasting chestnuts wafting
on the air and
how it makes you nostalgic for your childhood. If your English
is that good, then go for it. *rite it. +utif it isnt ( and lets
face it, it probably isnt ( go with what you know The city has the
best shopping.You can find many types of ethnic food in the city.
The city has many job opportunities. Even if you hateethnic food
and shopping, if you have the vocabulary and grammar to write
clearly about those topics, doit.
(. )on*t try to gi+e e+ery reason w#y . /gain, no one cares
about this. If there are a do en reasons whyyou like the city, just
choose two or three that are easy to write about and use those. 0ou
dont lose points
because you didnt give every possible reason. 1ame goes for an
essay about why you should recycle (you are not writing a research
paper. The rater doesnt care if you managed to list every possible
reasonto recycle, or even the most important ones, just that you
gave at least two or three and supported them
well with good paragraph structure and language use.
,. -eep t#e intro"uction s#ort an" to t#e point. It is a myth
that you should have a big introductionwhere you start with some
very general statement and then work your way down to the actual
topicstatement. 0ou get no points for that, and frankly, its
annoying to read. a/e your position clear I
prefer the city or I prefer the country in t#e first or secon"
sentence. 2ccasionally I have seen a veryadvanced student with
excellent English and good writing skills in their own language use
a longer, morecomplicated introduction and make it work, but that
is very rare. 3ost of the time, a long introduction is
just irrelevant junk wasting your writing time and annoying the
rater. 1o skip it and get right to the point.The only thing your
introduction needs is your topic statement and a summary of your
two or three
8/11/2019 10 Tips for Writing a Successful TOEFL Essay
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supporting details. Two or three sentences is fine. 3ore than !
sentences is probably too much.
. )on*t inclu"e a 3uestion. 'ot in your introduction, not
anywhere else. *hat teacher is out theretelling students to do
this4 It is completely inappropriate in almost every case, and
while you may see itoccasionally in professional, published
writing, I have never seen it used correctly by a student. 5ust
dontdo it.
4. -eep sentence structure si5ple. /gain, its about what you can
write, not what you want to. Ialways have one student who is
capable of writing a clear, concise essay, but who feels compelled
to try tomake his sentence structure and vocabulary more varied and
interesting, and then ends up with long,grammatically incorrect
sentences and vocabulary that is used incorrectly. If you dont
really know howto use a word, then use a different word that you do
know. 6se sentence structures that you know arecorrect. There are a
limited number of structures allowable in the English language (
dont get creativewith your structure or you will likely end up with
sentences that dont make sense.
6. 7se s#ort sentences. 2ne of the most common problems I see
with toefl essays is sentences that aretoo long and have too many
grammar mistakes to be intelligible. Its so common that I sometimes
tellstudents to count the lines that a sentence takes up on their
paper ( if its more than two, I tell them to
break the sentence into two sentences instead. or those
struggling with grammar, it is especiallyimportant to keep your
sentences short and simple ( as in, subject"verb"object. 'o more
than one 7and.8
'o more than one subject. 'o more than one verb. This may not be
the most beautiful writing, but if itswhat you can do, then do it.
It is more important to be clear than to try to use complicated
grammar. There are no points for effort, only for success.
10. !n"ent an"8or lea+e spaces between your paragrap#s. There is
nothing more difficult to read thanone giant paragraph, and if the
reader has to struggle to identify your introduction, conclusion,
andsupporting details, then you may not get credit for having them
even if you do.
