How to Write Your Best TOEFL Essay

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How to Write Your Best TOEFL Essay
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There are 5 steps to doing your best.

• 1.
• Go in with a plan.

• 2
• Plan again.

• 3.
• Stay on topic.

• 5.
• Edit.

• 4.
• Make it concrete.

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1. Go in with a Plan.(And then follow it!)

• This is NOT the time to 'go with the flow'!
• Before you ever arrive for the test you need to
  know what to expect from the test AND know your
  own capabilities.
• Make a plan that fits your style.

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Having a plan means that you know how you will
approach the test.

• Plan your time (30 minutes total)
• How much time will you allow yourself to
  plan/blueprint?
• How much time to write each paragraph?
• How much time will you save to edit?

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2. When you get the topic, you need to make
another plan for the actual essay.

• Plan FAST.
• Read the topic or question carefully before
  planning.
• Think like an SAT essay
• 5 paragraphs
• Intro, body (3 reasons), conclusion

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Planning is essential, but it can't take up much
of your limited time.

• Far too many people fail for not being able to
  find a balance. Some are too impulsive, and some
  think too long and waste time.
• Practice planning fast.

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The problem with starting to write without a
plan...

• The raters are looking for CLEAR writing with a
  recognizable structure. That is MORE than clear
  grammar! Without it readers don't know what you
  are trying to do, and so they cannot understand
  your ideas.

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The problem with spending a lot of time
thinking...

• The raters can only judge your writing if there
  is enough of it! Don't worry about 'perfect' or
  'brilliant'. CLEAR and LOGICAL is enough.
• If you are a perfectionist who sits and thinks to
  get a great idea, get over yourself! This is a
  test of English fluency, not a test of
  intelligence.

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3. Stay on Target

• Once you've chosen a topic and a plan, don't
  change it. It is a short paper, and the ideas are
  not what is being graded, so stick with your plan
  no matter what happens.

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There are two common ways that writers get drawn
off topic.

• 1. They start disagreeing with themselves and
  presenting the 'other side' to their argument.
• 2. They start thinking of and adding new ideas
  that are not part of the original topic.
• Avoid these

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4. Make your writing concrete.

• You want the rater to find your writing clear and
  understandable.
• Concrete writing is easier to understand than
  abstract writing.
• Concrete writing is 'real world', specific, and
  creates a word picture.

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Here is a writing sample with only general ideas.

• Marriage is an important institution for society
  and for individuals. Through marriage, we make
  new families which continue the culture.
  Families are the basic unit of culture, and for
  most individuals, families are the place where we
  learn the culture and receive what we need to
  survive through childhood.
• (Notice that there are no grammar problems, and
  all the information is correct. However, all of
  the ideas are abstract which means you have to
  think about them, apply your own experience and
  imagine them without the writer's help. This
  isn't optimal for a TOEFL essay where the reader
  is rushed to understand and errors may occur.)

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Here is the same text with a few additions to
make it a bit more concrete.

• Marriage is an important institution for society
  and for individuals. Through marriage, we make
  new families which continue the culture. This is
  why in every culture weddings have so many
  meaningful traditions such as fathers 'giving
  away the bride' or 'jumping the broom' because
  both signal a new family being formed. Families
  are the basic unit of culture, and for most
  individuals, families are the place where we
  learn the culture and receive what we need to
  survive through childhood. Think of all the
  things you learned before you went to school such
  as your native language, what clothing you should
  wear and how to be respectful.

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5. Edit!

• Do NOT skip this step!
• Edit strategically.
• This is very different from 'reading' your paper
  and hoping that errors will jump out and yell,
  'fix me'.

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Strategic editing means that you know your
'normal' errors.

• Look back through graded papers, find your top 3
  most serious/common errors and then edit for each
  of these separately.
• For example, scan your paper for each verb to see
  if it is formed correctly. Then look for the next
  type of error.

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5 types of essays

• Agree or Disagree
• Do you agree or disagree? "Grades are great
  motivators for students."
• Preference
• Would you rather work for someone else or work
  for yourself?
• If/Imaginary
• What person from the past would you like to meet?
• Description/Explanation
• What are good ways to reduce stress?
• Comparison/Contrast
• Discuss the contributions of artists vs. those of
  scientists.

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Practice

• Write a blueprint for one of these 3 essay
  topics
• Do you agree or disagree? "For children, it is
  better to grow up in the country than in the
  city.
• What are the good things and bad things about the
  place you live in?
• Is homework important for students?