How to Beat the TOEFL Essay Test
For ESL students, the TOEFL essay section is the most freightening. This is because it seems impossible to prepare for - and a low score can ruin your entire test result. This article will show you a method I developed for my future wife, allowing her to increase her score from a 2 to a 5 in just two months. It requires a great deal of work, however, once you have completed these steps you can be confident that you will have a good result.
The TOEFL essay test is part of both the computer-based and paper-based TOEFL writing tests. It is the second of two writing tasks, both of which you will be required to complete within 50 minutes.
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Things You'll Need
- A copy of the official TOEFL example essay questions (see below).
- An English Tutor with good writing ability.
- TOEFL Essay reference books.
- Two to three months preparation time.
Instructions
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First you need to obtain the official example essay questions from the TOEFL website (see link below for Step 1). Once you have located these questions, print them out. There are a total of 185 questions. Each of these asks your opinion about a topic based on your personal views and experience. It is critical to realize that one of these 185 will be given to you.
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Now begin developing your opinion on each and every question along with three reasons for that opinion. For example your answer might start, "I agree with the idea that... because (reason 1), (reason 2), and (reason 3). Each of these represents your THESIS STATEMENT that will provide the structure for the rest of each essay. It is essential that each of these be clear and directly answer the question. Refer to the suggested resources below for examples.
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Now review all your thesis statements with your tutor. Allow him or her to suggest some corrections for each. Keep making corrections and having your tutor check them until they are all clear and directly answer the question.
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Next you need to begin constructing TOPIC SENTANCES for the next three paragraphs for each essay. Each of these will correspond with the three examples you mentioned in your THESIS STATEMENT.
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Now review all of your topic sentences with your tutor. Again, have him or her suggest corrections, make corrections, and review until each clearly discusses a single reason in support of your THESIS STATEMENT.
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Next add one or two more sentences to each of your TOPIC SENTANCES to further explain your point. After all these are completed review them again with your tutor as above.
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For the fifth and final paragraph of each essay you will have to begin by constructing a concluding statement. This will be a restatement of your THESIS STATEMENT as well as the TOPIC SENTANCE for the last paragraph. Have your tutor review your concluding statements until each clearly summarizes all the reasons you listed for your answer in each of your essays.
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Add an extra sentence to further develop your concluding sentence to complete your final paragraph. Have your tutor review each as above.
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Now have your tutor review each of your essays to see if each shows a variety of sentence structures. Also have he or she suggest a few advanced vocabulary words for each essay to replace what you have written. Both sentence structure variety and advanced vocabulary are required for higher scores (5 or 6). Refer to the resources below for more information and examples.
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By now you should be quite familiar with each and every possible essay question as well as your prepared answer. Have your tutor randomly pick out essay questions, then write or type them out and have him or her review your answers. Have your tutor explain if there is any common mistake you are making. Have that person evaluate your readiness to take the test. Keeping studying your prepared answers and testing yourself until your tutor feels you are prepared.
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Tips & Warnings
If you can type well, it is probably to your benefit to take the computerized version of the TOEFL essay test since this will save time and making editing your mistakes easier.
NEVER copy an answer to an essay question from a published source. This will likely be discovered and get you in big trouble with the testing people.
