Independent writing: Quick tips
As with most things, writing a good essay takes time and practice (and a lot of it). However, that being said there are a few steps that can help you write the level of essay you are looking for (no matter what level of English your are).
Step One
The first five minutes should be spent planning your essay. I have never seen any student get more than 3 points without having a good plan. Whilst planning remember that there is no such thing as a perfect plan. Write down as many ideas as you can and then decide which ones you can actually use; sometimes the first few ideas that come to mind are not always the the best ideas.
Step Two
You need to practice writing your essay within 20 minutes. To begin with this will be very difficult, but you really need to stay within this time limit even if you haven't completed your essay. You will find that after about 5 practice essays you will be able to write more and more.
Step Three
The last 5 minutes of your time should be spent checking for mistakes. Every mistake that you can correct the better chance you have of getting a better score. Some common errors include:
-The use of some/any/most/many
-The use of articles especially "the"
-The use of either the present perfect+past perfect (especially, when talking about simple past events)
-The use of prepositions (especially with verbs and adjectives)
-The use of plural nouns (Remember in the present simple if we are talking about a general action or event then the noun needs to be plural. I enjoy reading book books)
I hope that you find this useful; but please remember none of the advice that I am giving (and have given) has any meaning if it isn't put into practice. So for those of you who are planning on sending in essays to be marked, please read the other essays I have marked and take note of the points I have made.
Good writing:)
Courtesy of Just English Language Schools. All rights reserved.
Example essay written by a Just English student.
This essay was written by a Just English student some time ago, and it is without doubt one of my favorite essays. It is also a good example of what you can do with a lot of practice and time. To begin with the student started her life as a TOEFL student averaging 2 points and finished the course averaging 4 points (she acually got 5 points for this essay). There are many reasons as to why I like this essay; to begin with it is well organized and well balanced. She has argued some good points and balanced them out with good examples (although they are not what I would consider traditional examples. Generally I would advice against the use of academic examples such as surveys and research, but here she has managed to pull it off). It is also obvious that she has corrected many of her the grammatical mistakes and although the structures used may appear on the basic side they are nonetheless used correctly.
People listen to music for different reasons and at different times. Why is music important to many people? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice.
Over the last 50 years or so, listening to music for different reasons and at different times has become so important for people's lives. People from all over the world listen to different types of music, like rock, pop, jazz. However, listening to music is important to many people for two very different specific reasons
The first reason as to why listening to music is important to many people is that of human health. The listener can create whatever image he or she wants to when listening to music. By listening to music one can start their day and gets the brain flowing in the morning. This is an essential part of life as listening to music in the morning helps you calm down whenever things go wrong in the day. Thousands of people, for example, are treated for cancer each year, and recovering from serious procedures can be painful. However, studies show that music eases the recovery of individuals who have undergone bone marrow transplants to treat cancer. Also, research supports the use of music to modulate heart rate and blood pressure which can relieve stress symptoms in patients with heart disease.
The second reason as to why listening to music is important to many people is that of educating children. Music helps the mind to develop and grow. It is a proven fact that participating in a music program in school will help develop your brain to a higher level and faster than other students. Music actually improves communication between the right and left brain, allowing you to gain better comprehension and memorization skills, for example. Music is science. It is exact and demands accustics. Music is math. It is based on the rythmic subdivisions of time done in a split second. Music is history. The music you hear or play is usually an indication of the time and environment in which it was created. Music is a foreign language. The music is not any language known to man. It is its own language and uses symbols to represent ideas. Most of all, music is art. It is the greatest form of art that allows a human to take boring notes on a page and transform them in to an emotion and feeling you can not measure.
In conclusion as I have illustrated above there are many reasons as to why listening to music is important for peoples lives and that is
Published courtesy of Just English Language Schools
Ynt: Toefl Writing lerinizi Değerlendiriyoruz...
Bir şey sormak istiyorum müsaadenizle. Essay yazarken dikkat etmemiz gereken şeyleri puan kazandırma miktarına bağlı olarak
sıralayacak olsak, nasıl bir liste çıkar karşımıza. Süre daraldığı için(sınav 15 Ocak) seçici olmak daha mantıklı sanki.
-Spesifik örnekler vermek
-Bağlaçlı uzun cümleler kurmak
-Daha akademik kelimeler kullanmak
bunların hangisi üzerinde daha çok durmalı bizim durumumuzdaki bir öğrenci?
Teşekkürler.
Ynt: Toefl Writing lerinizi Değerlendiriyoruz...
Zea selam, 15 ocakta girecekmişin sinava.. nerde gireceksin? bende 15'inde gireceğim Bilge Adam Bakırköy prometrik sınav merkezinde. Başarılar şimdiden
Ynt: Toefl Writing lerinizi Değerlendiriyoruz...
Taksim'de bir dil kursunda gireceğim inşallah. Teşekkür ederim size de başarılar.
(Sizin sınava gireceğiniz yerde dün GRE'ye girdim, ortamı gayet güzel. Beğeneceğinizi umarım.)
Ynt: Toefl Writing lerinizi Değerlendiriyoruz...
I'm so sorry :( I mean that which one is more effective in grading essays?
-giving specific examples
-using long sentences with conjunctions
-using more academic words
I will take the exam on January 15, so I cannot focus on all, and I have to choose one of them and try to correct my mistakes
about that.
Thank you
In answer to Zea's question
Dear Zea, If I were you, I would focus on giving specific examples. The purpose of the independent writing section is to see how you can use the English language. You do not get points for trying to use long sentences with conjunctions or academic words (TOEFL is not an academic exam, it is a level test designed to test all levels of English from elementary to advanced) The raters who mark your exam really wanted to be presented with an essay that they at first understand clearly and then they will look at your use of English grammar and vocabulary. If you look at the example essay that I gave above by an ex-student of mine you will notice that she hasn't used anything overly complicated. She has, however, presented a clear argument using the language that she is comfortable using. If I remember correctly, she in fact got 4 points on the real exam too.
Writing an introduction for "Do you agree or disagree" questions
As with all parts of an essay your introductions should follow a particular pattern. You need to follow a pattern that you are comfortable with and it really shouldn't change from essay to essay. The following is a basic formula I use for writing an introduction to such a question (but that's not say it is the only one)
1st sentence: A general statement realsted to the question at hand
2nd sentence: Illustrate the opposing idea
3rd sentence: Contrast this with your opinion
So lets put this into practice by looking at an original question from the exam:
"Parents make the best teachers"
Well this question is obviously asking who is the better teacher for children; their parents or their teachers, so I am going to begin my introduction discussing a childs education in the first sentence and then follow the pattern through to the last sentence. So my introduction may look like this:
"Over the last 30 years or so, children have been attending school at a much younger age due to changes in the education system and social pressures that dictate that both the man and wife have to work. It is due to this that many people believe that teachers are in fact the best educators for our children. However, I totally disagree with this and believe that parents are without doubt the best teachers for a number of reasons".
Ynt: Toefl Writing lerinizi Değerlendiriyoruz...
This information is cruical for me, and I would like thank you again for sharing your knowledge without having gain.
I'll send and essay according to your recommendations, I really want to do what you suggest in my essays. Hope this time I'll make you smile :P
Essay number: 7 (good luck simemis;)
My 4th essay
Many students choose to attend schools or universities outside of their home countries. Why do some students study abroad? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice.
In the past, people could not find the chance to be educated outside of their country, this due to many reasons for example, it was not good idea for the people to be educated outside of the country, and also people cannot afford the study abroad. However (dont forget to contrast;), over the 30 years or so, with the changes of the social and economic conditions of the families, students find more chance study abroad.
The first reason as to why students want to study abroad is because they want to meet other cultures. In their country students try to learn a foreign language, when they go the abroad they meet the people who live there and this really helps to understand the language that student wants to learn. For instance, my friend and I were in a same high school, our major was foreign language, after we had graduated, my friend decided to go to abroad to carry on studying university, he spent sometimes at there, in a summer holiday we got together and when I saw how he could speak so fluently I was shocked because we tried to learn that language for years but we were not very good, whereas he managed to speak in a little while.
The second reason for my propensity for believing why students choose to go to abroad is because of carrier planning. After a student graduate, he or she apply for a job, students who choose to study abroad believes that if they study abroad this will help them to be chosen by the company, in my opinion this is true belief. In my country there are lots of people who apply for a job also there are many people who graduate from universities, in order to be chosen you have to make a difference in the company’s eye. One of the biggest difference is a student can make; study abroad. Studying abroad is really important to be chosen in job applications in my country.
The last reason why students want to study abroad is they want to gain experience and learn taking some responsibilities. When they live in their country, even if they do not live with their family they do not face some hurdles because their family or their friends always help them. In a foreign country they have to learn how to stay stand, and they have to spend their money more carefully, because there are any people around who will help them. Living in a foreign country will give them precious life experience. When they turn back in their country, these experiences will ease their life.
All in all, as I have illustrated above there are numerous reasons as to why students choose to study abroad. They want to have better life conditions.
Again we have a structurally stronger essay; However, you still have a great number of grammatical mistakes, which are really bringing your score down. The most notable kind of mistake that you are making can be seen in your second supporting paragraph in the second line, which reads:
"After a student graduate, he or she apply for a job, students who choose to study abroad believes that if they study abroad this will help them to be chosen by the company, in my opinion this is true belief."
There are many problems with this sentence. To begin with, we have a problem with the use of the present simple; "student graduate" or "student graduates"? and then you have repeated the same mistake with "he or she apply for a job" which should read "when he or she applies for a job"; You then make the same mistake again when you wrote " students who study abroad believes.." these types of mistakes really stand out and catch the readers attention which is what you don't need. one quick tip would be to keep all the nouns that you use plural then you wont have to think about the verb you are going to use. You then go on to continue with "students who choose.." the subject of which does not fit in with the rest of the sentence because they are singular. Your sentence should read something like this
"After graduating and when students apply for a job, they believe that if they have studied abroad they will have a better chance of being selected by the company; and frankly I agree".
Again you are lacking an example in your last supporting paragraph. I know you think it is an example, but really it isn't. Anything that answers the question WHY is not an example. In terms of vocabulary, what do you mean by "propensity"? Only use vocabulary that you know how to use. Keep your essay basic and clear and you will do much better (yani: artislik yapmanı gerek yok:)