{"id":142,"date":"2013-12-04T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T17:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=142"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:47:34","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:47:34","slug":"planning-a-written-or-spoken-toefl-response-for-independent-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/planning-a-written-or-spoken-toefl-response-for-independent-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning a Written or Spoken TOEFL Response for Independent Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The TOEFL requires you to provide well-thought-out answers to questions without really giving you time to come up with well-thought-out answers. When you\u2019re studying, it\u2019s OK sometimes to set aside extra time for planning, so that you get practice writing a good, thorough essay. But be careful not to do this all the time, as you want to be prepared for the constraints of the exam when you get to that point. Today I\u2019m going to go through some different ways of planning your response. Try them all on for size at least once; you\u2019ll probably wind up finding one or two that work best for you, but sometimes you\u2019ll get a prompt that really lends itself to still another planning method.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Brainstorming<\/h2>\n<p>We use the word \u201cbrainstorm\u201d generically to talk about the generation of lots of ideas. When we use it specifically, we\u2019re referring to the process of making a list that includes every single possible solution or reaction to a given problem, with no thought as to how feasible or effective any single solution would be. You might choose to brainstorm to come up with examples to support your argument on a given question; since brainstorming is done in list form, it\u2019s probably not the best tactic for choosing your argument.\u00a0 Once you have your topic, a writing utensil, and a sheet of blank paper, set a time limit of one minute and start writing every idea for your problem that you can think of. When time\u2019s up, read through your choices and decide which ideas are best suited for your topic\u2014and for each other. Then start writing!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Free-writing<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019ve heard people call free-writing \u201cwriting the mind alive,\u201d an apt, if lengthy, name. Free-writing is like a less structured brainstorm, and it\u2019s most useful in coming up with an initial argument. You\u2019ll be writing on paper, but at the end most of what\u2019s on the paper will just be a mess. Once you have your question established, set a timer for 2-5 minutes and begin writing. What should you write? Anything that you\u2019re thinking.\u00a0 There are only two rules in free-writing: 1) write continuously for the duration of the exercise, and 2) make sure that your mind is guiding your hand, and not the other way around. You will write any and every thought that enters your head, and as soon as your mind moves on to a new topic, your hand should, too. Your paper will have a lot of unfinished statements. If you don\u2019t know what to write, don\u2019t stop. Instead, write \u201cI don\u2019t know what to write\u201d until your mind moves on.<\/p>\n<p>Free-writing is more time-consuming than brainstorming, and while I highly recommend it in practice, it\u2019s not the best way to use your planning time on the exam. Where it will help you there is if you get writer\u2019s block mid-response. Even a few seconds of free-writing will help you to stop fixating on whatever thought\u2019s keeping you from continuing so you can move on to <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/how-to-write-a-toefl-essay-conclusion\/\">writing a beautiful conclusion<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Brainstorming and free-writing are best for independent responses because they focus on what ideas <i>you,<\/i> the writer, can generate on your own. I don\u2019t mean to imply that they\u2019re not useful in other areas, but they\u2019re the methods that are most likely to fit your purposes in independent responses. To learn about other planning methods, check out my post about <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-integrated-writing-complete-guide\/\">planning integrated responses<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The TOEFL requires you to provide well-thought-out answers to questions without really giving you time to come up with well-thought-out answers. When you\u2019re studying, it\u2019s OK sometimes to set aside extra time for planning, so that you get practice writing a good, thorough essay. But be careful not to do this all the time, as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13614],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13632],"class_list":["post-142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing-task-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Planning a Written or Spoken TOEFL Response for Independent Questions - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/planning-a-written-or-spoken-toefl-response-for-independent-questions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Planning a Written or Spoken TOEFL Response for Independent Questions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The TOEFL requires you to provide well-thought-out answers to questions without really giving you time to come up with well-thought-out answers. 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