Most Recent TOEFL Writing Task 2 (Independent)
I receive a lot of messages from students who are having the same struggle with TOEFL Independent Writing. Students often find it hard to know just where to begin with these essays—they feel like the Independent essay questions are too broad and vague. (I also hear the same frustrations from students who are practicing similar […]
First, we’re going to be using a list of practice questions in another blog post this week, so check out that blog post. Look through it for a minute or so to understand what I’m talking about, then come back to read or watch the video. 🙂 You can find the list here. […]
Last time, we looked at how to score a 5 out of 5 on the TOEFL integrated writing task, or essay. Now, let’s take a look at how to get that same high score on the independent task. Just as with the integrated task, ETS (the test-makers) have kindly provided the scoring rubric online, allowing […]
Let’s wrap up our series of videos about how to write a better independent essay this week. As a reminder, in the last two weeks I also explained how writing your introduction last and changing from specific to general statements can improve your essay. This week, we have one more tip, and it’s a very […]
Let’s move on to our second tip for improving your independent essay for the TOEFL iBT. (If you missed the first tip from last week, see it here.) Zoom in, zoom out, repeat It’s a fun to say, but the meaning of it isn’t immediately clear, so let’s first look at those two […]
Over the next three weeks, I’ll walk through three tips that can help you improve your independent essay. This Tuesday is the first tip, and it’s an interesting one. If you have studied the GRE with Magoosh, you may have heard this tip before. The idea is simple: write the introduction paragraph last, […]
We’re returning to our TOEFL vocabulary this Tuesday, and we’re going to focus on a new type of word: vocabulary you can use in your essays. Of course, many of the other words we covered in past TOEFL Tuesday videos also could be used in essays, but the three I discuss below are all particularly […]
In my last post on this subject, I talked about using counter-arguments in TOEFL Independent Writing. As I said before, a counter-argument is an explanation of an argument the writer disagrees with. The writer will acknowledge a counter-argument to argue against it. This is done so that the writer can develop and explain his or […]