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Sample Essays for the Writing Section of the TOEFL® Test

Sample Essays for the Writing Section of the TOEFL Test ( document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) )

Did you hear about the updated TOEFL iBT Writing section?

On July 26, 2023, ETS introduced a new TOEFL Writing question : Writing for an Academic Discussion.

That’s right. The Independent Writing question has been retired from the official TOEFL iBT test.

Before we get into the topics and sample essays for the new TOEFL Writing question, let’s start with the first task, which hasn’t changed, the Integrated Writing.

TOEFL Integrated Writing Topics

In the TOEFL Writing Section, there are two questions you must respond to. The first question is called the TOEFL Integrated Writing task. The second question is called the TOEFL Writing for an Academic Discussion task.

The integrated question presents a reading and listening passage, followed by a question, which is a bit more complicated.

Simple, right?

No? Still confused.

No worries. The best way to understand something better is through examples.

Let’s do one together.

This TOEFL integrated writing topic deals with the use of Corn Ethanol .

Give yourself three minutes to read it:

The chemical compound, ethanol, has risen in recent years as the most viable alternative to fossil fuels. Ethanol is a renewable fuel made from crops, mainly from corn in the United States, which can power engines. There are many who argue that corn ethanol should replace fossil fuel gas as the primary source for running cars.

One major benefit of using corn ethanol is that it uses less energy than gasoline. Using less energy means that people can get better gas mileage while driving these more fuel-efficient cars. In the long-run, this will be cheaper for consumers because they can drive further than they do now with fossil-fueled cars. People will spend less money on gas because they won’t have to stop to fill up as frequently.

Another advantage of switching to corn ethanol is that it helps the American economy become less reliant on energy sources from other countries. Petroleum is not readily available in the U.S., so it must be imported from other countries. Depending on foreign relations with those countries, fuel becomes a political issue. Corn is a crop that America has in abundance. By using corn ethanol instead, the cost of gas will decrease because now the import taxes on fossil fuels are calculated into the price. This also means that we will be putting the money into our own economy, thus helping local corn farmers.

One of the most attractive aspects of corn ethanol is how environmentally friendly is when compared to current automobile gasoline. Fossil fuels release carbon that has been stored for years from the earth. Burning biofuels, like corn ethanol, is better for the environment because it releases less greenhouse gas emissions. Lessening the amount of carbon emissions will help prevent global warming and all of the other negative effects of climate change.

Once three minutes have ended, listen to a conversation about the same topic

Now, it’s time to write your TOEFL essay.

Stop reading.

Start writing.

Write your essay before you look at this TOEFL Writing sample. You will learn a lot more if you actually write the essay and then compare this to your own.

Here’s an expert TOEFL teacher’s sample essay to this particular TOEFL Writing topic.

The article introduces the topic of corn-based ethanol. More specifically, the writer discusses the advantages of switching from fossil fuels to this alternative energy source. The lecturer in the listening passage disagrees. He believes that the benefits the author mentions are misleading and attacks each of the claims made in the reading.

In the reading, the author begins by stating that drivers will get better gas mileage on corn ethanol than on fossil fuels, and therefore save money on gas. The speaker, however, disagrees. He states that the production of corn ethanol is very expensive. He says that in order to make for the costs to create and distribute this biofuel, the price of ethanol gas will increase. Therefore, it will not be any cheaper for consumers in the long run.

The writer also claims that making the switch to corn ethanol will help the American economy because it will make the United States less dependent on foreign oil. Again, the lecturer believes there are flaws in the writer’s argument. He holds instead that mass use of corn-based ethanol will hurt the economy. He elaborates this by point out that the inevitable competition for corn by multiple consumers, including beef and dairy farmers, will drive the price of corn up.

Another reason why the author feels that moving from traditional gasoline to corn ethanol is a good idea is that they are more environmentally friendly than fossil fuels. The professor in the listening passage is doubtful that this is accurate. He suggests that as more farmlands are created to support the demands for more corn, more carbon will be absorbed by the land. This means that these emissions will still be released to negatively affect the environment.

As you can see the author and speaker hold very different views about the use of corn ethanol.

The author here clearly defined the main idea, organized the supporting points from both the reading and listening passage, and showed how they differ from each other.

I know it may seem a bit difficult, which is why I recommend that you start off with a TOEFL Writing template for both the Writing for an Academic Discussion task and Integrated essay.

Looking for more example essays?

Download our TOEFL Writing 24+ Guide if you would like more sample essays. It includes extra tips, tricks, and strategies you will not find anywhere else. Download it for free here

Too complicated? Don’t worry.

I will share TOEFL writing templates for the Integrated Writing question, which will make your life a whole lot easier.

We have to talk about the Writing for an Academic Discussion question.

Writing for an Academic Discussion Question

You will have 10 minutes to complete the Writing for an Academic Discussion question .

For this task, you will participate in an online discussion. After you read the question and student responses, you will have to write a response that adds to the conversation.

Here’s the breakdown:

This question is straightforward, but let’s do a sample together.

When the question appears on the screen, take two minutes to scan the passage and the student’s opinions.

Start to write your response. Be sure to add to the discussion and avoid repeating the same points as the other students.

Aim to write at least 120 words.

Get peace of mind with these TOEFL Writing Templates

Now that you have a few TOEFL Writing topics and sample essays to study from, you may want to use a writing template to help guide your writing.

A TOEFL template is basically a pre-organized set of words and phrases that you can use in almost any TOEFL Writing response.

Here’s TST Prep’s template for the integrated TOEFL Writing question (question one) :

The article introduces the topic of (general topic). More specifically, the writer discusses (stance of the author on the topic). The lecturer in the listening passage disagrees. He believes that (stance of the professor on the topic) and attacks each of the claims made in the reading.

In the reading, the author begins by stating that (first point made to support stance). The lecturer, however, disagrees. He states that (first counterargument by the professor). He goes on to say that (additional detail about first counterargument).

The author also claims that ( second point made to support stance). Again, the lecturer believes there are flaws in the writer’s argument. The speaker holds that (two sentences about the professor’s second counter-argument).

Another reason why the author feels that (restate stance of author ) is that ( third point made to support stance). The professor in the listening passage is doubtful that this is accurate. He suggests that (two sentences about the professor’s third counter argument ).

To sum up, both the writer and professor hold conflicting views about (general topic). It’s clear that they will have trouble finding common ground on this issue.

And here’s our template for the independent TOEFL Writing for an Academic Discussion (question two) :

You will notice that the sample essays in this article differ from the templates.

You do not have to use templates, it’s up to you. Some people prefer to write in their own unique fashion for the entire exam. However, you will notice that the structure of the templates is similar to the TOEFL example essays.

These templates follow the exact organization and structure you are expected to use on test day, so don’t hesitate to use them in your writing.

Also, don’t forget to download the free 24+ TOEFL Writing Guide if you would like more example essays, templates, and exclusive tips to help you earn the best possible TOEFL Writing score on test day.

If you read this far, it means you are serious about your TOEFL studies. Don’t hesitate to send us an email and let us know how we can help you earn the TOEFL score of your dreams – [email protected]

Did we forget anything? Please comment and let us know how we can improve our TOEFL Writing advice (or if you want to just say hi that would be great too).

109 Comments

Hello Josh, I have a question regarding how we can write an advanced writing that will be scored 25+?

Thanks very much for your question. We do have some templates that can help to increase your score. However, to give you a more detailed answer, I would suggest you consider doing an essay evaluation with us so we can help you determine specific areas for improvement. In the meantime, here are some articles that can help.

https://tstprep.com/articles/toefl/ten-awesome-tips-for-the-writing-section-of-the-toefl-test/

https://tstprep.com/articles/toefl/sample-essays-for-the-writing-section-of-the-toefl-test/

Hi Josh! For the academic writing, I only gave my reason for the topic, and I forgot to mention the opinion of the other student. I checked my word count. It is already past 100 words, and I do not want it to be too long. Do we really need to mention the other students’ opinion?

Hi Ireen. Great question! We often suggest mentioning one of the other students, but it is not required. As long as what you said was on topic, you “added to the discussion,” and gave specific reasons and examples, you should be okay with the 100 words you wrote.

Hello, I have a question about the independent writing: Is it a problem if I just give one reason in my essay (but detailed enough)? Thank you

Hi there and thank you for your question. There are no specific grading criteria that say you MUST give two reasons for your opinion, so, in theory, yes, you can just give one reason. I don’t think you will be marked down for it. If possible, try to give two though. It will make your word count higher.

Hello Josh, I was wondering if you have more integrated writing questions that we could do for practice, do you know where to find them?

Hi there and thank you for your question. If you search “TOEFL Writing Practice test” on Youtube you will find 2-3 TST Prep practice videos with an Integrated Writing practice question. I’m sure there will be tests from other providers as well.

Hey Josh, I have been following your YouTube channel for my TOEFL preparation, where I learned a lot. My question is that I got stuck between 15-17 scores in the reading section and could not figure out what I would do to enhance my scores. Any suggestions?

Hi there Ashina, and thank you for your question.

It is, indeed, a difficult question to answer. Here are two pieces of advice on how to practice at home and how to improve time management:

HOW TO DO A PASSAGE

I am going to breakdown the process you should go through when you do a TOEFL Reading passage:

1. Copy the test conditions (set a timer to complete the passage and all the questions in 18 minutes)

2. Check your answers

3. Identify the reason you got a specific question wrong (or didn’t understand why you were correct) and write down what you can do to avoid the same mistake next time. Step #3 is the most important and the one often overlooked because most test-takers are pretty tired after reading and answering questions. This will help you notice patterns in incorrect choices and apply what you have learned later.

4. (Optional) Do the same passage again two weeks later. (You will remember much of what you did before, but it should help remind you of what you have learned)

TIME MANAGEMENT

My advice is pretty simple here, practice with LESS TIME. If it is not too stressful, try to complete a passage and all of the questions in 16 minutes (instead of 18). This usually does the trick for most students over time.

I hope you find some of this helpful. Good luck, and let me know if you need anything.

Hey Josh, in the Reading section the last question holds two marks where we are asked to pick three choices. I have always have a hard time getting the perfect score here. any suggestions, please…

Hi Kiba, this is a popular complaint. I posted a video about summary questions here. You might find it helpful.

Hey Josh, I have a question. If the question is saying a good essay is between 200 and 300, and I wrote more than 300, is this okay? Or should I make it only as maximum as they are saying?

Hi Joud and great question. Definitely write MORE. There is a direct correlation between test scores and word count, so the more you write the better. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should write as much as possible as fast as possible, but anything between 350-450 words would be great.

Hey Josh, I think I do well in my writing section, but my score doesn’t improve. Is there anything that I can do to know my mistakes from the ETS?

Hi Aziz, good question, and unfortunately, no, they do not release that information. The best you can do is work with an experienced teacher who can point out your weaknesses and work on them at home before test day.

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TOEFL iBT® Paper Edition: Your Top 10 Questions Answered by ETS®

Registration has already begun for the brand new TOEFL iBT Paper Edition test, with the first tests scheduled to be administered in Colombia, Mexico, the United States, and India in December 2021.

Wait, wait, wait… what?

A TOEFL iBT Paper Edition? I thought you had to take the TOEFL iBT on a computer.

Complete Practice Test for the TOEFL® Test

What you need is a free and complete TOEFL practice test with an answer key that explains the answer to each question. Not only that, but this test should include speaking responses and essay samples so you know how to speak and write on test day.

This is the free practice test you’ve been looking for.

And not only do you get access to a free TOEFL practice test, but we will also break down each section of the test and provide five study tips to help you improve your TOEFL score.

Questions, Topics and Sample Answers for the Speaking Section of the TOEFL® Test

TOEFL Speaking practice questions. You need them, we’ve got them.

And not only that, but we have included sample answers so you know exactly how to speak to score high on test day.

These TOEFL Speaking topics and sample answers were carefully crafted to show you the ideal structure for each question type. Check them out.

Duolingo English Test® vs. the TOEFL iBT®

Your dream is to study abroad, but the entire process is a massive headache. You have to fill out applications, research visa requirements, and prepare for exams.

One common requirement is an English language proficiency exam. You have probably heard about the TOEFL iBT® before, but there is a chance you might be able to take a new test: the Duolingo English Test®

Ten Awesome Tips for the Writing Section of the TOEFL® Test

We know it can feel impossible to write two complete essays in under 40 minutes! But that’s exactly what you have to do in the TOEFL Writing section.

That’s why we have compiled a list of ten of our best TOEFL Writing tips so you feel cool and confident on test day.

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TOEFL Prep Online Guides and Tips

Toefl exam pattern: test structure and scoring, explained.

To prepare effectively for the TOEFL, you need to understand the TOEFL exam pattern: how the test is structured, what kinds of questions it’ll ask you, and how you can ultimately use this information to get a high score on test day.

In this guide, we go over the TOEFL pattern, for the test as a whole and for each section. Along the way, we provide you with key tips for using the TOEFL test pattern to your advantage and give you a rundown of the TOEFL structure for the paper-delivered test as well.

What Is the Overall TOEFL Exam Pattern?

The TOEFL iBT is a four-hour, computerized test with four sections: Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing. You’ll use one main skill for each section (so on Reading you’ll read passages and on Listening you’ll listen to audio clips), with some questions or tasks requiring the use of multiple skills.

All sections are timed. You’ll always have 20 minutes on Speaking and 50 minutes on Writing.

However, the Reading and Listening sections vary in length due to unscored, experimental questions. Reading ranges from 60 to 80 minutes long, while Listening ranges from 60 to 90 minutes long. There will be no indication telling you which questions are experimental and which ones aren’t, so don’t spend too much time worrying about this—just try your best on all questions!

Finally, you’ll have one 10-minute break in the middle of the test, between the Listening and Speaking sections. This break is mandatory, meaning you must take it. You may take other breaks during the test, but you will not be able to pause the timer for these.

The following table highlights the overall TOEFL test pattern, including the order of the sections, how long each section is, and how many questions each section contains:

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Source: ETS.org

You may take notes on all sections of the exam. A test center administrator will give you scratch paper and pencils to use. You’ll also get a headset with a microphone to use for listening to audio clips and recording your Speaking responses.

Each section is scored out of 30 points and then combined for a total TOEFL score out of 120. For more information about TOEFL scoring, check out our guide . You’ll receive your scores in your official score report online about 10 days after your test date.

Now, let’s look at the TOEFL pattern section by section.

TOEFL Exam Pattern: Reading Section

The first section you’ll have on the TOEFL iBT is the Reading section. As mentioned above, this section can vary in length. So if you don’t get any experimental questions, Reading will be 60 minutes long and contain 36-42 questions. If you do get experimental questions, it’ll be 80 minutes long and contain 48-56 questions.

Your main task is to read passages and answer questions about them. Each reading passage is long—usually about 700 words—and you’ll have three or four passages in total (if you get four, one will be an experimental passage).

Passages deal with a variety of academic topics, from history and art to science and psychology. Each passage also comes with 12-14 questions (or a “question set”). You are not timed on each passage and question set, so it’s important to manage your time wisely. (We go over this more in tip #1 below.)

Reading is first scored in raw points (i.e., the number of points you get per question) and then converted to a scaled score out of 30. A good Reading score varies depending on where you’re applying, but generally anything above 22 (the 50th percentile) can be considered good.

TOEFL Reading Question Types

There are three Reading question types: multiple choice, Inserting a Sentence, and Reading to Learn. We explain each of these below.

Multiple Choice

Most Reading questions are standard multiple choice. These questions are each worth 1 raw point and give you four answer choices to choose from.

For this question type, you may have to define a vocabulary word in the text or answer a question about the content or form of the passage. Here’s an example of one (from the TOEFL iBT Interactive Sampler ):

Inserting a Sentence

You’ll get one Inserting a Sentence question, worth 1 raw point, with each passage. This question is always the second-to-last question in a question set (right before the Reading to Learn question, which we discuss more below).

With this question, you get a new sentence and four possible places to insert it in the passage. Your task is to put the sentence in the area of the passage where it makes the most sense.

Reading to Learn

This is perhaps one of the most unique question types on the TOEFL. The Reading to Learn question requires you to arrange the main points of the passage in a chart or summary by clicking and dragging sentences.

There is only one Reading to Learn question per passage, and it’ll always come at the end of a question set.

In addition, this is the only Reading question type worth 2-3 raw points, meaning you can get partial credit if you only get some of the answers correct.

3 Tips for Attacking the TOEFL Reading Pattern

Here are our top tips for dealing with the TOEFL Reading pattern.

#1: Learn to Manage Your Time

Reading lasts 60-80 total minutes, but because there’s no timer for each passage and question set, you’ll need to practice managing your time so that you don’t accidentally run out at the end.

Here’s the best way to divide your time on Reading:

To recap, spend around 20 minutes total on each passage and question set. Ideally, you’ll spend five minutes reading the passage and 15 minutes answering the questions for that passage (or about one minute per question). Note that some questions, such as the Reading to Learn question, will take a little longer to complete, while others will take less time.

Try to stick to a one-minute pace per question as best you can. This prevents you from spending too much time on a single question and falling behind.

#2: Choose a Passage-Reading Strategy Ahead of Time

To do well on TOEFL Reading, you must know how to approach the passages so that you’re using your time wisely and are clearly comprehending the main points of the text.

There are a few ways you can approach Reading section passages:

Read the entire passage first (recommended)
Skim the passage and then answer the questions
Answer the questions paragraph by paragraph
Read the questions first (not recommended)

In general, the best method is to read the passage in its entirety. If you choose this strategy, spend no more than five minutes reading each passage. Be aware, though, that this method works well only if you’re highly proficient in English.

Ultimately, choose the passage-reading strategy that works best for you. To figure out which one you like the most, try out each of the four strategies above using different Reading practice tests . When finished, go with the strategy that gives you the highest score.

#3: Skip Difficult Questions and Return to Them Later

The Reading format doesn’t require you to answer a question before moving on, so use this feature to your advantage by skipping difficult questions. This way you can keep moving and answering questions on the test, even if you get stuck. You’ll also avoid spending too much time on one difficult question.

Just remember to go back and answer any unanswered questions before time runs out. Even if you have to guess, it’s better to choose a random answer than to choose nothing at all since there are no penalties for wrong answers on the TOEFL.

TOEFL Exam Pattern: Listening Section

Like Reading, Listening varies in its length and number of questions due to the possibility of getting unscored, experimental questions. This section can range from 60 minutes and 34 questions long to 90 minutes and 51 questions long.

Listening tests you on your English-listening skills. In total, you’ll listen to four to six lectures and two to three conversations. Each lecture lasts three to five minutes and comes with six questions, while each conversation lasts about three minutes and comes with five questions. You will hear each audio clip only once.

As you listen to a clip, you’ll usually get to see a picture of the speaker(s) on-screen. Here’s an example:

During lectures, you may also see specific terms or concepts written on a blackboard as so:

You may hear one or multiple speakers in audio clips. You’ll also hear different English accents (though most will be the North American accent).

Your Listening score is first calculated as the sum of your raw points and then converted to a final score on a scale of 0-30. A good Listening score varies depending on what schools you’re applying to, but usually anything above 21 (the 50th percentile) is a good score.

Listening Question Types

There are three question types on Listening: standard multiple choice, multiple answer, and Replay. We discuss each of these below.

This is your basic multiple-choice question and by far the most common question type you’ll see on Listening. Each question is worth 1 raw point and comes with four answer choices and one correct answer.

Multiple Answer

This second question type is similar to the multiple-choice question type above in that you’ll have four answers to choose from; however, you may select more than one answer choice (denoted by boxes instead of ovals).

The question will tell you how many answers to select (usually two). You get 1 raw point for each of these questions you answer correctly. There is no partial credit for this question type, so you must get all answers correct to get the point.

These questions replay part of the audio clip and then ask you a multiple-choice question about that part of the clip. Like the other Listening question, this one, too, is worth 1 raw point.

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3 Tips for Attacking the TOEFL Listening Pattern

Here are our top three tips for getting the most out of the TOEFL exam pattern on Listening.

#1: Take Notes as You Listen

The Listening section has you listen to audio clips and then answer questions about them—but the hard part is that you only get to hear the clips once (except on Replay questions). And unlike the Reading section, you can’t skip around or go back to previous questions or clips.

This is why it’s so important to take notes as you listen. Doing this will help you keep track of the main topics of the audio clips and who says what, allowing you to more easily answer the questions that follow.

For more tips on how to take notes on Listening, check out our guide .

#2: Pay Close Attention to Replay Questions

Replay questions are different in that they let you re-listen to part of the audio clip. Because the answer to the question can be found in that particular part of the clip, pay close attention to the replayed part.

Even if you remember most of the audio clip or took detailed notes, really pay attention to the replayed part so that you don’t miss any key information. The answer to the question will be in this part of the clip specifically, so there’s no need to go through your notes on the whole lecture or conversation.

#3: Read Questions and Answer Choices Carefully

The Listening section pattern doesn’t let you skip around with questions like you can on the Reading section, so make sure you read all questions and answer choices carefully.

Don’t just choose the first answer choice that sounds right— take time to understand what each answer choice means, and then choose the one that most clearly and accurately answers the question. If an answer choice sounds right but doesn’t exactly answer the question, it’s probably wrong!

TOEFL Exam Pattern: Break

You’ll have one 10-minute break in the middle of the test. All test takers are required to take this break.

Here are some actions to take on your break to help you build energy for the rest of the test:

Get up and walk around: By this point, you’ve been sitting at a computer for more than two hours! Thus, the best thing you can do for your body is to move around and take your eyes off the screen. This not only reenergizes you but also breaks up the monotony of the test.
Use the bathroom: If you need to use the restroom (or think you might have to soon), now’s the best time to do so. Though you can go to the bathroom any time during the test, the clock won’t stop for you, so do it on your break.
Drink some water and eat a snack: Since you can’t eat or drink in the testing room, this is a good time to not only walk around but to also replenish your thirst. Drink some water and eat a quick snack (if desired) to keep your stamina up for the second half of the test.
Breathe and relax: Last but not least, don’t let the test get to you. Try not to worry about how you’ve done on the TOEFL so far or how you might do on upcoming sections. If you’re feeling nervous, take a few moments to breathe deeply. You can do this!

TOEFL Exam Pattern: Speaking

Now it’s time to use the microphone! The TOEFL Speaking section is the shortest section on the TOEFL, lasting just 20 minutes in total.

For this section, you’ll have six tasks. The first two tasks, the Independent tasks, require you to speak for 45 seconds about your opinion on familiar topics. The latter four tasks, the Integrated tasks, require you to speak for 60 seconds about passages and audio clips.

Speaking is scored differently than the Reading and Listening sections: each task is scored on a special scale of 0-4 . These scores are then summed and converted to a final speaking score on a scale of 0-30. While the definition of a good Speaking score varies depending on what schools you’re applying to, a good score is typically considered anything above 22 (the 50th percentile).

Speaking Task Types

Every Speaking task is different, but we can divide them into two main types: Independent and Integrated.

Independent Speaking Tasks

The Independent tasks, or tasks 1 and 2, focus on familiar topics. For task 1 you must choose one of many options, and for task 2 you must choose one of two options.

For both tasks, you’ll read a prompt and then have 15 seconds to prepare your response. Once that time is up, you’ll have 45 seconds to speak. As you speak, you must support your opinions clearly and with ample examples and reasons.

Below is an overview of the two Independent Speaking tasks:

And here’s an example of task 2:

Integrated Speaking Tasks

Integrated tasks, or tasks 3-6, require you to combine your reading and listening skills with your speaking skills. Tasks 3 and 5 focus on campus situations, while tasks 4 and 6 focus on academic course content.

For tasks 3 and 4, you must read a passage, listen to an audio clip, and answer a question about both the passage and audio clip. You’ll have 45-50 seconds to read the passage, about one minute to listen to the clip, 30 seconds to prepare your response, and 60 seconds to speak.

For tasks 5 and 6, you must listen to an audio clip and then answer a question about it. The audio clip is usually about two minutes long, and you’ll have 20 seconds to prepare your response and 60 seconds to speak. There are no reading passages for tasks 5 and 6.

Below is an overview of the four Integrated Speaking tasks:

Here is an example of task 4:

And here’s an example of task 5:

3 Tips for Attacking the TOEFL Speaking Pattern

Here are our top three tips for using the TOEFL pattern for Speaking to your advantage on test day.

#1: Use Your Scratch Paper to Plan What You’ll Say

Because you only get one chance to speak on each Speaking task, you’ll need to have good organization and clear ideas to get a high score. Therefore, it’s a smart idea to use your scratch paper to plan out what you’ll say.

With each task you get 15-30 seconds of preparation time, so use this to your advantage. On your scratch paper, outline two or three main points you want to discuss and, if possible, an example or two to support them.

You don’t need to get too detailed—just make bullet points of the main topics you plan to discuss. This way you can organize your thoughts better and limit the number of pauses you’ll have trying to figure out what to say next.

#2: Take Notes on Readings and Audio Clips

For tasks 3 and 4 you’ll have to read and listen, while for tasks 5 and 6 you’ll only have to listen. Since you’ll only get to read each passage and listen to each audio clip once, be sure to take detailed notes on both the passages and audio clips.

Each passage consists of about 100 words, so they’re not particularly long and are relatively easy to take notes on. However, you’ll only have 45-50 seconds to read each one, so write down important ideas as you read instead of after you finish reading.

Audio clip lengths vary but are usually anywhere from one to two minutes long. Using the note-taking tips for Listening in our guide , make a memo of the main points in each clip, who says what, and any suggestions given or decisions made.

#3: Speak Up

The TOEFL exam pattern for Speaking makes it so that other test takers in your room will likely get to the Speaking section the same time you do. This can cause the room to get louder than normal and make it difficult to ensure you’re speaking clearly into your microphone.

As a result, always speak up on Speaking tasks. Don’t yell into the microphone, but raise your voice slightly so that you’re using the same volume you’d use while giving a presentation. In the end, if evaluators can’t understand what you’re saying, you’ll lose points!

In addition, don’t forget to speak clearly and at a natural pace. You can practice these skills ahead of time by recording yourself and seeing whether there are any English sounds or words that are particularly difficult for you to pronounce.

TOEFL Exam Pattern: Writing

Finally, we get to the last section of the TOEFL: Writing. For this section, you must write two essays (an Integrated essay and an Independent essay) within 50 minutes. You’ll have 20 minutes for the first essay and 30 minutes for the second essay.

Each essay is scored using a scale of 0-5 . The two essay scores are then combined and converted to a scaled Writing score out of 30. While a good Writing score varies depending on where you’re applying, in general anything above 22 (the 50th percentile) is considered a good score.

Writing Task Types

There are two types of essays you must write for this section: the Integrated task and the Independent task.

Integrated Writing Task

The first essay is the Integrated essay. For this task, you’ll have three minutes to read an academic passage of about 300 words. After, you’ll listen to an approximately two-minute-long audio clip of a lecture and then write an essay explaining how the lecture and passage support or challenge each other.

You’ll have 20 minutes to prepare and write your response. You will be able to see the passage the entire time you write. The length of your essay should be about 150-225 words.

Remember that you are not writing about your opinion for this task (though you will be doing so for the Independent task, which we look at next).

Independent Writing Task

The second essay you must write is the Independent task. Unlike the Integrated essay above, you’ll have no reading passages to read or audio clips to listen to for this task; all you’ll get is a prompt.

This prompt will focus on a familiar topic and ask for your opinion on it. You may write about your own opinion or make one up. You’ll have 30 minutes to plan and write a response of at least 300 words.

3 Tips for Attacking the TOEFL Writing Pattern

Below, we introduce our top three tips for getting the most out of the TOEFL Writing exam pattern.

#1: Outline Your Essays

You’ll have 20 minutes on the Integrated essay and 30 on the Independent one, but don’t use all of this time to write! Rather, spend the first few minutes of each task outlining your essay: create a bullet-point list of the two or three main points you want to make, and come up with examples or reasons to support them.

Don’t spend too much time outlining, though. I recommend spending up to three minutes outlining the Integrated essay and up to five minutes outlining the Independent essay.

#2: Take Notes on the Audio Clip—Not the Passage

For the Integrated task, you’ll read an academic passage and then listen to a lecture on the same topic. However, because you can read the passage again as you write your response, there’s no need to take notes on it. Instead, just focus on reading the passage and getting notes down for the audio clip.

You only get to hear the audio clip once, so make sure you’re keeping track of the main points the professor makes and how these points agree or disagree with what you read in the passage.

#3: Choose the Easier Side to Support

For the Independent task, don’t waste minutes trying to figure out how to support your opinion. If your opinion is too difficult to argue, just go with the easier side to support.

In other words, it’s OK to make up an opinion for this task —you’re not being judged on whether you’re telling the truth but on how well you can construct an argument. Thus, if the side you actually agree with is too difficult to defend, choose the easier side and focus on finding reasons to support that one instead.

What Is the Paper-Delivered TOEFL Test Pattern?

We’ve gone over everything you need to know about the TOEFL exam pattern—but what about the paper-delivered TOEFL?

This version of the TOEFL is only offered in areas where the TOEFL iBT (or “Internet-based test”) is unavailable. Most people take the TOEFL iBT, but if you’re taking the paper TOEFL, it’s important to familiarize yourself with its pattern and see how it differs from the TOEFL iBT.

Here is a brief overview of the paper-TOEFL test pattern:

As you can see, though the two TOEFL versions share many similarities, they’re not 100 percent identical. Below are some of the key ways the paper TOEFL differs from the TOEFL iBT:

It doesn’t have a Speaking section: Since you can’t record your responses without a computer, there is no feasible way to recreate the Speaking section on the paper test.
It doesn’t have any experimental questions: On the TOEFL iBT, you’ll have unscored questions on either the Reading or Listening section, but you won’t get any such questions on the paper TOEFL. Thus, all Reading and Listening questions you get on the paper TOEFL will count toward your final score.
It’s a full hour shorter than the TOEFL iBT: Without a Speaking section and experimental questions, the paper TOEFL is about an hour shorter (three hours) than the TOEFL iBT (four hours).
Listening comes before Reading: On the TOEFL iBT, Reading comes first and Listening comes second, but these two sections switch positions on the paper TOEFL.
It doesn’t have a 10-minute break (or any break at all): Because the paper TOEFL is shorter than the TOEFL iBT, there is no mandatory break in the middle of the test. In other words, you must take the entire paper TOEFL in one sitting.

Recap: What the TOEFL Exam Pattern Means for You

The TOEFL test pattern is generally the same for all test takers: you start with the Reading and Listening sections, have a quick 10-minute break, and then move to the Speaking and Writing sections. Depending on which section you get experimental questions, you’ll have either a longer Reading or Listening section.

Ultimately, the best way to prepare for the TOEFL pattern is to understand the format of each section and question type. You can then use this information to help you figure out how to approach different questions, take notes efficiently, and get more questions right.

We gave you 12 tips above for dealing with the TOEFL pattern for each of the four sections. So what’s our final tip? Use official TOEFL practice tests to hone your test-taking skills.

You can buy a TPO test online or use the TOEFL tests in official prep books (namely The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test and Official TOEFL iBT Tests ). Taking realistic TOEFL tests will better familiarize you with the TOEFL structure, time limits, and question types.

What’s Next?

Want to know how the TOEFL is scored ? Or how long the TOEFL is ? Our guides explain the TOEFL scoring system in detail and go over the length of each section on both the TOEFL iBT and paper-delivered test.

How can you ensure you have a great TOEFL experience ? Learn what to expect on TOEFL test day and how you can prepare effectively for it.

Need to register for the TOEFL ? Follow our step-by-step guide to get started today!

Ready to improve your TOEFL score by 15 points?

Author: Hannah Muniz

Hannah graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in English and East Asian languages and cultures. After graduation, she taught English in Japan for two years via the JET Program. She is passionate about education, writing, and travel. View all posts by Hannah Muniz

TOEFL Writing Correction Topics
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Speaking Mock Test
Reading Course
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OET Reading Course
OET Speaking Mock Test
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OET (Occupational English Test)
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TOEFL Independent Writing Universal Template

You have probably heard by now that one way to succeed on the TOEFL Writing Section is to use templates. There are many templates out there for the Integrated Writing Task , but did you know there is also one for the Independent Writing Task?

What is the TOEFL Independent Writing Task?

The very last task you have on the TOEFL exam is the TOEFL Independent Writing. For this task, you will be given a question relating to topic which asks for your opinion. Often these questions are designed for you to pick a side of a controversial argument, state your preference between two or three conflicting options, or explain why you agree or disagree with a given statement. You will have 30 minutes to plan and write about your opinion on the topic, including providing reasons for your opinion and a personal experience to support each reason. The TOEFL suggests an Independent Writing that is 300-325 words, but we recommend writing 350-400 words.

How to structure your TOEFL Independent Writing Task Essay?

The best structure for the Independent Writing Task is to write four paragraphs: an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion. The introduction paragraph should be short – only two to four sentences. In these sentences, you should very clearly and passionately state your opinion on the question (don’t copy the language from the question word for word), and your two supporting reasons.

In the conclusion paragraph, write one or two sentences summarizing your opinion on the topic from the question and your two supporting reasons.

The TOEFL Independent Writing Task TEMPLATE

Using a template on the TOEFL exam will save you valuable time and keep you from losing track of yourself in your answer. While there is no way to predict what kind of opinion question you will get, there is a template you can follow no matter the question type.

1. Introduction

Your introduction paragraph has 3 parts: a) the general background statement on the topic, b) your opinion on the topic, and c) your two supporting reasons.

a) General background statement on the topic

In the very first sentence of your Independent Writing, it is best to start the general background of the topic question. For example, if you are asked about your opinion on the use of cell phones by teenagers, your first sentence can be something general like: “Nowadays, cell phones play an increasingly important role in teenager’s lives.” This is not stating your opinion, but generally mentioning the background on this topic. Here are some other phrases you can use to start:

Time phrases: General knowledge phrases:

Here are some phrases you can use to end your first sentence:

Expressing Concern Continuing Controversy

b) Your opinion on the topic

After making a general statement on the background of the topic, next you will state your opinion. The phrase will depend on the kind of question you are asked: start the general background of the topic question: pick a side, state your preference, or explain why you agree or disagree. Here are some other phrases you can use to state your opinion:

Pick a Side

Preference Agree/Disagree

c) Your two supporting reasons

The last part of your introduction is to state your two supporting reasons for your opinion. Here are some other phrases you can use to introduce your supporting reasons:

2. Body paragraphs

You will write two body paragraphs, one for each of your supporting reasons. Each body paragraph has 3 parts a) supporting reason, b) personal experience, and c) linking sentence.

a) Supporting Reason

To start, use a signpost word or phrase to begin each of your body paragraphs.

First paragraph Second paragraph

b) Personal Experience

You should spend most of your body paragraph telling a personal story that supports or illustrates your reason. While this is the most free-flowing part of your essay, there are some helpful phrases to help you get started:

c) Linking Sentence

At the end of each of your body paragraphs, you should link your personal experience back to your opinion. To do this, use one of these signpost words and phrases:

3. Conclusion

The end of your Independent Writing is a short conclusion sentence. All you need to do is restate your opinion, and your two supporting reasons. Here are some concluding signpost words and phrases to get you started:

Putting some of these phrases all together, here is an example Independent Writing Task Template:

Writing Problems Students Have on the TOEFL Writing

TOEFL integrated writing task 2023 | Examples and sample essay.

Want to excel in the toefl writing task elevate your skills with the most up-to-date examples, carefully crafted sample essays, and insights in 2023. maximize your potential to succeed in the integrated writing task., table of contents, introduction, toefl integrated writing task structure and format , toefl writing task topics , toefl writing task sample , toefl writing task pdf and other resources , strategies for toefl integrated writing task , scoring criteria for toefl writing task , key tips for success , example 1: environmental conservation , example 2: technological advancements in medicine , introduction: , body: , key takeaways .

TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is a critical stepping stone for students who aspire to study in English-speaking universities. The TOEFL writing task is one part of this examination that can often become a cause for concern. It not only tests your ability to understand English but also your ability to express thoughts, ideas, and opinions in a clear and precise manner.

In this comprehensive guide, we will explore various aspects of the TOEFL writing task, including topics, samples, format, and specific answers to common questions. The information provided is tailored to the 2023 edition of the test, ensuring relevance and applicability to your preparation. So, if you’re planning to take on this challenge in 2023, let’s begin by understanding the structure and requirements of the TOEFL writing task.

The TOEFL integrated writing task is the first of the two writing tasks in the TOEFL exam. It’s designed to assess your ability to combine listening and reading skills to write a coherent and well-structured essay. Here’s a detailed breakdown:

Reading passage : A passage around 200-250 words long is provided. You’ll have three minutes to read it.
Listening clip : A short lecture related to the reading passage is played. You’ll be given time to take notes to remember the content better.
Writing task : You will have 20 minutes to write a response of about 150-225 words, summarizing the points made in the lecture and explaining how they relate to specific points in the reading passage.

The topics for the TOEFL integrated writing task are generally academic and range from subjects like history, science, art, and social sciences. Here’s an example of how the topics will be given:

Reading passage : An excerpt will be provided about Renaissance art and its influence.
Listening clip : A lecture discussing a specific Renaissance painting.
Writing task : Compare and contrast the information in the reading passage and the lecture.

Practicing in advance by working on such topics will help you write and format your writing tasks better. Here’s a sample for you to practice:

Reading passage: Brief description of climate change and its effects.
Listening clip : A lecture discussing various solutions to combat climate change.
Writing task : Summarize the solutions from the lecture and relate them to the problems mentioned in the reading passage.

To support your preparation, TOEFL writing task PDF materials, containing practice questions and samples are available online. These resources often include:

Guides on TOEFL writing format
Collection of TOEFL writing samples with answers PDF
TOEFL writing task 1 sample answers and TOEFL writing task 2 sample answers
Practice tests for TOEFL writing task 2

These materials are instrumental in understanding the pattern and honing your skills to succeed in the TOEFL writing task.

Understanding the structure : Familiarize yourself with the TOEFL writing format, including reading, listening, and writing phases.
Time management: Allocate time for reading, note-taking, and writing, keeping in mind the 20-minute time limit for the writing task.
Note-taking skills : Practice jotting down crucial points from both the reading passage and the listening clip. Focus on the main ideas, supporting details, and the relationship between the reading and listening parts.
Creating an outline : Before diving into writing, create a rough outline to organize your thoughts. This helps in maintaining coherence and connection between various sections of the essay.
Practicing with samples : Utilize the TOEFL writing task sample, TOEFL writing task 1 sample answers, and TOEFL writing task 2 sample answers for regular practice.

Understanding the scoring can guide you in preparing effectively. The TOEFL integrated writing task is scored on a scale of 0-5 based on the following criteria:

Content : Accuracy, completeness, and connection between reading and listening.
Organization : Logical progression, clear introduction, body, and conclusion.
Language use : Grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, and overall fluency.
Use transitional phrases : Transitional words like “however,” “in addition,” and “therefore” can help in maintaining the flow.
Avoid repetition : While using keywords is vital, avoid unnecessary repetition. Make sure your content is varied and engaging.
Proofread : Reserve some time at the end for revising and correcting errors.
Access Quality Resources : Consider TOEFL writing samples with answers PDF, TOEFL writing task PDF guides, and practice tests for well-rounded preparation.
Tables, quizzes, and other interactive elements: Incorporating tables and quizzes can be an excellent way to enhance the learning experience. For instance, a table comparing different TOEFL writing task topics or a quiz testing understanding of TOEFL writing format can be included in online learning platforms or books.

Examples of TOEFL integrated writing task

The TOEFL integrated writing task presents a unique challenge to assess your ability to analyze information from both a reading passage and a lecture. In this task, you must demonstrate your comprehension of the material and your capacity to connect ideas between the text and the spoken content. To give you a clearer picture, let’s dive into a few illustrative examples of TOEFL-integrated writing tasks:

Reading passage : Description of deforestation and its impact on biodiversity.

Listening Clip : A lecture discussing various conservation methods employed globally.

Writing task:

Reading: The passage highlights the critical loss of forests, leading to a decline in biodiversity and environmental balance.
Listening: The speaker introduces multiple conservation techniques such as reforestation, wildlife corridors, and legal enforcement.
Essay: The essay must summarise the conservation methods mentioned in the lecture and relate them to the problems of deforestation and biodiversity loss detailed in the reading passage.

Reading passage: An overview of the traditional medical practices and their limitations.

Listening clip: A lecture elaborating on recent technological advancements in medical diagnostics and treatments.

Writing task :

Reading: The passage outlines traditional medical practices, emphasizing their limitations in accuracy and efficiency.
Listening : The lecturer elaborates on cutting-edge technologies like AI-powered diagnostics, robotic surgeries, and personalized medicine.
Essay : The essay should connect the advancements discussed in the lecture with the limitations outlined in the reading passage, showcasing how technology is revolutionizing medical practice.

In-depth Analysis of a Sample Essay | Environmental conservation

The essay must have a good flow and cohesiveness. This makes it easier to understand and leave a good impression. Here is the in-depth analysis of an essay on environmental conservation.

“The loss of forests and biodiversity has long been a global concern. However, modern conservation methods, as described in the lecture, offer promising solutions to the challenges outlined in the reading passage.”

Paragraph 1: Discuss reforestation, its importance, and how it directly addresses deforestation.
Paragraph 2: Explore wildlife corridors and their role in preserving biodiversity.
Paragraph 3 : Explain legal enforcement, international agreements, and their impact on conservation efforts.
The TOEFL-integrated writing task involves reading, listening, and writing. Understand the flow and practice each part.
Make use of TOEFL writing samples with answers PDF, TOEFL writing task PDF guides, and various other materials for practice.
Your essay should logically connect the reading and listening parts, maintaining a clear and concise structure.

The innovative conservation techniques described in the lecture provide a comprehensive approach to combating the grave issues of deforestation and biodiversity loss mentioned in the reading passage. These methods signify hope and progress in environmental preservation.

We hope you found this article insightful. If you have any more queries please reach out to us and get them solved quickly!

Liked this blog? Read: TOEFL requirements 2023 | Documents and minimum requirements guide.

1. How much time do I have for the TOEFL Integrated Writing Task?

Ans. You have 3 minutes to read the passage, a listening time for the clip, and 20 minutes to write the essay.

2. Can I take notes during the listening part of the TOEFL Writing Task?

Ans. Yes, taking notes is allowed and advisable during the listening portion.

3. What types of topics are covered in the TOEFL Writing Task Topics?

Ans. Topics are typically academic, ranging from history, science, art to social sciences.

4. Where can I find TOEFL Writing Task 1 sample answers and TOEFL Writing Task 2 sample answers?

Ans. Various online platforms, prep books, and official TOEFL guides provide these samples.

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Test Resources

TOEFL® Resources by Michael Goodine

Master the new toefl writing section in 2024.

The writing section is the final part of the TOEFL ® test. You’ll have about 30 minutes to answer two writing questions. They are known as the TOEFL Integrated essay , and the TOEFL Writing for an Academic Discussion Task. You’ll be graded based on your content, organization, grammar and language use. Below are links to my best stuff, or read on for descriptions of each task.

Complete TOEFL Essay Templates
A Guide to the Integrated Essay
A Guide to the Writing for an Academic Discussion Task
A Complete Practice Test (Video)
The Most Common Grammar Mistakes in TOEFL Essays
Many Sample TOEFL essays
Blog: How Long Should a TOEFL Essay Be?
Video Lesson: The new TOEFL Writing Question (Writing for an Academic Discussion)
Video Lesson: The TOEFL Integrated Essay
Service: TOEFL Essay Evaluation

The TOEFL ® Integrated Essay

The first writing question is the Integrated Essay Task. For this task, you’ll first read a short article on an academic topic. Next, you will listen to a short lecture on the same topic. Finally, you’ll have 20 minutes to write an essay that includes details from both sources. You should write about 280 to 300 words in total.

The Reading

The article will be about 300 words long. It can be about any academic topic that might appear in a first-year university course, but topics related to history and zoology seem to be most common. You’ll be given three minutes to read it and then it will disappear (don’t worry, you’ll be able to see it again when you write the essay). Remember that the article will always have a main argument and three supporting points. This is almost a guarantee, as the TOEFL rarely changes.

The Listening

Next, you will listen to a lecture on the same topic. It will be about two or three minutes long. You can only listen once, so try to take detailed notes. Remember that the lecture will always challenge the article. This means, for instance, that if the article claims that the pyramids were built in Egypt to store grain, the lecture will explain that they were not built to store grain. If the article mentions three problems with using bacteria to clean up oil spills, the lecturer will mention three solutions to these problems. This adversarial relationship is another guarantee!

Writing Your Essay

Finally, you will be given twenty minutes to write an essay that compares the reading and the lecture. The question will look something like this:

“ Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they oppose specific points made in the reading passage. ”

You can see the article as you write, but you cannot hear the lecture again (or look at a transcript). I recommend that you write between 280 and 300 words in total. Ignore the “suggested length” mentioned in the instructions for this section.

Master Guide

For more help with this task, check out my master guide to the integrated writing task . It’s got a complete sample question, a sample essay, and a template you can use.

The TOEFL ® Writing for an Academic Discussion Task

The second writing question is the Writing for an Academic Discussion Task.

Right away, you’ll see four things on your test screen – instructions for the task, a question written by a university professor about a specific subject, and two student responses to the question.

The question could be about any subject a student might study at university (sociology, business, political science, education) but subjects in the liberal arts seem most common. The questions don’t require any background knowledge, however, and can be answered by any test-taker.

You will have ten minutes to read the instructions, read the question, read the responses and write your own response to the question. There is just one clock for all of this!

A word counter will be displayed as you write. You should write at least 100 words. I recommend writing a bit more than that.

For more help with this task, check out my master guide . It contains sample questions, sample responses and a detailed essay template.

How are you Graded?

Your grades come from two separate systems:

First, a human grader checks your essays based on the official ETS rubrics . They give you a holistic score from 0 to 5. “Holistic” means that they consider the essay as a whole rather than looking at specific parts. The human score is based on your content, organization and language use . ETS is secretive, but research indicates that the human rater contributes 50% of the score in the independent task, and 66% of the score in the integrated task.
Next, the ETS “e-rater” software checks your essays. It mostly focuses on structure, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary . Again, ETS is secretive, but research indicates that it contributes 50% of your score in the independent task, and 33% of your score in the integrated task.

In the end, you will have two human scores (one for each essay) and two e-rater scores (one for each essay). These will be combined and converted into a whole number from 0 to 30, which will be included on your score report. Each essay has equal weight.

Get Help – TOEFL Essay Evaluation

Sign up today to have your practice essays evaluated by a TOEFL writing expert (that’s me). I’ll check your essays line by line and comment on your grammar, development, argument and vocabulary. I’ll even give them a score. More importantly, I’ll tell you what you need to do better next time. Check it out .

Sign Up for an Essay Evaluation Today!

To learn how to beat the toefl, sign up for our essay evaluation service. in 48 hours, a toefl expert will check your essays line-by-line and tell you how you can do better next time..

TOEFL iBT ® Test

The premier test of academic English communication

Learn more by selecting any step in your TOEFL iBT ® journey.

Sample the TOEFL iBT Test

Start your TOEFL iBT journey with this 40-minute experience where you will become more familiar with the content and structure found in the full-length, just-under-2 hour-test.

Key features of the sample test include:

Self-paced approach
Authentic past test questions from all 4 skills (Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing)
Correct and incorrect answers for the Reading and Listening sections

Launch the sample experience

For an optimal experience, we recommend launching the TOEFL iBT sample on a desktop computer to simulate a real testing environment.

If you plan on taking the TOEFL iBT test at home, be sure to review the Equipment and Environment Requirements and run the ETS Secure Browser Equipment Check before registering for the test.

Ready to practice?

Get ready for the TOEFL iBT test with TOEFL ® TestReady ™ – your personalized, one-stop TOEFL iBT prep portal with personalized performance insights and feedback, progress tracking, customized guidance and more.

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Writing well is a skill, which can be learned like any other. The ability to write down what you are thinking is not only important for TOEFL, but also for your academic and professional career. The TOEFL writing section consists of two parts:

Integrated newsroom, which includes reading, listening and then write an article summary / comparison of 250 words in 20 minutes

Freelance writing, which entails writing an essay of four to five paragraph of 300-350 words in 30 minutes.

You must learn to:

Brainstorm and outline your essay before starting to write.
Develop any topic into a well organized, logical answer.
Use synonyms to paraphrase the question never repeat word for word.
Use a variety of sentence structures and grammatical forms.
Start with a simple but compelling introduction,
Write body paragraphs which flow logically within a predetermined structure.
Develop cohesion by linking the body paragraphs
End with a memorable conclusion

Try to write an essay every day. Practice makes perfect.

Sample Essay 1:

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement:

People should sometimes do things that they do not enjoy doing.

Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.

Sample TOEFL essay answer:

There is no doubt that life is challenging. It becomes obvious from an early age that in order to achieve something it is necessary to things that are demanding, boring or even unpleasant. So In order to be happy and successful, we need to prepare ourselves to pay the price. To have a better life in the long run it is often necessary to bite the bullet in the short term. This approach to life applies to personal, social and financial experiences.

Personally, I think that doing things we find difficult or arduus are character building and helps us develop as human beings. Look at homework, it is far more fun to go out with your friends than stay at home reading. However if we look at it as giving up pleasure for a short time was the price to pay to get more pleasure over a long period, it seems logical. Usually better educated people earn more money than those without qualifications.

Eating the right food is another good example of doing things one doesn’t like for the greater good.

If we make an effort to eat food that are healthy rather than tasty we are looking at the greater good, that is lifelong good health.

Making an effort to socialise if this does not come naturally is important. Learning social graces and how to fit in is so important if you do not want to be lonely later on in life. So being tolerant, which is not always easy is important if you wish to flourish in society. Many people subscribe to to the saying that life is who you know, but in order to find some people you connect with it is necessary to meet people that you find difficult.

In conclusion, so if you want to be satisfied in life you have to make an effort or do things that are not always the most pleasurable of the options that are open to you. It is all about reaping a greater reward later in exchange for doing something less pleasurable in the short term.

Preguntas del Examen

Ejercicio 1, vídeos de gramática recomendados.

Condiciones Generales

Política de Privacidad

TOEFL sample essays: Tips and techniques for a high score

The TOEFL exam is a standardised test that measures a non-native English speaker's ability to use and understand English at the university level. One of the components of the TOEFL exam is the writing section, which requires test-takers to write an essay in response to a prompt.

To score well on the writing section, it is essential to understand the requirements of the exam and the characteristics of a high-scoring essay.

In this article, we will explore tips and techniques for writing TOEFL sample essays that will help test-takers achieve a high score.

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The TOEFL writing section is a crucial component of the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), which measures the English language proficiency of non-native speakers of English who wish to study or work in English-speaking countries. The writing section evaluates a test-taker's ability to write effectively and clearly in academic English.

The TOEFL writing section comprises two tasks: the Independent Writing Task and the Integrated Writing Task. Both tasks assess different aspects of the test-taker's writing abilities, including their ability to express ideas clearly, organise thoughts, use appropriate vocabulary and grammar, and demonstrate critical thinking and analytical skills.

Independent Writing Task

The Independent Writing Task assesses your ability to write in English on a given topic. The task requires you to express your thoughts, ideas, and opinions coherently and effectively in written form. The task aims to evaluate your ability to organise your thoughts, use appropriate vocabulary and grammar, and develop your ideas with sufficient details and examples.

The Independent Writing Task is a timed exercise, and you will be given 30 minutes to complete it. You will be presented with a prompt or a question, which you will be required to address in your response. The prompt may ask you to express your opinion on a particular issue or to describe a situation, problem or challenge and propose a solution. It is important to read the prompt carefully and understand what it requires you to do before starting to write.

Tips for writing high-scoring TOEFL essay

Writing a high-scoring TOEFL essay requires effective preparation, practice, and the use of a clear writing structure. Here are some tips to help you write a high-scoring TOEFL essay:

The first step in writing a high-scoring TOEFL essay is to understand the task requirements. Make sure you read the prompt carefully and understand the topic you are being asked to write about. Additionally, make sure you understand the type of essay you need to write. The TOEFL independent writing task requires you to write an essay expressing your opinion or providing your perspective on a given topic.

Once you understand the prompt and the requirements of the task, take a few minutes to plan your essay. Jot down some notes, create an outline, or even brainstorm on paper to organise your thoughts. Make sure you have a clear idea of the main points you want to make and the evidence you will use to support them. Organising your thoughts and creating an outline will help you stay on track and make your essay more coherent.

Paragraphs are the building blocks of your essay. Each paragraph should have a clear topic sentence that relates to the main idea of the essay. Use supporting evidence and examples to back up your main point in each paragraph. Additionally, make sure each paragraph flows smoothly into the next. Using transition words and phrases can help link ideas and make your essay more cohesive.

One of the keys to writing a high-scoring TOEFL essay is to use specific examples to support your ideas. Use real-life examples, statistics, and facts to back up your argument. This will demonstrate your knowledge of the topic and show that you can think critically. Additionally, using specific examples will make your essay more interesting to read and help you stand out from other test-takers.

Varying your sentence structure can make your essay more interesting and engaging to read. Use short and long sentences, questions, and statements to add variety to your writing. This will help you avoid repetition and make your writing more engaging. However, make sure your sentences are grammatically correct and make sense in the context of your essay.

Using academic vocabulary can make your essay sound more professional and knowledgeable. Use vocabulary that is appropriate for the academic level of the test. Avoid slang, colloquialisms, and overly complex language. Additionally, make sure you use words correctly and avoid using words that you do not fully understand.

Using correct grammar and punctuation is essential to getting a high score on the TOEFL writing section. Make sure you use correct verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, and sentence structure. Use appropriate punctuation to ensure your writing is clear and easy to read. If you are unsure about a grammar or punctuation rule, look it up or ask a tutor for clarification.

TOEFL writing samples

TOEFL writing samples provide valuable insights into the structure and content expected in the writing section of the exam. These samples showcase both the integrated and independent writing tasks, allowing test-takers to familiarise themselves with the types of prompts and the expected responses.

Below we have provided three TOEFL writing samples with answers. By analysing and studying these TOEFL sample essays, students can understand the effective use of transitions, supporting evidence, and coherent arguments.

The importance of learning a second language

Learning a second language has become increasingly important in today's globalised world. It offers numerous benefits such as improved cognitive abilities, enhanced cultural understanding, and better job prospects. In this essay, we will explore the advantages of learning a second language and how it can positively impact individuals and society.

Learning a second language has been shown to improve cognitive abilities. It requires mental effort and helps develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and multitasking skills. Research has shown that bilingual individuals exhibit higher levels of creativity and have improved memory and attention spans.

Furthermore, learning a second language enhances cultural understanding. Language is deeply intertwined with culture, and by learning a second language, individuals gain insights into different cultures, traditions, and perspectives. This fosters empathy, tolerance, and a broader worldview, enabling individuals to engage and connect with people from diverse backgrounds.

In addition, knowing a second language opens up better job prospects. In today's global job market, multilingualism is highly valued. It allows individuals to communicate effectively with clients, colleagues, and partners from different countries. Employers often seek candidates with language skills, as it demonstrates adaptability and a willingness to engage in cross-cultural interactions. Thus, learning a second language offers advantages in terms of career opportunities and professional growth.

The impact of technology on education

Technology has revolutionised the field of education, transforming the way students learn and teachers teach. In this essay, we will explore the positive impact of technology on education, including increased access to resources, improved engagement, and enhanced learning outcomes.

One significant impact of technology in education is the increased access to resources. Online platforms, digital libraries, and educational apps provide students with vast amounts of educational materials, regardless of their geographical location. Students can access textbooks, research materials, and interactive learning tools, empowering them to explore and learn at their own pace.

Moreover, technology has improved student engagement in the learning process. Multimedia elements such as videos, simulations, and gamification techniques capture students' attention and promote active participation. This not only enhances their understanding of the subject matter but also fosters creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

Additionally, technology facilitates personalised learning experiences. Adaptive learning platforms analyze student performance and provide personalised feedback, allowing for targeted instruction and remediation. Online collaboration tools enable students to work together, fostering teamwork and communication skills. These personalised and collaborative learning experiences contribute to enhanced learning outcomes and student success.

The benefits of exercise for physical and mental health

Regular exercise is essential for maintaining good physical and mental health. It offers numerous benefits, including improved cardiovascular health, increased strength and flexibility, stress reduction, and enhanced mood. In this essay, we will explore the importance of exercise for overall well-being.

Engaging in regular exercise improves physical health. It helps prevent chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Exercise strengthens the cardiovascular system, boosts metabolism, and enhances overall physical fitness. Activities like running, swimming, or weightlifting promote muscle strength, endurance, and flexibility.

Exercise also plays a vital role in stress reduction and mental well-being. Physical activity stimulates the release of endorphins, which are natural mood boosters. These endorphins promote feelings of happiness and well-being, helping to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Regular exercise can also improve sleep quality, increase energy levels, and enhance cognitive function.

Furthermore, exercise provides an opportunity for individuals to unwind, clear their minds, and focus on their physical well-being. It can serve as a form of self-care, allowing individuals to take time for themselves and prioritize their health. Incorporating exercise into one's routine can have a positive impact on their overall mental and emotional state.

In conclusion, regular exercise offers a multitude of benefits for both physical and mental health. It improves cardiovascular health, increases strength and flexibility, reduces stress, and enhances mood. By incorporating exercise into our daily lives, we can experience improved well-being and lead healthier, more fulfilling lives.

It is important to understand the requirements of the exam and the characteristics of a high-scoring essay to achieve a high score on the TOEFL writing section. By organizing your thoughts, using specific examples, using clear and concise language, focusing on coherence and cohesion, and proofreading and editing carefully, you can improve your essay writing skills and increase your chances of success on the exam.

What is the format of the TOEFL essay?

The TOEFL essay is a 30-minute written task where you are asked to express and support your opinion on a specific topic. The essay is typically four to five paragraphs long and should include an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Where can I find sample TOEFL essays to practice with?

You can find sample TOEFL essays in TOEFL preparation books or online. The official TOEFL website also provides sample essays and scoring guides.

How can I prepare for the TOEFL writing section?

To prepare for the TOEFL writing section, you should practice writing essays using sample prompts, develop your grammar and vocabulary skills, and learn how to organize and develop your ideas effectively. You may also want to work.

How to write a TOEFL essay?

To write a TOEFL essay, it is important to understand the prompt, brainstorm ideas, create an outline, and then write a well-structured essay with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Practice organising your thoughts and expressing them clearly within the time limit provided.

Is 27 a good writing score in TOEFL?

Yes, a score of 27 is considered a good writing score in TOEFL. It demonstrates a high level of proficiency in writing and indicates strong language skills, coherence, and clarity in expressing ideas.

What is the TOEFL essay format?

The TOEFL essay format consists of an introduction, two or three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The introduction presents the main idea or argument, the body paragraphs provide supporting evidence or examples, and the conclusion summarises the main points and restates the thesis statement.

Is 24 a good TOEFL writing score?

A score of 24 in TOEFL writing is considered a good score. It reflects a strong command of English writing skills, including the ability to organise ideas coherently, use appropriate vocabulary and grammar, and develop well-structured paragraphs.

Is TOEFL writing difficult?

The difficulty level of TOEFL writing can vary from person to person. It requires strong language skills, critical thinking, and the ability to express ideas clearly within a time constraint.

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TOEFL Writing Task 1: The TOEFL Integrated Writing Practice Task

The TOEFL Integrated Writing Task requires you to read a passage that is about 250-300 words long. You then must listen to a lecture that is 2 to 2.5 minutes long. The lecture will challenge or disagree with the ideas in the reading passage for TOEFL Writing Task 1.

Because this task is so test-specific, it’s difficult to find authentic practice with TOEFL Integrated Writing topics, outside of official TOEFL prep materials that take questions from the real test. But you can find reading passages and audio for TOEFL Integrated Writing in the official TOEFL Writing practice sets . Additional free prep for this task can be found in TOEFL Quick Prep (the tasks all come with reading passages, but some of them have transcripts rather than audio).

You can also find practice for this TOEFL Writing task in the official TOEFL books from ETS . Last but not least, you can sharpen your TOEFL Writing skills by practicing a TOEFL Integrated Writing task from Magoosh, free of charge, right here in this post! Near the bottom of this page there is a TOEFL Writing Task 1 practice exercise with a sample answer.

Before we get to that mock test, though, let’s talk about a few basics of TOEFL Integrated Writing. Click the table of contents below to navigate these basics, and hop down to the practice exercise.

TOEFL Integrated Writing Topics: What to Expect
Structuring Your TOEFL Integrated Writing Task
Difficult Integrated Writing Tasks: What to Do
Free TOEFL Integrated Writing Practice Task
Model Answer for the Free TOEFL Integrated Writing Practice Task
Additional Practice and Resources for TOEFL Writing Task 1

What should you expect from TOEFL Integrated Writing topics?

Since you’ll still be wearing headphones after the Speaking section, the Writing section begins with the integrated task, for which you’ll need to keep your headphones on.

So what do TOEFL Integrated Writing topics look like? Well, the materials you’ll be using to answer the question are a reading passage and a lecture excerpt. Both of these will be longer than the ones you encountered in the Integrated Speaking questions—the reading passage will give you three minutes to read, and it will go into more detail than the one in the Speaking section did.

Whereas other integrated reading samples have served mainly to define a key concept, the one in the Writing section will describe a process or defend a position. The lecture (actually, it will be a short part of a lecture) will then expand on this information by offering examples, explaining in greater detail, or, most likely, describing conflicting viewpoints on the topic introduced in the reading passage. The author will use reasons that respond directly to the ideas in the reading passage.

The question will follow one of several formulas. The question you answer will probably be almost identical to one of these:

Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they cast doubt on specific points made in the reading passage.
Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they challenge specific claims/arguments made in the reading passage.
Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to specifically explain how they answer the problems raised in the reading passage.
Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to specifically explain how they support the explanations in the reading passage.
Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to specifically explain how they strengthen points made in the reading passage.
Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to include specific reasons that they strengthen points made in the reading passage.

The first two are by far the most common; usually, you will hear a lecture that contrasts with the reading.

Altogether you will have 20 minutes to plan and write your TOEFL Integrated Writing essay. The essay will not be long—most responses are between 150 and 225 words—but there’s still no time to waste, and you’ll want to keep your writing skills sharp. Remember that your organization and content are just as important as your language use. Your essay needs to have a clear structure with separate points and specific examples that transition smoothly. Most of all, it’s very important to draw from both the reading passage and the listening passage. If you only reference the written passage, the very best score your essay can get is a 1. In many ways, the integrated essay is a summary of the lecture that you heard, but be sure to mention both sources.

You can take notes as you read and listen. With enough practice you will be able to identify the important points in the reading passage that will most likely be discussed in the lecture, and your notes should reflect that. Then, when you listen, it will be easy to take notes that relate to the ones that are already on your paper. Make as many connections between the two as possible while listening. If you have trouble with this, it’s okay—you can take a minute to connect information before you start writing, after the lecture is finished.

Typical TOEFL Writing Task 1 topics will be scholarly, the kinds of things that you’d read about or hear lectures about in an academic setting. Typical topics include things such as the spending habits of American consumers, lectures on history or classic literature, scientific debates, and so on. Topics will seldom be contemporary. For example, you are unlikely to see TOEFL Integrated Writing topics that focus on social media, cell phone use, contemporary popular culture, etc. These more modern topics are far more common in the TOEFL Independent Writing task that follows this one.

As you can see, success in TOEFL Integrated Writing is not just a matter of writing, but also comes down to reading and listening. For additional tips on these two skills in TOEFL Writing Task 1, read the following blog posts:

Good Reading Practice for TOEFL Integrated Writing
Listening Practice for TOEFL Writing Task 1

How should you structure your TOEFL Integrated Writing task?

Even though the 20 minutes you have to write the integrated essay will fly by, it’s still worth taking a minute or two to write an outline of your own prior to beginning your response (the test proctor will provide as much scratch paper as you need). Even jotting just a few lines that connect parts of your notes and circling the main examples you want to cover will give you the guidance you need to stay on task when writing your response.

Below I’ve written an outline that demonstrates an effective structure to use on the exam when responding to TOEFL Integrated Writing topics. I highly recommend that you practice writing with this outline as your guide, at least at first. Once you’ve gotten some feedback and have some good practice under your belt, you can deviate from it. At first, though, it’s good to know the rules before you break them, and to have a structure you can rely on when test day comes.

Note that this outline template involves a lot of paraphrasing. Before you get started on making a practice outline of your own, be sure to check out Magoosh’s tutorial on paraphrasing in TOEFL Integrated writing .

A. General statement about the relationship between the resources you heard and read.

B. Short description of the structure of the lecture

A. Paragraph on first point

1. Paraphrase the professor’s point

2. Contrast/compare with the reading

Practice for your TOEFL exam with Magoosh.

3. Give extra detail and additional specific examples on the professor’s point (optional)

B. Paragraph on second point

C. Paragraph on third point

III. Conclusion

Note that you don’t have a conventional essay structure here. There is no thesis statement, and the difference between a body paragraph and introductory paragraph is less pronounced. When responding to TOEFL Integrated Writing topics, you also don’t have a concluding paragraph per se. If you’re having trouble picturing exactly what this looks like, you can see an example task and model answer at the bottom of this post. You can also see some sample essays for this task in the official TOEFL Writing practice set PDF from ETS . (And this PDF contains TOEFL Writing samples for task 1 as well!)

Above all, remember that the key to a good essay here is simply to take good notes on what you read and hear, and translate those notes into a full essay. For more info on the best ways to do that, see my post on note-taking and organizing your answer in TOEFL Integrated writing . Those tips can help you even when you encounter a particularly challenging Independent Writing task. And for more advice to help you through harder prompts, see the section immediately below.

Dealing with an Extra Hard TOEFL Writing Task

In all of the years that I’ve been tutoring the TOEFL, the part of the test that seems to inspire the most extreme reactions in students is the TOEFL Integrated Writing task. Students either happily breeze right through it or get very stressed out. Why? Because the difficulty levels on this task can vary so much! This, combined with the general complexity of the task, makes TOEFL Integrated Writing challenging for the average TOEFL test taker.

Ultimately, the TOEFL Integrated Writing task may be the hardest part of the TOEFL. This task requires not only keen English language skills, but also good analytical abilities. You need to bring together different, opposing ideas from the lecture and passage. This is a complicated job. And to make things even harder, the task comes almost at the very end of the test, when most test-takers are exhausted.

Some TOEFL Integrated Writing topics are harder than others. And if you get a hard Integrated Writing Task, you could be in danger of “blowing” your whole TOEFL IBT Writing section—doing badly on both tasks! An unusually difficult Integrated Writing task can leave you so tired and frustrated that you aren’t able to focus on the easier second TOEFL Writing Task.

So if you come across a harder-than-usual Integrated Writing Task on test day, make sure you handle it carefully. With the right strategies, a really tough TOEFL Writing Task 1 doesn’t need to hurt your TOEFL score at all.

Early detection of hard TOEFL Integrated Writing Topics

The worst thing you can do is not notice how hard an Integrated Writing Task is. If you mistakenly think an Integrated Writing task is relatively easy, you won’t plan for it correctly.

So try to immediately notice how complicated a task is. You should be able to tell just by looking at the reading passage, since the passage is the basis for the lecture. If the passage seems unusually complex, make note of this and proceed carefully. Don’t miss anything important, and don’t lose track of time. It’s really easy to leave out key facts or run down the clock in TOEFL Integrated Writing.

When you come across a potentially hard Integrated Writing Passage, start trying to mentally paraphrase the passage right away. Figure out whether you are able to paraphrase the passage effectively. Paraphrases should be shorter than their source, and should change the original wording significantly. If you are having a lot of trouble doing this, the passage may be too difficult for you to paraphrase.

Strategies once you’ve found a hard TOEFL Integrated Writing Task

If the ideas in the passage are really hard to paraphrase and shorten, don’t panic. For these more difficult Integrated Writing passages, there’s a simple solution: put less of the passage information into your essay. If necessary, put nothing directly from the passage into your essay.

This advice may sound strange. After all, the official TOEFL Writing Rubrics , which are used for scoring on the real test, say it’s important to include all the big ideas from the passage and the reading. But for a harder Integrated Writing Task, it really does pay to adjust your approach in this way.

Think about it. If the passage is really complex, then the lecture that follows will also be complex. And if the passage and the lecture are both very complicated, it can become almost impossible to correctly summarize them both. You won’t have enough time, and it’ll be too hard to focus on absolutely everything in the prompt. The lecture will need to be the main focus, since the task itself asks you to focus on the way that the lecture challenges the passage.

The lecture will of course contain ideas from the passage, since the lecturer is challenging the key points from the reading. So paying attention to what the lecturer says will allow you to indirectly use parts of the passage. And with this approach, you run less of a risk writing an unfocused or incomplete essay.

How this strategy can affect your score

Also remember how the TOEFL scoring system works . If you get a task that is harder-than-average, the TOEFL will adjust your task score upwards at least a little. Relying only on lecture content might hurt your score a bit. But you have a good chance of recovering those lost points when ETS adjusts your score. On the other hand, if you try to take on all of the complicated content in the task and fail, your score could really suffer, even with ETS’s score adjustments for difficulty. Ultimately, getting a high score on TOEFL Integrated Writing is a matter of balancing your priorities and focus, regardless of the difficulty level of a given individual task.

A Free TOEFL Integrated Writing Practice Task

I have written and recorded a task for you that closely follows the real TOEFL Integrated Writing Task in length, content, and format. Read the passage, listen to my lecture and follow the instructions for an (almost) authentic TOEFL writing practice experience. To prepare, you may want to read some of Magoosh’s advice on this task. The official TOEFL Integrated Writing Rubric (page 2 of the linked document) may also be useful. And at the bottom of this post, you’ll be able to view a sample response to this task.

TOEFL Integrated Writing Task Practice

Directions: Give yourself 3 minutes to read the passage.

The “comics medium” includes newspaper comic strips such as Dennis the Menace and comic books such as Spider-Man. Scholars around the world agree that comics are a uniquely American art form.

The first commercially successful comic strip was Hogan’s Alley , a comic strip from the 1890s. Hogan’s Alley featured the Yellow Kid, the world’s first popular cartoon character. This strip and its character marked the beginning of comics and was American in every respect. Set in a low-income neighborhood in New York City, Hogan’s Alley dealt with the lives of ordinary Americans. It was written and drawn by American cartoonist R.F. Outcault. Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, two famous and influential American publishers, printed the comic strip in their newspapers.

The first popular comic book in the world was also American. Action Comics , a series that is still in print today, was initially released in 1938. It featured Superman, the world’s first superhero. Like Hogan’s Alley , Superman was American-created.

Americans invented comic strips, and Americans have exported their unique art form to the rest of the world. Japanese comics, called manga , were inspired by the comics that Americans brought to Japan after World War II. Popular European comics series such as Smurfs and Asterix are influenced by Disney comic books. Today, American-created Disney comic characters are more popular in Europe than ever.

The comics medium started in America. While it has spread around the world, even comics that aren’t created by Americans have an undeniable American influence. This is why so many art and literature scholars recognize the comic strip as a truly American art form.

Directions: Summarize the main points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they challenge the specific points made in the reading passage. You have 20 minutes to plan and write your response. Your response will be judged on the basis of the quality of your writing and how well your response presents the points in the lecture and their relationship to the reading passage.

Listen to the lecture here:

Once you’ve completed the practice task, you can assess the quality of your answer by comparing it to this sample answer . Good luck!

Ready for a Full Writing Test?

If you’re ready to try the independent and integrated tasks together under test-like conditions, check out our full-length video Writing Test!

And if you want more writing practice, download the FREE TOEFL Practice Test PDF .

Plus, Magoosh TOEFL online prep has six practice tests with sample answers, video explanations, strategies and tips for the every TOEFL speaking question!

TOEFL Integrated Writing Task: Model Answer

I have written a level 5 answer, which you can read below. This answer is followed by some commentary on why this response would earn the full five points.

Model level 5 TOEFL Integrated Writing answer

In the passage, the author argues that comics are an art form that is very unique to the United States, but has been borrowed by other countries. The speaker corrects many things the author wrote about comics being an American art form. Although the writing says all scholars agree that comics are uniquely American, the lecturer says that in modern times, very few scholars agree with that.

The speaker then points out that, contrary to the writing, the first popular comic strips were not American. According to the speaker, 100 years before the first American comic strip, there were popular comic strips in Europe. The lecture also states that Hogan’s Alley , the 1890s comic strip described as American in the article, is not completely American because the comic characters were not Americans. Moreover, the publisher and creator of the comic were immigrants from other countries.

Additionally, the speaker disagrees with the article’s claim that American comic book Superman was the first popular comic book. Instead, the lecturer says the Belgian comic book Tintin was popular before Superman. Also, the author points out that Superman’s creator is Canadian, not American as the article says.

Finally, the speaker disagrees that American cartoon art influenced international comics, as claimed in the writing. He says that popular European comics have a uniquely European style. He also argues that Japanese comics are influenced more by traditional Asian art. Finally, the speaker notes that even American Disney comics characters are drawn by European artists.

Per the official TOEFL Integrated Writing rubric , this answer would get a score of 5. It outlines all the main points from the lecture. It explains how each main point contradicts or challenges the main ideas from the reading. It is organized well, with good transition words for each paragraph. It has no major errors, using correct grammar and vocabulary . Look at this model answer and the rubric linked above as you write your own answer to the sample task . If you need some extra help, you can find a writing template for your own response here .

I also have some resources specific to this essay prompt. For a guide on how to paraphrase as you respond to this specific prompt, see my article “ How to Paraphrase in TOEFL Integrated Writing .” And for advice on how to reise your TOEFL writing, using this model Integrated task as a specific example, see “ How to Revise TOEFL Writing .” All of this advice is applicable to other TOEFL Integrated Writing essays as well! (And it can also be applied to Task 2!)

Follow-up TOEFL Integrated Writing Practice

For more TOEFL Integrated Writing tasks from Magoosh, check our the additional free TOEFL Integrated writing practice task found in Magoosh’s complete guide to TOEFL Writing samples . You may also want to consider signing up for Magoosh TOEFL (you can try a free trial of Magoosh TOEFL prep without entering any payment info, and then “go premium” if you like what you see).

You can also go to “the source”—official TOEFL Integrated Writing practice from ETS. This free TOEFL Integrated Writing task , which focuses on the ecological practices of American companies (a typical Integrated Writing topic) is a good place to start if you’re looking for some quick official practice that you don’t have to pay for. Unfortunately, this readily accessible official practice task is flawed: it has a transcript of a lecture, rather than lecture audio. The only free official TOEFL Integrated Writing task with an actual sound clip for the lecture is the one in the official online TOEFL mock test .

David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he’s helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in many scholarly articles , his Master’s Thesis is featured on the Reading with Pictures website, and he’s presented at the WITESOL (link to PDF) and NAFSA conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru. Come join David and the Magoosh team on Youtube , Facebook , and Instagram , or connect with him via LinkedIn !

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TOEFL Writing Topics: Examples of TOEFL Independent Writing Topics

45 responses to “TOEFL Writing Task 1: The TOEFL Integrated Writing Practice Task”

u shud have atleast given a sample answer for us to compare our answers to.

Really that you are complaining? This is a great exercises. Just be grateful!

They have given it under the audio. Can’t you see that?

Hello Rabia,

That’s a good point and an excellent request. To meet your request, I’ll write up an example answer ASAP and make a blog post about it. My post will include an explanation of my writing approach, and reference to the TOEFL Integrated writing rubric. As soon as my example is up and posted, I’ll link it to the comments here.

Have a great day, David

Still waiting for the example answer.

You can find the sample answer here: https://magoosh.com/toefl/2015/toefl-integrated-writing-practice-task-model-answer/ 🙂

thanks for share.it helps me.

Thank you so much, I found a PDF file that was so useful.

You’re welcome! 😀

This is a very helpful integrated writing practice, especially with the sample answer. However, I can’t seem to figure out what question the essay should answer. The directions just say to write a response, but they don’t give any direction as to what is expected in this response. Is this typical of TOEFL integrated writing questions?

Hi K.C. The essay question is in this post, but I think I know why you can’t see it— I’ve just realized it’s kind of oddly placed. Or rather, the lecture track is oddly placed in this post. The lecture audio link appears right below the directions and right above the question, so that the question itself is easy to miss. But look carefully below the audio and you’ll see:

“Summarize the main points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they challenge the specific points made in the reading passage.”

This specific task is typical of the TOEFL, but the confusing screen layout is not. The layout was likely my mistake when I wrote and uploaded this. I’ll check with my editor about fixing that. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

Hmm…And now I do not see an audio link. Thank you for making the task more visible, though.

Hmm, indeed. I seemed to be having some issue with the external link. I just hosted the file locally, and the sound file should be playable now.

hello sir/Mam I have a question regarding the integrated writing task….will the passage reappear even after the listening part?

Yes, the passage reappears on the screen after you listen to the audio track, and the passage remains available the whole time that you write your response.

Hello Can you please introduce a good source for practicing integrated writing task.

Sadly, there aren’t a lot of good materials out there for TOEFL Integrated Writing tasks, compared to Independent Writing. This is because it’s a lot harder to create an Integrated Writing Task— it requires writing a complete passage and recording a lecture. Still, you get one Integrated Writing Practice task in each and every exam in ETS’s official TOEFL books and materials. And Magoosh TOEFL subscribers get access to quite a few of these practice tasks too.

I’m also happy to tell you that I’ll be putting up a few more Integrated Writing Practice tasks in the next few weeks! Watch this space, Mazdak. 🙂

how to download the given audio? I need to download and copy it in the pen drive so as i can practice when internet connection is not available.

There’s a version of this track on Soundcloud that’s available for download. You can find the link to the track here: https://soundcloud.com/david-recine-1/comics . You’ll need to create a SoundCloud account if you don’t already have one. ( Registering for SoundCloud is fast, easy and free.)

i m not good listening practice and also i have problem in matching and choosing the correct point to reading passage how can i improve score

OK, if I understand correctly, you’re having trouble with the questions that come at the very end of a reading passage question set? The text insertion and prose summary ones? I recommend checking out our blog’s tutorials on those two question types. Here is our guide to TOEFL Reading prose summary strategy , and here’s our tutorial on TOEFL Reading text insertion . 🙂

The reading and the lecture are both about comic medium, which includes newspaper comic strips. The author of the reading believes that the comics are of unique American art form and that scholars all over the globe agree on this. The lecturer casts doubts on the claim made in the article. He thinks that when more study was done, scholars realized that the comic mediums were not uniquely American.

First of all, the author of the reading claims Hogan’s Alley to be the first commercially successful comic strip having first popular cartoon character. He believes that Hogan’s alley focused mainly on the lives of ordinary Americans and that the people involved in making it were all Americans. This point is challenged by the lecturer. He says that Hogan’s Alley was not the first successful comic strip with first famous cartoon character. He adds that during 1790’s many popular comic strips and popular comic character were from Europe, especially from Britain and Switzerland. He adds that the characters and publisher were not uniquely American but were immigrants as well. The publisher of Hogan’s Alley, Joseph Pulitzer was himself an immigrant from Hungary.

Secondly, the author states that the first popular action book comic was American which involved Superman – The first Superhero. He argues that the first popular action comic was American. The lecturer rebuts this argument. He suggests that 16 years before action comic was prevalent, Adventure of Tintin comic from Belgium was popular and it predates superman. He elaborates on this by mentioning that the artist of Superman was not from America but from Canada.

Finally, the author mentions that Americans devised and transferred the art form all around the world. He is of the opinion that Japanese comic strips were influenced by comic from America and that Americans created Disney character that was popular in Europe. The lecturer, on the other hand, feels that Japan and Europe were influenced by various other art forms. He says that Japan was highly influenced by the traditional Asian art and that the Disney characters popular in Europe were drawn in European style and art. He puts forth the idea that the comic strip is from all around the world and not only America.

Normally I don’t approve comments like this, since there isn’t time to review every sample essay that students try to post here. However, in this case, I’ve decided to approve this essay and give some feedback. Sanjay, I think this essay of yours can help other students who read the comments, for two reasons: First, it’s fairly well-written overall. Second, the mistakes you make are common ones. So let’s look at your strengths and weaknesses of this essay.

This essay is incredibly well organized! Sanjay, you did a great job of moving through both the lecture and the essay point-by-point. Also, the grammar and spelling is quite good— you do have a few mistakes in these errors, but the mistakes are so minimal, they’d have little or no impact on your TOEFL score.

WEAKNESSES Your biggest weakness is paraphrasing. Sometimes your wording was way too close to the original source material, so much so that your writing might be judged as plagiarism. This is especially noticeable in the second paragraph. (For more info, see my post on avoiding plagiarism on the TOEFL .) At other times, you misinterpreted information from the sources. For example, Superman was not the first successful action comic; “Action Comics” is the name of a publication, not a description of a kind of comic book.

Your transitions are a bit weak as well. Ideally, TOEFL scorers want to see transitions that are more descriptive— not just numerical words like “first” and “second.” For examples of more varied transitions, see the Magoosh TOEFL Writing Templates ebook, and check out Kate’s tutorial on TOEFL Writing transitions , and mine .

All in all, I’d put this essay in the 3.5-4 point range, per the official TOEFL Writing rubrics . Address those weak points, and you could get your score all the way up to a 5.

how many words should this part have?

The TOEFL doesn’t set any strict, official rules for word count in the TOEFL Integrated Writing Essay. However, ETS reports that most top-scoring Integrated Writing responses are between 150 and 225 words long.

Hey there David or Rachel….I don’t know with who am I talking with …:-) 🙂 But I wanted to ask you about the listening and reading sections. Do paragraphs appear while attending the question ?

Yes, you should be able to see the text (or a relevant portion of the text) when answering questions. 🙂

The passage claims the idea that the comic medium is popularly American, However professor refutes each of the claims by saying that comic medium is not popularly American it is influenced by the whole world.

The passage claims that Hogan Alley the most popular comic of 1890’s was the first successful comic and was developed by Americans, However professor refutes this claim by saying that Hogan Alley was not the first successful comic , In 1970 many comic strips were originated in Europe which were popular and successful.

The passage states that Action comic series which introduced superman as a character was the first popular comic series developed by Americans in 1938, However professor refutes the claim by saying that in 1922 Tin-Tin published in Belgium was the most popular comic ever.

The passage posits that The Japanese comics which are popular throughout Europe are influenced by American art and literature, however professor refutes the claim of the passage by stating that Asterics the most popular Japanese comic was influenced by Canada not from US.

Thus the professor refutes the reading by illustrating some facts and states that the Comic medium is influenced by al over the world it is not popularly American.

Can you please rate this answer

Hi Aakash! Unfortunately, at the moment, we don’t offer a TOEFL essay review service. However, to help you evaluate your response, I recommend the following. First, check out David’s sample essay here . You can compare your structure and the points you make with what David wrote in his essay 🙂 Also, I highly recommend that you check out this page , where we provide some guidelines on how to evaluate your own essays. I hope this helps, at least a little!

One question regarding scoring: although the TOEFL OG recommends essays of 150-225 words for the Integrated Essay, do you think that length correlates with score?

My point is all things being equal (coherency, grammar, vocabulary), would a longer essay tend to score higher than an average one?

In other words, do you think it is worth it to push it to the 250+ words in order to try to get a higher score?

Thank you so much!

Hi Sebastian,

Once again, my statements regarding your identical question for the independent essay apply. In addition, on the integrated essay, including too much (say writing 350 words and covering 6 main points) can demonstrate a lack of concision and an inability to distill the most important points from many. As this test is aimed at demonstrating your ability to handle academic-style writing, you want to showcase this in addition to grammar, argumentation and organization.

I hope that helps! 🙂

Great! I will follow your piece of advice! Apologies for repeating the question. I jut thought that since they were two different tasks, they could yield two different tactics and maybe scoring system. I just wanted to post each question in the appropriate post.

Have a great week and thank you as usual!

No worries, Sebastian! I’m sure these comments will be useful for future students 🙂

Best of luck as you continue studying!

Call me petty, but I would just appreciate Americans like you being totally accurate with facts that you feel you can confidently, expertly provide as subject matter for something that should feel as authoritative as a “lecture”. Joe Shuster was Canadian half by birth and grew up in Canada right into his teens. This time also included his first exploits as a writer for a publication. So it would be nice not to see folks like you casually whitewashing Superman as a wholly American creation. If I tried to claim conversely that Superman was actually just a Canadian creation in basically the exact same way, I’m sure there’d be no end to the uproar. We also helped to give the world the phone and basketball, just in case you planned on overAmericanizing those facts in other tasks too…

Jeffrey, I definitely hear you on that, and I tried to touch on that in the lecture. FYI, although I wrote both the passage and the lecture script, the lecture– which refutes the idea that comics are a purely American art form– reflects my own personal opinions a bit more. On an additional personal note, many of my favorite comic books– and many comics I feel have had some of the greatest influence on the medium worldwide– are made by creators from Canada and other places not in the USA. 🙂

This example has made my day, I’ve spent all evening trying to understand the difference between the lecture and the reading and it has made it more clear than all materials i consulted . Thank you so much, Very helpful.

So glad this tutorial and sample lecture helped, Denis. I had fun putting it all together too. 🙂

Thank you so much Mr. Recine! This example was spot-on! 🙂

Thanks for this sample test. Where can i get more task 1 practice test for my students?

TOEFL Writing Task 1 practice can be a little hard to come by, since it takes a lot of time to put together a proper Writing Task 1 (a passage and a recorded audio lecture). For fast, free TOEFL Writing Task 1 prompts, I recommend TOEFL Quick Prep . The first volume of TOEFL Quick Prep has a Writing Task 1s that come with transcript only, and no actual audio. Fortunately, Magoosh has made unofficial audio for all of the transcript-only lectures in both Volume 1 and Volume 2 of Quick Prep. (See our unofficial audio for TOEFL Quick Prep Vol. 1 and TOEFL Quick Prep Vol. 2 .) You can also get access to some additional free Task 1s if you enroll in ETS’s free official online TOEFL course .

Beyond those resources, there are some good paid resources out there, such as ETS’s official TOEFL books: Official TOEFL iBT Tests Vol. 1 , Official TOEFL iBT Tests Vol. 2 , and The Official Guide to the TOEFL . TOEFL Preparation Online (TPO) is another potential source of high quality official ETS Writing Task 1 practice, although it’s a bit expensive.

Last but certainly not least, consider a subscription to Magoosh TOEFL , if you haven’t already. 🙂 We offer six practice TOEFL Writing Task 1s to our Premium students, as well as many other practice questions and video lessons for the test as a whole.

The lecture challenges the points made in reading passage that comics strips and comics books are original art form from America, they started in America and comics created around the world are influenced by American comics.The lecture disputes the following claims made in the passage. First claim made in the passage is that the first famous comics strip was Hogan Alley and was published in 1890, however the lecture claims that it was not the first and further gives example for a comics published in 1790 in Europe. The characters in the Hogan Alley were immigrants and cartoonist RF Outcalt himself was an immigrant which means that the origin of the comics comes from another country. Second claim in the passage is that the first adventure comics published was in 1938 and was about Superman, lecture refutes the argument by giving example of comic book “Adventures of Tin Tin” which as Belgium origin and it predates Superman. Third claim made in the reading passage is that Japanese comics manga was influence by American, but the lecture contradicts it by claiming that it was influenced traditional Asian comics The last claim made in the passage is that European comics is also influenced by American comics, the lecture clarifies that by the example that even though the disney characters are famous in Europe but these characters are written as European disney characters by the Europeans. In conclusion, the lecture says that comics art were not first originated in America but they did exist in the world much before the comics became famous in America and that the comics around the globe is not influenced by American comics.

The passage and the lecture are both about the originality of comics. The author of the text states that all comics have been influenced by early American art forms. The lecturer, however, strongly disagrees with this idea. To begin, the text points out that the Japanese version of comics, called ‘manga’ were derived from the American comics. They had been taken to Japan after World War two. The lecturer contradicts this claim. He says that the manga relates more to Asian arts than American . Secondly, the author details how Disney inspired the many famous European comic series. He gives examples of Smurfs and Asterix, and how they are very popular. To this, the lecturer differs explaining how the writings, like hash-tag are European styled. Finally, detailing the studies made by scholars on America’s role in early comic industry, the author stamps comics as America’s undeniable creations. Despite this, the professor shuts down these data as rubbish. He explores the history of comics, and how there were many European comics before the start of American ones. In addition, he says that many original American comics were created by immigrants.

Both the reading and the lecture discuss the real origin of comic books and their history. The auther of the reading suggests that comics originally are an amercican art. However the proffesor explains that comics medea is an art actually shared by the whole world. First of all, according to the reading hongn’s aley is the fist popular strip figure disigned by an american. But the lecture opposes to this statement and explains that in fact alley was not the firt influencial strip caracter know world wild but actually lots of caracters made by imigrants from switserland had been there befoor him Secondly, the reading states that popular action comics books were invented by americans. Though the lecture points out that exion comics such as tintin, written in 1922 predated befoor the outcomming of for example spiderman. Finally, the author suggests that american comic strips as for example disney inspiered the creation of mangas on the other side of the world. Oposing to this, the speaker explains that disney had american caracters but the comics are actually made by europeens and traditional asian art developd on its own

Hi, would like to have some feedback. Here’s my response: The reading and the lecture are about comics. The reading as well as the lecture have specific mentions and opposing views about the origin and spread in popularity of comics The writer of the passage puts forth the point that comics are a purely American art form. In contrast, the lecture provides proofs against this idea. Firstly, the passage mentions the first commercially successful comic strip Hogan’s Alley. According to the passage, it dealt with ordinary Americans, was set in New York and published by American publishers. However, the lecture mentions that it was not the first commercially popular comic strip and that its publisher was an immigrant from Hungary. Second, the passage refers to “Action comics”, which featured Superman, as the first popular comic book in the world. The lecture refutes this point by saying that “Action comics” was not the first popular comic book. Tintin was published in Belgium 16 years before it and it is still popular. Also, even the artist of Superman was from Canada. Lastly, the passage mentions that comics were invented in America and then exported to the rest of the world. But the lecture opposes this idea by saying that traditional Asian art has more influence on comics than any other art has. Moreover, though the Disney characters were written in America, they were written and drawn by European creators. Thus, they were not truly American. This is how the lecture refutes the key points in the passage.

Hi Rk! Unfortunately, at the moment, we don’t offer a TOEFL essay review service. However, to help you evaluate your response, I recommend the following. First, check out David’s sample essay here . You can compare your structure and the points you make with what David wrote in his essay 🙂 Also, I highly recommend that you check out this page , where we provide some guidelines on how to evaluate your own essays. I hope this helps, at least a little!

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