TOEFL iBT Independent Essay

TOEFL iBT Independent Essay

In this part of the TOEFL Writing section you will be asked to present your opinion on a certain topic. You will have 30 minutes to write your TOEFL essay. An effective independent essay should be about 300 words long. You can write fewer words as long as your ideas are well-developed and fully support your opinion on the topic. You can also write more than 300 words, but the response should be to the topic, as what is important is the quality of your writing, not the amount.

Strategies for writing a good integrated essay:

• Read the topic carefully and make sure you understand it.
• Before you start writing, make a plan of the essay - that will help you organize your ideas and thoughts better.
• Write clearly and with variety of language structures, use discourse markers to make connections between ideas.
• Leave a few minutes at the end to check your essay for spelling or grammatical mistakes.
• Keep track of the time - you should manage to finish your essay within the set period of time. Do not allow the system to cut you off before you have completed your thought.

Organization of the integrated essay

A good TOEFL Independent essay will have the following structure:

• Introduction
  o Some thought-provoking idea (proverb, saying), something that would catch the reader’s attention;
  o General statement – what people generally think on the topic;
  o Thesis – the last sentence of the introduction, where you state your opinion and reasons for holding that opinion.
• Body – the number of paragraphs in the body will depend on the number of reasons presented in the thesis sentence in the introduction.
  o First paragraph – reason for holding a certain opinion – details and examples;
  o Second paragraph - reason for holding a certain opinion – details and examples;
  o Third paragraph - reason for holding a certain opinion – details and examples;
• Conclusion
  o Rephrase the thesis
  o General comment

What do raters look at?

Development

• Address the topic;
• Present details and examples to support your ideas;
• Avoid using clichés or long empty of content phrases;

Organization

• The essay should be written in such a way that it is read from beginning to end without becoming confused;
• Write in paragraphs and use discourse markers to connect ideas or to move from one idea to another;
• Avoid repetition of ideas, irrelevant information or details or ambiguous connections between ideas.

Language use

• Use variety of sentence structures, words and expressions.

See also the section TOEFL Test Taking Strategies for more tips for each particular TOEFL task – TOEFL Reading, TOEFL Listening, TOEFL Speaking, and TOEFL Writing.

Practice you skills with i-Courses TOEFL iBT Full Tests and Components. You will benefit from the professional scoring that gives you feedback on all the weak points in your papers and ways to overcome those weaknesses.

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Number of Institutions Accepting the TOEFL® Test Surpasses 7,300 Globally

Source: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Educational-Testing-Service-1066199.html

World's Most Widely Recognized English Assessment Continues to Expand Its Reach

PRINCETON, NJ--(Marketwire - October 27, 2009) - Educational Testing Service (ETS) announced today that more than 7,300 institutions worldwide are currently accepting the TOEFL® (Test of English as a Foreign Language™) test to assess English-language proficiency for both undergraduate and graduate applicants.

Of the record number of educational institutions accepting the TOEFL test, approximately 5,175 are located in the United States and Canada, 1,000 in continental Europe, 200 in the United Kingdom, 600 in Asia, 100 in Australia and New Zealand, with the majority of the remaining institutions located in Africa and the Middle East. A list of more than 7,300 institutions in 130 countries currently using TOEFL scores can be found in the TOEFL Destinations directory. Within the last year alone, an additional 383 institutions have become TOEFL score users and the number of institutions signing on to use TOEFL scores continues to increase at a fast pace.

In response to the growing demand for the TOEFL test by colleges and universities, ETS has increased the number of test administration sites to allow greater access and flexibility for test takers. Currently, there are more than 4,500 test administration sites globally.

"As the number of institutions accepting the TOEFL test continues to increase, ETS is pleased to accommodate the needs of international students by opening additional testing centers globally," commented Teresa Sanchez-Lazer, Executive Director of TOEFL product management. "It is our ongoing goal to continue to make the testing process more efficient and user-friendly for students."
Worldwide, nearly a million students register for the TOEFL test annually. Recognized as the industry leader, the TOEFL test has been accepted by the top ranking universities around the world for the last 45 years.

"Throughout my 33 years of working in international admissions, The University of Texas at Austin has depended on the TOEFL test to provide an accurate assessment of candidates' abilities to communicate and to succeed in the classroom," said Robert Watkins, Assistant Director of Admissions at The University of Texas at Austin.

For more information regarding the TOEFL test, including registration details, visit the TOEFL web portal.
About ETS.

At nonprofit ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English-language learning, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, as well as conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually -- including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® test and The Praxis Series™ assessments -- in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org.
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