Importance of Essay Writing in TOEFL and a few Tips ‘n’ Tricks to handle it !!
Writing Section
The Writing section measures the ability to write in English, including the ability to generate, organize, and develop ideas, to support those ideas with examples or evidence, and to compose a response to one assigned topic in standard written English.
Choice of Style
You have a 30-minute time limit to write your essay.
Essay Ratings
Each essay is assigned one of the ratings listed at the end of this page by two independent readers. The average of the two ratings is reported on a raw score scale of 1 to 6. A rating between two points on the scale (5.5, 4.5, 3.5, 2.5, 1.5) can also be reported. If there is a discrepancy of more than one point, a third reader independently reads the essay. The essay rating comprises one half of the Structure/Writing score (1/6 of the total score); it is also
reported separately on the score report, for informational purposes.
Writing Strategies
Below are some specific strategies for the Writing section:
A. You should look over the essay topics published in the Bulletin, and practice writing several 30-minute essays using the topics there or on this site.
B. You will be given scratch paper to organize their thoughts; however, only the essays written on the official answer sheet are scored. You should practice handwriting an essay, using a two sided sheet of lined paper. (You will be provided with a twosided sheet on the day of the test.)
You should start writing the essay on the first line of the sheet and use the other side if necessary. You should not use large handwriting, skip lines, or leave large margins to make your essays appear longer; readers look at the development of the essay and how the ideas are expressed and elaborated on, not at how many words are written or appear to be written.
You should also write neatly and legibly. You will not be graded on the neatness of your handwriting, but the readers who evaluate the essays must be able to read the handwriting.
C. You should become familiar with the scoring guide. It can be useful to understand in more detail how the essay readers evaluate the essay. Readers judge essays on how the ideas are presented and developed as well as on the use of language.
The essay question should be answered carefully. You should do your best to write about what the essay question asks for. An essay that is not about the topic presented will receive a score of “0,” and this will have a serious effect on the Structure/Writing score.
Essays are also judged on organization. If an essay is well organized, a reader will be able to read from the beginning to the end without becoming confused.
A term used in the scoring guide is “development.” Development is the gradual expansion of an idea throughout an essay, not simply the number of words written. The same ideas can be communicated in various ways, depending on skill with vocabulary and sentence structure. You should try to cover the topics as well as you can within your own abilities.
Essay readers judge how well details, examples, and reasons support or illustrate the points being made.
The essay will also be judged on the use of language.Naturally the readers will notice grammatical errors and thenumber of errors in a paper. They judge whether the errors make the meaning of the essay difficult to understand. They also judge the variety, effectiveness, and appropriateness of the sentence structures and vocabulary used in an essay.
D. You should plan and organize before beginning to write.
Immediately after reading the essay question, you should take some time to think about the topic before you start to write. Making a brief outline or some notes on scratch paper
may help organize the essay.
E. Time management is the key.
You should keep track of time and allow a few minutes before the 30 minutes have ended to read over your essays and make any changes.
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