Body B
Body C
This 5 paragraph structure approach can be used for 5 out of the 6 essay question types. The “Compare and Contrast” question type is the only essay question that will require a different structure.
Now, let's learn how to write a good introductory, body, and conclusion paragraph for the TOEFL Academic Discussion Writing Task.
How to write a high-scoring introductory paragraph - part 2, how to write a high-scoring body paragraph, how to write a high-scoring conclusion paragraph.
Sign up for a 7 day free trial to access this lesson.
When you complete your TOEFL test, your writing must be evaluated. This is done by a combination of human readers and a computer program called e-rater®. Each of your essays is given a score from 0 to 5. Your combined essay scores are converted to a section score of 0 to 30.
There are four basic criteria on which your essay is evaluated. These four criteria are:
"Writing conventions" are the special rules of writing in English, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.
As for the TOEFL Integrated Writing Task, here are four basic criteria on which your essay is evaluated. These four criteria are:
It takes time to develop good writing skills. Chances are a good English writer already has years of experience writing English and using English in their daily life. If you are not a good English writer, do not get frustrated.
The good news is that you only need to be able to write well on TOEFL independent and integrated tasks. Here are a few things we suggest you do in order to complete the TOEFL Writing section in the most effective manner.
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We asked our team of TOEFL experts for their best TOEFL Writing tips. Here they are.
We know it can feel impossible to write two complete essays in 30 minutes!
But today, we have some awesome TOEFL writing tips that will help you feel cool and confident on test day.
The first five tips are for the TOEFL integrated writing question, task number one. The last five tips are for the TOEFL Writing for an Academic Discussion question, task number two.
Here's a quick summary of our top 10 TOEFL Writing Tips
Tip #1: read, then listen.
Task one provides you with two passages, a reading passage, and a listening passage. The reading passage will appear first. You will have three minutes to read the passage and take notes. After that, the reading passage will disappear, and then the listening passage will play for two or three minutes. Then you have 20 minutes to write your essay.
Here is a breakdown of task one:
Integrated Writing: Task Breakdown | |
---|---|
The writing section instructions will be read aloud. You can skip this introduction. | |
You will be given an academic passage to read. This passage will contain between 250-300 words. When the clock starts, you will have three minutes to read the passage. After that, the passage disappears and an audio lecture starts. However, the reading passage will return when it's time to write. | |
A lecture that addresses the content of the reading will start to play. The lecture will last for two to three minutes. | |
After the passage finishes, you will be asked a question. The question is almost always something like: | |
The clock starts. You will have approximately 20 minutes to write an essay of at least 250 words. You must answer the question and report on the most important points from both the reading and listening. |
Here’s a link to that audio passage again so you can practice taking notes and compare yours to my own.
For the TOEFL integrated writing task, you are expected to explain the positions of the author and the professor, in your own words ! It is very important, therefore, to paraphrase everything .
This is especially true of the reading passage. Remember, while you are writing your essay, the reading section will be right in front of you. If you directly quote the author, the TOEFL e-rater system will pick up on this and it can lead to a reduction in your score!
For example, let’s say that the reading passage states:
“ There are many who argue that corn ethanol should replace fossil fuel gas as the primary source for running cars. ”
DON’T say in your answer: “The author discusses how there are many who argue that corn ethanol should replace fossil fuel gas as the primary source for running cars .”
This is a huge mistake that many students make!
Instead, paraphrase the author’s position, such as : “The author discusses the advantages of switching from fossil fuels to the alternative energy source: corn-based ethanol.”
Transitional words and phrases are a crucial component of your writing, especially in TOEFL Writing task one. You will have to transition between contrasting points of view in both the reading and listening passage. The best way to keep your essay cohesive is to transition between ideas with these discourse markers.
They will prove to the TOEFL grader and e-rater that you have a firm grasp on both the English language and North American academic essay structure
Here is a list of some common transitional words and phrases:
TRANSITION WORDS AND PHRASES | ||
---|---|---|
- Reporting on points from the listening passage in the body paragraphs - When explaining your reasons and developing your examples | ||
- Reporting on points from the listening passage in the body paragraphs - When explaining your reasons and developing your examples | ||
- When you are connecting your example to the topic | ||
- When transitioning to the point of view of the listening in body paragraphs - When recognizing the opposing argument | ||
-The first sentence of each body paragraph - When providing more than one reason for your stance on the topic | ||
- Located in the conclusion paragraph, which is optional for this essay - In the last sentence of your response if you include a conclusion |
For the integrated writing task, you only have 2 0 min utes to write your essay! Therefore, while time management is important throughout the TOEFL, it is especially important on this task.
You should spend approximately two minutes taking notes and outlining your answer, three minutes writing your introduction paragraph, eleven minutes writing the body paragraphs, two minutes for the conclusion, and the last three minutes for editing.
Here is the time breakdown for task one of the TOEFL writing section:
Integrated Essay Time Breakdown | |
---|---|
Gather your notes and outline the essay | |
Write your introduction | |
Write your body paragraphs (2-3) | |
Write your conclusion | |
Edit your essay |
Be sure to download our Complete Practice Test right here so you can practice the entire test.
…but here is the essay response to the TOEFL integrated question on Turtle Excluder Devices.
The reading and the lecture are about the pros and cons of the Turtle Excluder Device (TED). The writer believes there are many benefits to the use of TED, and that it has decreased the number of sea turtles caught in trawls by shrimpers. The speaker in the listening passage disagrees. He claims there are still many issues with TED, and challenges each of the writer’s points.
First, the article posits that the design of TED includes a metal barrier inside the net that prevents larger animals from getting caught. Additionally, it says, TED also provides a path for the sea turtles to exit. However, the professor points out that small and mid-sized turtles still get caught deeper in the trawls. He states this is because the metal barrier only prevents creatures larger than ten centimeters to pass through it.
Also, the author notes that laws have been passed requiring shrimp boats to have TED and use it properly. The lecturer rebuts this argument. He says that it is impossible for organizations to regulate the fishermen while they are fishing for shrimp and that they can just remove the TED right before putting the nets into the ocean. Furthermore, he argues that they are inclined to do this because sometimes TED can also prevent shrimp from passing into the depths of the trawls, which decreases their profits.
Another reason the writer feels that TED is beneficial is that under import regulations, the shrimp sold in the US can only come from suppliers who are certified TED users. Again, the speaker holds there are flaws in this argument. He suggests that there are many boat owners who claim to be TED-certified, but, in reality, have fake documentation. The lack of consistency in TED certification from country to country allows many to deceive ports and sell their shrimp anyway.
To sum up, both the author and the lecturer hold conflicting views about TED.
Five more to go…
Still with me?
Awesome (just like these tips).
Now, let’s take a look at our last five tips for the TOEFL Writing section.
Tip #6: be sure to add to the discussion.
On July 26, 2023, ETS introduced a new TOEFL Writing question called Writing for an Academic Discussion. It replaced the Independent Writing task.
For writing task #2, you have ten minutes to read the discussion and then write a response of 100 words or more.
In the example above, the professor poses a question about whether or not globalization has a positive or negative effect on society. Bryan believes globalization is positive because it brings people and cultures closer together, while Alex thinks globalization leads to the exploitation of developing countries. When it is time to write, be sure to ADD to the discussion. Do not just repeat the same points made by the other students.
Look at the sample response below. The points highlighted are additional ideas that contribute to the discussion.
In my opinion, globalization is a positive force in the world today. My personal belief is that when nations interact together, it leads to less suffering. For example, people who suffer from natural catastrophes can import goods and services to help mitigate their losses and recover quickly. Citizens of nations who may be going through war or famine can flee to neighboring countries for shelter . I understand Alex’s concern over cultural homogenization, but I believe she misses another critical point. Much of the food found in grocery stores around the world is imported. Our very diet is due to the international trade partnerships and alliances forged over the last half of the 20th century. International trade and travel are not possible in a world without globalization, which is why I believe it is crucial to maintain our current global policies for a safer world with a higher standard of living .
On test day, it is fine to agree or acknowledge the points made in the discussion; just be sure that the majority of your response to the Writing for an Academic Discussion question further develops the online conversation.
Test-takers tend to think they have to use complicated grammar in the TOEFL Writing section to earn a high test score.
This isn’t true.
In fact, for the new Writing for an Academic Discussion task, you only need three verb tenses:
I have highlighted all of the verb tenses used in my response to the question about globalization, and almost all of them are in the simple present.
In my opinion, globalization is a positive force in the world today. My personal belief is that when nations interact together, it leads to less suffering. For example, people who suffer from natural catastrophes can import goods and services to help mitigate their losses and recover quickly. Citizens of nations who may be going through war or famine can flee to neighboring countries for shelter. I understand Alex’s concern over cultural homogenization, but I believe she misses another critical point. Much of the food found in grocery stores around the world is imported. Our very diet is due to the international trade partnerships and alliances forged over the last half of the 20th century. International trade and travel are not possible in a world without globalization, which is why I believe it is crucial to maintain our current global policies for a safer world with a higher standard of living.
But hold on a second.
Your grammar in the TOEFL Writing section can’t be too simple, and there is one more tip to keep in mind.
According to Michael Goodine at Test Resources , the TOEFL Writing e-rater likes writing samples that include sentences with subordinating and/or coordinating conjunctions.
A subordinating conjunction is a word or phrase that links a dependent clause to an independent clause, and a coordinating conjunction joins two elements of equal importance.
Check out the table below for a handy list of both.
Subordonating Conjuctions
Coordonating Conjuctions
It is not required to include these conjunctions in your response, but it will help you craft sentences with two or more clauses, which will have a positive impact on your score.
I have highlighted the sentences from the globalization example response that include multiple clauses.
In my opinion, globalization is a positive force in the world today. My personal belief is that when nations interact together, it leads to less suffering. For example, people who suffer from natural catastrophes can import goods and services to help mitigate their losses and recover quickly . Citizens of nations who may be going through war or famine can flee to neighboring countries for shelter. I understand Alex’s concern over cultural homogenization, but I believe she misses another critical point . Much of the food found in grocery stores around the world is imported. Our very diet is due to the international trade partnerships and alliances forged over the last half of the 20th century. International trade and travel are not possible in a world without globalization, which is why I believe it is crucial to maintain our current global policies for a safer world with a higher standard of living .
One of the best TOEFL Writing tips I could possibly share here is to leave yourself time to edit. Plan on finishing your essay around the 9-minute mark so you have at least a minute to edit your essay.
It’s annoying, I know.
Especially since, at this point, you will have taken the test for almost two hours.
Remember, there is no spellcheck on the exam. That’s right, you will be responsible for finding spelling and grammar mistakes yourself. Also, be sure to pay special attention to spacing and punctuation.
There is no automatic spellcheck on the TOEFL exam. You will be responsible for typing and correcting spelling and grammatical mistakes.
So, always give yourself a minute or more to proofread your essays and practice writing with spellcheck turned off !
Here are some common mistakes that are easy to spot:
Read your response aloud quietly. Listen to hear if your sentences sound correct. If part of your response sounds strange, you may have some awkward grammar that needs to be fixed.
While preparing for the TOEFL writing section, it is crucial for you to get your hands on some practice questions.
And to get valuable feedback from a qualified TOEFL instructor who knows exactly what you need to write to earn a high score in the writing section. Relying on yourself or a teacher you know will certainly help, but you will not be able to reach your full potential without advice from an experienced instructor.
Therefore, the last tip while preparing for the TOEFL is to get help from a trained professional at TST Prep.
If you haven’t already, be sure to download TST Prep’s Complete Test #13 where you can see these sample essays and more.
Was there anything we missed?
If you have more TOEFL Writing tips, please don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments section below.
And, as always, we are here to help if you have any questions or concerns, [email protected]
Topics and Sample Essays for the Writing Section of the TOEFL Test
100 Reading Questions for the TOEFL Test
Check other articles on TOEFL
Thanks for this invaluable article🙏🏻.
Excellent samples
Hi Josh. Thank you a lot. This post was very useful for me.
Hi Josh, The sample for Task 1 provided on the ETS website is a bit different from the one you wrote. It solely focuses on the lecture while only saying, “That refutes that point from reading.” Could you have a look and recommend me some tips?
Hi, thanks for your question. To add length to your essay, we suggest including a bit more from the reading section. It can also help you in making sure each point from the listening matches a point referenced in the reading.
Hi Josh, First, thanks a million for this intelligent and helpful content; you are a great tutor. I found that the time management section has a small mistake with summing the minutes suggested for each step. 2 minutes outline + 3 minutes introduction + 11 minutes body + 2 minutes conclusion + 3 minutes editing = 21 minutes!
Hi Inman, thanks for pointing that out. We will have a look. I would maybe say 2 minutes for an introduction would be better. 🙂
Great! Thanks again.
Hey Josh Thanks a lot for your time and effort. You have got a heart of gold. Lots of love from Afghanistan♥️🇦🇫
Point 7 isn’t true (but perhaps you needed just one more to make 10 tips instead of 9?) I took both sides all the time when I took the TOEFL, and got a 119 (and the reason I missed one point was the speaking, where I forgot to mention two specific examples). Cheers!
Hi Ruth and thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. Congrats on your score, that’s incredible. In regards to your opinion on tip #7 ” HAVE A CLEAR OPINION AND STICK TO IT”, it is not put there arbitrarily to inflate the number of tips. We have found that students who fail to have a concrete opinion tend to have difficulty developing the topic and writing with clarity. This is not always the case and you can write a perfect essay by arguing both sides of the argument, generally speaking, however, it is easier to write a clear and well-developed essay when taking one clear side of an issue.
Hello Josh. What do “int” and “ind” mean? You used these in the TOEFL Writing Transitional Phrases table without explaining them. Thanks.
Hi Rob, and my apologies. I should clarify that. The “int” stands for “integrated writing (task 1),” and the “ind” stands for independent writing (task #2).
Hello, I’m preparing for TOEFL, and I found a weird subject for the independent subject. “The average global life expectancy went from 29 years old in 1800 to 71 years old in 2015. According to you, what is the main cause for such a change?”. Do you know if it is possible to have a question like this? Thank you for your help.
Hi there and thank you for your question. This does indeed sound like a reasonable topic since anyone could have an opinion on it. It is a bit strange but definitely possible. (I’ve seen weirder). This would also be difficult because you would have to use past unreal unconditional forms and sentences like “It could have been” “might have been because”, etc. Hope that helps!
Hello Josh! How are you? Please where can I find the TOEFL Writing 24+ Guide to download?
Here is the link. Hope that helps you find what you are looking for. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j-fGt9rvjklnU4v-ENUA2cE6d1fp2mt1/view?usp=sharing
Hi Josh, I’m taking my test in a few minutes. Thank you so much for the free material on the website. It has definitely helped me make my own template!
Thanks for leaving a comment Nikitha. How did the test go? I’m always interested to hear if anything was surprising/interesting/etc.
The test was alright! I haven’t received my scores yet, except for Reading (26) and Listening (29). The questions asked were congruent to the examination pattern. I couldn’t really relate to the personal opinion question asked in the speaking section. I found the reading section quite tough compared to everything else. In the end, it wasn’t so bad considering I started prep 24 hours before the exam. If I had put in the effort, I would’ve been able to do well.
Hi Josh. I’m preparing to write the TOEFL exam as a deaf test taker. I have practiced a lot, but the problem is the reading section. I can’t figure out how I answer to the reading section questions.
Have you considered seeing if perhaps you can be allowed extra time? I know in certain situations it is possible, but I’m not sure it would pertain to the Reading section. It might be worth you checking with ETS. Outside of that, have you thought about maybe taking the group reading course? I think it might really help you.
Thanks a lot for sharing the tips and the analysis, I really appreciate it!
Hello Josh, How can I have this post in PDF format? Is it possible to send me the PDF file of this post ??
Hi Erfan and thank you for asking. Unfortunately, we do not have this post in PDF format but we have our TOEFL Writing Guide which includes tips like this, along with a lot of other useful information. I think you will find this document even more helpful. Here is the link – https://drive.google.com/file/d/12JWgyMLAAUM2z4GDDpTDbMXCXelkYS0h/view?usp=sharing
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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.
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.
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®
How can you take the TOEFL IBT with all the test centers closed?
The Special Home Edition of the TOEFL iBT.
Due to the spread of COVID-19 and the subsequent closing of many in-person testing facilities, ETS has created a home version of the TOEFL iBT. This article will take an in-depth look at the special home edition of the TOEFL iBT by delving deeper into the registration process, technical requirements, and overall differences between this test and the original TOEFL iBT.
The TOEFL Reading contains 10 different types of questions, each with their own point value and strategy. Some questions are straightforward, while others have answers designed to trick you. This short article will give you the skills to identify the question type and find the answer by systematically eliminating the wrong choices. It’s the perfect guide to help you study smarter and read better.
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Worried about your performance in the toefl writing section follow the instructions, tips, and methods in this blog, and practice on one of the 10 toefl essay topics to nail your exam., table of contents, what is the toefl writing section, 5 authentic tips on how to ace the toefl independent writing question.
How to nail the toefl integrated writing question, any last-minute tips.
A lot of students find the Reading, Listening, and Speaking sections of the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam fairly easy. It’s the TOEFL Writing section that gives everybody a run for the woods. To reduce your nervousness and help you prepare for the TOEFL Writing section, I have included in-depth details about each question and shared tips on how to nail it. Along with that, you will also find 8 TOEFL essay topics to help you get started. So, what are you waiting for? Dive in!
The fourth and the last section of the TOEFL exam, the Writing Section measures your ability to write in English at a university level. Its aim is to test how you structure your thoughts and see if you can present them clearly (without any grammatical mistakes).
The Writing Section of TOEFL takes 50 minutes to complete and comprises of 2 questions-
While the Independent task tests your ability to organize your thoughts and express them, the Integrated task focuses on how well you can use English in class.
Let’s take a look at them one by one.
For this task, you will be asked a question on a personal topic or an issue. Depending on what the question is, you will either have to share a personal experience or give your opinion on the topic. In case it’s an issue-based topic, you will also have to give reasons and examples that support your opinion.
The question you will get will fall into one of these three broad categories-
The first two appear more commonly in exams than the third.
But no matter what the question or the question type, I have a one-stop solution for you (so excited to share this)!
1) Let’s dive straight into it – the first thing you need to do is structure your essay. And this is something you can (and should) do even before the exam begins.
2) Choose to have a limited number of paras. Start by stating the topic and your opinion, use the second and the third paragraphs to support your opinion with 2 strong points. Use examples to support these points if needed.
3) In the fourth paragraph, acknowledge that your opinion is not perfect (because it’s an opinion and not fact) and talk about the strengths of the opinion you did not pick.
4) Use the fifth paragraph to say that even though the other side has its own advantages, you prefer yours. This is a good place to add a third point in favor of your own argument.
5) Conclude with the sixth paragraph by tying up everything you have said so far and restate your opinion.
There! The perfect structure to nail your TOEFL Independent Writing task.
A few things to keep in mind-
Now that you know how to go about the Independent Writing task and have also looked at a sample answer, it’s time to practice with some TOEFL Writing samples!
I’m sharing a few TOEFL essay topics given by ETS (the official TOEFL test-takers) for you to choose from-
For this task, you will have to read a short passage, listen to a 2-minute lecture about the same topic, and write a response to what you read and listened to.
The question tests your listening, reading, and writing chops and evaluates how you would do in a real classroom. So, answer it in a way that includes the content of both the passage and the audio recording.
Here, you do not need to provide an opinion. You just have to summarize what you learned from the essay and the recording. And while you will have the passage in front of you as you write the answer, you will not be able to listen to the audio recording again. But this should not affect you in any way. Let’s see why.
The ideal way to solve this problem is to take notes. Start by reading the passage, slowly. Since it’s a short passage, the amount of time allotted will be more than enough. As you read each para, write down one sentence (of 4-5 words) describing what you learned from that paragraph. Do this for the entire passage.
When you’re listening to the audio, again make notes. Write down the primary points leading the argument in the recording.
When it’s time to start writing, take a few seconds. Collate all your points and structure your answer.
Split it into 4 paragraphs. Use the first para to state the topic, and the second one to talk about what the passage states. In the third paragraph, use points from the audio recording. And conclude with a sentence or two in the fourth para.
That’s it – you’ll have close to 250 to 300 words and you’ll have presented a clear, concise answer!
Here are TOEFL essay topics I borrowed from ETS, the official TOEFL test-takers-
Give yourself 3 minutes to read the passage.
Reading Time: 3 minutes
In an effort to encourage ecologically sustainable forestry practices, an international organization started issuing certifications to wood companies that meet high ecological standards by conserving resources and recycling materials. Companies that receive this certification can attract customers by advertising their products as “ecocertified.” Around the world, many wood companies have adopted new, ecologically friendly practices in order to receive ecocertification. However, it is unlikely that wood companies in the United States will do the same, for several reasons.
First, American consumers are exposed to so much advertising that they would not value or even pay attention to the ecocertification label. Because so many mediocre products are labeled “new” or “improved,” American consumers do not place much trust in advertising claims in general.
Second, ecocertified wood will be more expensive than uncertified wood because in order to earn ecocertification, a wood company must pay to have its business examined by a certification agency. This additional cost gets passed on to consumers. American consumers tend to be strongly motivated by price, and therefore they are likely to choose cheaper uncertified wood products. Accordingly, American wood companies will prefer to keep their prices low rather than obtain ecocertification.
Third, although some people claim that it always makes good business sense for American companies to keep up with the developments in the rest of the world, this argument is not convincing. Pursuing certification would make sense for American wood companies only if they marketed most of their products abroad. But that is not the caseAmerican wood businesses sell most of their products in the United States, catering to a very large customer base that is satisfied with the merchandise.
Read the transcript.
Narrator: Now listen to part of a lecture on the topic you just read about.
Professor Well, despite what many people say, there’s good reason to think that many American wood companies will eventually seek ecocertification for their wood products. First off, consumers in the United States don’t treat all advertising the same. They distinguish between advertising claims that companies make about their own products and claims made by independent certification agencies. Americans have a lot of confidence in independent consumer agencies. Thus, ecologically minded Americans are likely to react very favorably to wood products ecologically certified by an independent organization with an international reputation for trustworthiness.
Second pointof course it’s true that American consumers care a lot about pricewho doesn’t? But studies of how consumers make decisions show that price alone determines consumers’ decisions only when the price of one competing product is much higher or lower than another. When the price difference between two products is smallsay, less than five percent, as is the case with certified wood Americans often do choose on factors other than price. And Americans are becoming increasingly convinced of the value of preserving and protecting the environment.
And third, U.S. wood companies should definitely pay attention to what’s going on in the wood business internationally, not because of foreign consumers, but because of foreign competition. As I just told you, there’s a good chance that many American consumers will be interested in ecocertified products. And guess what, if American companies are slow capturing those customers, you can be sure that foreign companies will soon start crowding into the American market, offering ecocertified wood that domestic companies don’t.
Give yourself 20 minutes to plan and write your response. Your response is judged on the quality of the writing and on how well it presents the points in the lecture and their relationship to the reading passage. Typically, an effective response will be 150 to 225 words. You may view the reading passage while you respond.
Response time: 20 minutes
Question: Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they cast doubt on specific points made in the reading passage.
Yes, just two-
A bonus tip is this – practice, practice, practice. It will help you stay prepared for whatever question may come your way.
And if you need any help, you know where to find me! Drop a comment and let me know what I can do to help with your TOEFL essay topics. I would be more than happy to help.
All the best for your exam!
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3 thoughts on “8 toefl essay topics to prepare for the toefl exam”, see what others are saying.
Nice article. Very helpful for students who are preparing for TOEFL . Good work. Keep it up.
Nice article, this will help test takers a lot, keep it up
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The best toefl writing practice: 300+ topics to study with.
Writing is the last section you’ll complete on the TOEFL. You’re so close to finishing, yet you still have two essays to write before you can celebrate completing the exam. In order to finish the test on a high note, you’ll need to be prepared for this section.
In this guide, we explain the ins and outs of the Writing section and the materials you need to do well. We then go over all the best TOEFL Writing practice resources available , including free and official practice Writing topics. We’ll end with final tips to keep in mind in order to ace the TOEFL Writing section.
The TOEFL Writing section is 50 minutes long (broken into two parts) and contains two tasks: Integrated Writing and Independent Writing. You’ll type both essays on the computer.
The Integrated Writing task requires you to use listening, reading, and writing skills. For this task, you will have three minutes to read a short passage, then you will listen to a short (approximately two-minute long) audio clip of a speaker discussing the same topic the written passage covers. You will have 20 minutes to plan and write a response that references both of these sources. You won’t discuss your own opinion.
For the Independent Writing task, you’ll receive a question on a particular topic or issue. You’ll have 30 minutes to plan and write a response to that topic that explains your opinion on it. You’ll need to give reasons that support your decision.
Each essay will receive a score from 0-5. The sum will then be scaled to a score from 0-30, which is your official Writing score. The Writing section makes up 25% of your total TOEFL score (from 0-120).
By the way: we have built the world's best online TOEFL course . Get online practice (TPO-sytle!) and individual grading and feedback on Speaking and Writing.
Learn how you can improve your TOEFL score by 15 points today .
As you likely expect, you’ll spend most of your time on the TOEFL Writing section, well, writing. However, you’ll also need to have solid reading and listening skills for the Integrated task. Since the Writing section requires multiple skills, you’ll need multiple study tools in order to be completely prepared. Some of the most important things you’ll need to prepare for TOEFL Writing include:
In the next section, we’ll go over the best TOEFL Writing practice tests and questions.
This section contains links to the top practice materials to use while preparing for TOEFL Writing. What makes a practice material the best?
Official resources are the best to use since you can be confident they’ll be very similar to the real TOEFL Writing section. The topics will be much more realistic in format and content.
Below are all the official TOEFL Writing practice materials available, both free and paid resources. ETS doesn’t provide just Writing questions, so each of these resources also have practice resources for the other sections of the TOEFL. Be sure to include at least some of these materials in your studying. The next section has more tips on how to make the most of official practice resources.
The TOEFL iBT Sampler is a program you can download with official practice questions, and it’s a great free and official resource to use. In addition to other TOEFL sections, it includes a complete TOEFL iBT Writing practice section (two tasks). Sample answers for both tasks are included so you can get an idea of what a good essay looks like. Unfortunately, the Sampler only works with Windows; you can’t download it with a Mac.
This PDF is another free and official resource. In addition to other question types, it includes two Writing tasks: one TOEFL Integrated Writing practice question and one Independent Writing practice question. Each sample TOEFL Writing topic is followed by a sample essay as well as an in-depth score explanation, which is a great tool for studiers.
The Quick Prep contains four different volumes, each of which contains one or two Writing prompts. The first volume is the best for TOEFL iBT Writing practice, since it contains two tasks (the others each only contain one) and also has an in-depth explanation of what your essays should include. The other three volumes only contain the essay rubrics without any advice on how to answer the specific essay prompt given.
TPO tests are retired TOEFL exams now offered for test prep. They give the closest experience to the real TOEFL, and, because of that, they aren’t cheap. You’ll have to pay $45 for each complete TOEFL you buy (you can’t just buy individual TOEFL iBT Writing practice sections).
Your exam will be automatically graded after you finish it, although I was not particularly impressed with how the Writing section was graded when I took it. For the actual TOEFL, two human graders and a computer program review your essays and assign grades to each one. For this exam, a computer grades your Writing section within less than a minute of you completing the exam, and there is no explanation of how that grade was determined.
This is a useful resource, but if you don’t want to spend that much money on a practice test, it’s completely possible to do well just using the above practice resources.
There are several official TOEFL prep books for sale by ETS. The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test , in addition to explaining the types of questions on the test, contains numerous practice questions and three full-length exams. This is also the only official prep book that includes sample essays of varying scores along with scoring explanations, which can be a big help if you’re trying to guess what score your essays would get.
There’s also the Official TOEFL iBT Tests Volumes 1 and 2. Each of these books contains five unique practice tests, available on paper and the computer. However, no sample responses are given for Writing questions, which make them a less useful resource compared to The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test.
You have to be more careful when using unofficial prep resources since not all of them are reliable. Some are high-quality and very similar to the TOEFL, others are not. For the Writing section in particular, because it’s so easy to make up essay prompts, there are many sites that claim to offer TOEFL Writing practice when their practice questions are actually low-quality. Below are some of the top unofficial prep resources out there. All of them (except the prep books, if you buy them) are free.
This site contains one TOEFL Integrated Writing practice task and five Independent Writing practice tasks. All six TOEFL Writing topics are similar to the real test, and the Integrated task as well as one of the Independent tasks have sample responses you can compare your answers to. At the bottom of the web page is a checklist of things your essays should include to help give you a guideline of what you should be aiming for when you write.
Magoosh offers one TOEFL Integrated Writing practice task. That’s not a lot of practice, but it is a high-quality question that includes a sample response. Magoosh also offers three complete TOEFLs, so you can use those Writing questions as well.
This site has a huge number (several hundred) of Independent Writing tasks, separated into five different categories depending on question type. Some of the questions are more simplistic than you’ll see on the real TOEFL , and there’s no scoring information or sample responses, but there are a good source if you need more TOEFL Writing topics to write about.
This site contains 155 Independent Writing tasks. Like Good Luck TOEFL, some of these TOEFL Writing topics are easier than you’ll find on the TOEFL, and there are no sample responses included, but they do give you the opportunity to practice writing.
Prep books, even unofficial ones, often are a great resource for practice questions. Most books include sample Writing questions, along with scoring explanations , and then contain one or more complete practice TOEFLs at the end of the book. You can learn all about the best TOEFL prep books by reading our guide.
There are other ways to practice besides just answering sample Writing questions. TOEFL Writing is designed to measure how strong your English writing skills are, so, any practice you get writing English will help you with this section, even if you’re not directly answering practice exam questions. There are many ways to get writing practice; several of them are described below.
Duolingo is a popular free language-learning site. Users answer different types of questions, including writing questions. You can’t choose to only answer writing questions, so this isn’t the best resource for targeted writing practice, bu t it’s a good way to strengthen your overall English skills.
For advanced English learners, many of Duolingo’s beginning problem sets will likely be too easy, but you can take a quiz to figure out where in the program you should start.
Finally, you can also practice writing about topics that have nothing to do with the TOEFL. As long as you’re writing in English, you’re getting good practice. Writing about something that interests you can also encourage you to write more. Some ideas for free writing include:
Now that you’re an expert on the best practice resources for TOEFL Writing, the next step is to put those materials to use in the most effective way in order to see results on test day. Follow these four tips in order to get the most out of your practice.
The most important thing you can do to practice for the Writing section of the TOEFL is to practice writing English regularly. If you can practice every day, that would be ideal, but at the very least you should aim to practice writing 1,000 words in English a week.
Remember, this writing practice doesn’t only have to consist of answering TOEFL Speaking questions; any free writing, even just jotting down what you did that day in your diary, counts as writing practice.
As mentioned above, official TOEFL resources have the best practice questions out there, so you want to make the most of them. Spread these questions throughout your TOEFL studying; don’t use them all up at the beginning or save them all for the end. You want to be regularly seeing these questions as you prepare.
Also, when you answer official practice questions, make sure you set enough time aside to devote your full attention to them. Practice them in a quiet room with no distractions, and carefully compare your responses to the sample responses. These aren’t the questions to practice when you have a few minutes to spare and need some quick practice while scrolling through your phone.
When you are writing practice essays, you should also time yourself. Give yourself 20 minutes to plan and write each Integrated Writing task and 30 minutes for each Independent Writing task.
Timing yourself when you write will help you be better prepared for test day because you’ll have practice planning and writing essays within a limited time frame. When you first begin writing practice essays, it can be easy to spend too much time preparing and run out of time before you finish writing. Taking timed practice essays will help you avoid this. You should also count how many words each of your essays contain after you’ve finished writing them. Integrated tasks should be 150-225 words and Independent tasks should be at least 300 words.
After you write each TOEFL practice essay, you should also review it and think about how well it answered the question. This is easier to do if the practice question comes with sample answers that you can compare your answer to, but you should do this step for all practice essays you write, even if they don’t come with any answer explanation. You can also assign your essays a score or have a tutor or friend who’s also studying for the TOEFL score your essay.
It’s tempting to take a break from TOEFL studying as soon as you’ve finished your essays, but it’s important to do this step because it will get you thinking about what great essays look like and how yours can be improved. The ETS provides the rubric it uses to grade TOEFL writing tasks which you can use to evaluate your essays.
In order to write two awesome essays for the TOEFL Writing section, you’ll likely have to put in some practice. Once you know what to expect from this section and how you’ll be graded, use a variety of official and unofficial practice resources during your studying.
As you’re preparing for the Writing section, you should also practice writing in English regularly, use official resources wisely, time yourself when writing practice essays, and review your essays after you write them.
Looking for more information on the TOEFL Writing section? Learn all the tips you need to know in order to ace TOEFL Writing!
What score should you be aiming to get on the TOEFL? Learn what a good TOEFL score is based on the schools you’re interested in attending.
Looking for a great TOEFL prep book? A good prep book can be the most important study tool you use, and we have information on all the best TOEFL prep books you should consider.
Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries. View all posts by Christine Sarikas
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80 TOEFL Writing Topics
The 80 TOEFL writing topics on this web page focus on the most common question types found on the writing section of the TOEFL exam: agree/disagree, multiple choice, preference, and good idea.
“Ready to excel in TOEFL Writing? Dive into our free Online Discussion practice tests. Elevate your skills and conquer the exam. Follow the link for the latest updated July 2023 version of the TOEFL iBT!”
31. Which of the following employee attributes are most important?
Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion. Do not use memorized examples.
32. Which of the following are most important when choosing a house?
33. Which of the following is most important when deciding on a university?
34. Which of the following is most important for someone suffering from depression?
35. Which of the following is the most important part in maintaining an orderly society?
36. Which of the following is most important in having an environmentally-friendly city?
37. Which of the following is the most healthy part of a person’s lifestyle?
38. Who would you most likely fire if you were the CEO of a large company?
39. You just received an inheritance of more than 50 million dollars, and you MUST donate 1/2 of the money to one of the following:
Which organization would you donate the money to? Why? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion. Do not use memorized examples.
40. You are going into the wilderness for two weeks. Which three objects would you bring with you?
41. Which of the following measures would make a city safer?
42. Which of the following forms of social media are most harmful to children?
43. Which of the following is the most beneficial form of exercise for adults?
44. Which politican would you most likely vote for?
45. Which of the following animals would win in a fierce fight?
46. Which of the following jobs appeal to you the most?
47. Which of the following will allure more tourists to a city?
48. If the death penalty were allowed in your country, which method of execution should be implemented?
49. Which strategy is most effective when you have a lot of homework assignments?
50. Which of the following events would cause the most harm to our planet?
51. Computers are becoming more and more acceptable as tools that educators are using in classrooms. Some believe that this type of technology is useful for student learning. Others, on the other hand, believe that computers are not a required part of student learning. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
52. Some believe that food is becoming more and more scarce. Therefore, international laws should be passed that limit couples to having only one child. Others, on the other hand, believe that there will always be plenty of food for the world’s population. As a result, no laws are needed to restrict wordwide population growth. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
53. Some believe that all types of plastic should be banned since much of this material ends up polluting our oceans. Others, on the other hand, believe plastic should not be banned since it is an essential material. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
54. Some believe consumers should have vegetarian diets. Others, on the other hand, believe that these people should also eat meat in addition to healthy amounts of fruits and vegetables. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
55. Some believe that success mostly depends on how hard someone works to achieve his goals. Others, on the other hand, believe that luck plays an important role in whether or not someone succeeds in life. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
56. Some believe that it is proper etiquette to kiss someone on a first date. Others, on the other hand, believe that a couple should not kiss the first time that they go out together. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
57. Some believe that licensed doctors should recommed herbal treatments for their patients. Others, on the other hand, believe that doctors should only be allowed to prescribe medication that has been approved by a governmental organization such as the Federal Drug Association. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
58. Some believe children should be given household chores appropriate to their age. For example, a 10-year old child could be given a chore of emptying the garbage on a daily basis. Others, on the other hand, believe children should not be given any chores so long as they spend enough time doing their homework assignments after coming home from school. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
59. Some believe that elementary and high schools should separate the genders. For instance, only boys study at some schools, whereas girls study at other schools. Others, on the other hand, believe the boys and girls should be allowed to study in the same classrooms at the same schools. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
60. Some believe that people should not marry outside of their culture and language. They believe that marriage is already difficult enough, and mixing cultures will only complicate matters further. Others, on the other hand, believe love matters more than a culture or language when it comes marriage. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
61. Some believe electric cars are viable alternatives to fossil-fuel vehicles. Others, on the other hand, believe fossil-fuel cars will always be superior in their quality and durable compared to electric cars. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
62. Some believe that action movies are the best movies to watch after a hard day’s work. Others, on the other hand, believe that they can relax more effectively by watching comedy movies. Which type of movie do you prefer? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
63. Some believe that politicians should only serve one term in office. Limiting how long politicians serve, they believe, will minimize corruption and conflicts of interest. Others, on the other hand, believe that politicians will more effectively serve their districts if they serve more than one term. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
64. Some believe that people should not be allowed to fart in public places since the offensive odor can really annoy others. Others, on the other hand, believe that there is no harm farting in public, even if people fart loudly. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
65. Some believe that goverments should allocate more money for space exploration. According to them, space exploration can lead to new discoveries and cures for infectitious diseases. Others, on the other hand, believe that govermments should reserve more money in their budgets for basic needs on Earth such as poverty, education, and healthcare. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
66. Some believe children should not be allowed to watch television since it has no educational value. Others, on the other hand, believe that television has educational value, so children should be able to watch it. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
67. Some believe human activities have caused irreversible effects of climate change. According to them, unless humans change their behaviors, the Earth could suffer an extinction level event for most animal and plant life. Others, on the other hand, believe that natural factors have had more of an effect on our climate. According to this belief, there is nothing that humans can do to alter this naturally occurring cycle that the Earth is going through. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
68. Some believe that cats make great pets by bringing comfort, compassion, and unconditional love to their owners. Others, on the other hand, believe that dogs make better pets than cats. Which pet do you think brings more satisfaction to their owners? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
69. Some believe that it is better to rent a home rather than buy one. Others, on the other hand, believe that buying a home represents a much better investment. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
70. Some important guests are coming to visit you. To get ready, some believe that the first thing to be cleaned should be the interior and exterior windows. Others, on the other hand, believe the guest bathroom and living room should be the first areas of the home to be cleaned. Which view do you support? Use reasons and examples to support your point of view. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
71. Some schools do not allow high school students to bring their smartphones to class. They believe that students will excel academically and socially without relying on these popular gadgets. Do you think that it is a good idea? Use reasons and examples to support your opinion. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
72. Some assert that children should be limited to one hour of electronics daily because the types of gadgets can harm children’s development. Do you think that it is a good idea to restrict how much time children spend on their electronics? Use reasons and examples to support your opinion. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
73. Some say that all citizens of a country should be required to get vaccinated against the Coronavirus. They believe that making everyone get vaccinated will help society to develop herd immunity, which will effectively end the pandemic. Do you think that everyone should be required to get vacccinated? Use reasons and examples to support your opinion. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
74. Some educators believe that children should read about 45 minutes every day? They believe that this type of extensive reading will help children to mature academically. Do you think that extensive reading is a good idea for children? Use reasons and examples to support your opinion. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
75. Some believe that outdoor and indoor smoking should be banned everywhere. They believe that the secondhand smoke from cigarettes creates a health hazard. Do you think that it is a good idea to prohibit smoking? Use reasons and examples to support your opinion. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
76. Some believe that countries worldwide should be forced to reduce their fossil fuel consumption by at least 20%. They believe that reducing fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas will counteract the dangerous effects of climate change. Do you think that it is a good idea for countries to limit their fossil-fuel consumption? Use reasons and examples to support your opinion. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
77. Some say workers should have the same political views of the instutions for which they work. For example, if the instution such as a school district supports the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, then educators under this organization should also support the BLM. If they do not, then they should be fired or forced to resign. Do you think it is a good idea for organizatons to fire employees who have opposing political views? Use reasons and examples to support your opinion. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
78. Some administrators and teachers say children should be punished by being paddled with a wooden board. They believe that this type of corporal punishment will curb undesirable behaviors. Do you think that it is a good idea to paddle children when they act out? Use reasons and examples to support your opinion. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
79. Some say drugs such as marijuana, herione, and cocaine should be legalized. They believe that legalizing these drugs will significantly reduce crime. Do you think that it is a good idea to legalize drugs? Use reasons and examples to support your opinion. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
80. To reduce fossil fuel consumption, some say governments should prohibit families from purchasing more than one automobile. They believe that if families have only one vehicle they will drive fewer miles, thereby slowing the emission of dangerous greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Do you think that it is a good idea? Use reasons and examples to support your opinion. Make sure that you do NOT use memorized examples.
While you practice writing responses to these 80 TOEFL writing topics, consider joining my TOEFL Speaking and Writing Feedback Service . That way you can get estimated TOEFL writing scores every time you complete a practice test.
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When ChatGPT was released to the public in November 2022, advocates and watchdogs warned about the potential for racial bias. The new large language model was created by harvesting 300 billion words from books, articles and online writing, which include racist falsehoods and reflect writers’ implicit biases. Biased training data is likely to generate biased advice, answers and essays. Garbage in, garbage out.
Researchers are starting to document how AI bias manifests in unexpected ways. Inside the research and development arm of the giant testing organization ETS, which administers the SAT, a pair of investigators pitted man against machine in evaluating more than 13,000 essays written by students in grades 8 to 12. They discovered that the AI model that powers ChatGPT penalized Asian American students more than other races and ethnicities in grading the essays. This was purely a research exercise and these essays and machine scores weren’t used in any of ETS’s assessments. But the organization shared its analysis with me to warn schools and teachers about the potential for racial bias when using ChatGPT or other AI apps in the classroom.
“Take a little bit of caution and do some evaluation of the scores before presenting them to students,” said Mo Zhang, one of the ETS researchers who conducted the analysis. “There are methods for doing this and you don’t want to take people who specialize in educational measurement out of the equation.”
That might sound self-serving for an employee of a company that specializes in educational measurement. But Zhang’s advice is worth heeding in the excitement to try new AI technology. There are potential dangers as teachers save time by offloading grading work to a robot.
In ETS’s analysis, Zhang and her colleague Matt Johnson fed 13,121 essays into one of the latest versions of the AI model that powers ChatGPT, called GPT 4 Omni or simply GPT-4o . (This version was added to ChatGPT in May 2024, but when the researchers conducted this experiment they used the latest AI model through a different portal.)
A little background about this large bundle of essays : students across the nation had originally written these essays between 2015 and 2019 as part of state standardized exams or classroom assessments. Their assignment had been to write an argumentative essay, such as “Should students be allowed to use cell phones in school?” The essays were collected to help scientists develop and test automated writing evaluation.
Each of the essays had been graded by expert raters of writing on a 1-to-6 point scale with 6 being the highest score. ETS asked GPT-4o to score them on the same six-point scale using the same scoring guide that the humans used. Neither man nor machine was told the race or ethnicity of the student, but researchers could see students’ demographic information in the datasets that accompany these essays.
GPT-4o marked the essays almost a point lower than the humans did. The average score across the 13,121 essays was 2.8 for GPT-4o and 3.7 for the humans. But Asian Americans were docked by an additional quarter point. Human evaluators gave Asian Americans a 4.3, on average, while GPT-4o gave them only a 3.2 – roughly a 1.1 point deduction. By contrast, the score difference between humans and GPT-4o was only about 0.9 points for white, Black and Hispanic students. Imagine an ice cream truck that kept shaving off an extra quarter scoop only from the cones of Asian American kids.
“Clearly, this doesn’t seem fair,” wrote Johnson and Zhang in an unpublished report they shared with me. Though the extra penalty for Asian Americans wasn’t terribly large, they said, it’s substantial enough that it shouldn’t be ignored.
The researchers don’t know why GPT-4o issued lower grades than humans, and why it gave an extra penalty to Asian Americans. Zhang and Johnson described the AI system as a “huge black box” of algorithms that operate in ways “not fully understood by their own developers.” That inability to explain a student’s grade on a writing assignment makes the systems especially frustrating to use in schools.
This one study isn’t proof that AI is consistently underrating essays or biased against Asian Americans. Other versions of AI sometimes produce different results. A separate analysis of essay scoring by researchers from University of California, Irvine and Arizona State University found that AI essay grades were just as frequently too high as they were too low . That study, which used the 3.5 version of ChatGPT, did not scrutinize results by race and ethnicity.
I wondered if AI bias against Asian Americans was somehow connected to high achievement. Just as Asian Americans tend to score high on math and reading tests, Asian Americans, on average, were the strongest writers in this bundle of 13,000 essays. Even with the penalty, Asian Americans still had the highest essay scores, well above those of white, Black, Hispanic, Native American or multi-racial students.
In both the ETS and UC-ASU essay studies, AI awarded far fewer perfect scores than humans did. For example, in this ETS study, humans awarded 732 perfect 6s, while GPT-4o gave out a grand total of only three. GPT’s stinginess with perfect scores might have affected a lot of Asian Americans who had received 6s from human raters.
ETS’s researchers had asked GPT-4o to score the essays cold, without showing the chatbot any graded examples to calibrate its scores. It’s possible that a few sample essays or small tweaks to the grading instructions, or prompts, given to ChatGPT could reduce or eliminate the bias against Asian Americans. Perhaps the robot would be fairer to Asian Americans if it were explicitly prompted to “give out more perfect 6s.”
The ETS researchers told me this wasn’t the first time that they’ve noticed Asian students treated differently by a robo-grader. Older automated essay graders, which used different algorithms, have sometimes done the opposite, giving Asians higher marks than human raters did. For example, an ETS automated scoring system developed more than a decade ago, called e-rater, tended to inflate scores for students from Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong on their essays for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), according to a study published in 2012 . That may have been because some Asian students had memorized well-structured paragraphs, while humans easily noticed that the essays were off-topic. (The ETS website says it only relies on the e-rater score alone for practice tests, and uses it in conjunction with human scores for actual exams.)
Asian Americans also garnered higher marks from an automated scoring system created during a coding competition in 2021 and powered by BERT, which had been the most advanced algorithm before the current generation of large language models, such as GPT. Computer scientists put their experimental robo-grader through a series of tests and discovered that it gave higher scores than humans did to Asian Americans’ open-response answers on a reading comprehension test.
It was also unclear why BERT sometimes treated Asian Americans differently. But it illustrates how important it is to test these systems before we unleash them in schools. Based on educator enthusiasm, however, I fear this train has already left the station. In recent webinars, I’ve seen many teachers post in the chat window that they’re already using ChatGPT, Claude and other AI-powered apps to grade writing. That might be a time saver for teachers, but it could also be harming students.
This story about AI bias was written by Jill Barshay and produced by The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Proof Points and other Hechinger newsletters .
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Call me a relic, from the past, but AI scoring seems too impersonal. As a math teacher, I love my subject. I like correcting papers. It gives me a “feel” for my students’ performance. I can see their approaches. I can see their understanding, or lack of understanding. If a machine is doing your grading, you get none of that. The teacher becomes a faceless clerk, in a store.
I don’t think that teachers should use AI for grading essays. Perhaps I am a relic too, but I think the AI grader does not catch subtlety or ironic humor in writing. That said, I am a Ph.D. who tutors Asian American students and their writing may well be superior. These kids not only work hard in school, but take tutorials beyond the classroom, most often in writing. Even when I was in college at U.Va. Asian-American students were often harder working and earned better grades. And for catching plagiarism, I think a teacher needs to know their students’ writing at all levels of progress. I have caught several plagiarists and cheaters (there is a difference) by assessing both raw writing and a portfolio of student writing in different areas. Teachers that allow an AI to grade are lazy and it makes sense considering the low pay and lack of respect teachers receive. If you want to improve your education system, stop denying tenure and pay academics what they are worth. There are also tenured teachers at high schools. The way we are approaching education will prove a detriment to student progress and the education and intelligence of American students. It is a shame!
Looking at the data I noticed that Hispanic and Black student were still marked more harshly by AI than others. Their AI marks were only 73 percent of the human-graded marks, while Asian and Indigenous recieved 75 percent and mixed race and white students 77 percent. In other words, the difference for Asian students looked greater because their scores were larger to begin with. Nonetheless, there is obviously still racial bias in AI but it simply reinforces the human bias already present.
Kelly’s points about both the math and reinforcement effects seem correct, as do DuWayne’s and TK’s points about the threat to human connection. It seems to me that the value of AI comes from its expedited and detailed feedback and its crowd-sourced standardization of teacher-established criteria, however imperfect. To the extent it saves teachers’ time, it allows for more, not less, direct connection with students and advice to be considered, but not automatically used, in scoring since teachers have a more holistic knowledge of students than LLMs–at least so far. Perhaps students and teachers should learn to collaborate with ever-improving AI models to engage students in the purpose of building skills and knowledge to prepare them to excel in a world in which AI will only become more and more potent over time. And in our education system, especially since looping is rare, AI will likely overtake many individual teachers concerning their knowledge of students and their growth. Imagine when each student has a custom GPT with collections of their work product and teacher feedback over several years and many subjects, and the ability to brief teachers about each new student and recommend the next steps in their learning journey. This will make effective student-family-teacher collaboration even more critical than it is today.
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Sample toefl agree/disagree essay – widespread use of the internet.
The Question
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? “Overall, the widespread use of the internet has a mostly positive effect on life in today’s world.” Use reasons and details to support your opinion.
This essay follows our TOEFL Writing templates for independent essays. Note that we have many more sample essays for you to read.
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Most people agree that modern technology affects society in many different ways. In my opinion, access to the Internet is enormously beneficial to both individuals and communities as a whole. I feel this way for two reasons, which I will explore in the following essay.
To begin with, online investigative reporting helps to expose political corruption and keep politicians honest. In the past, there were only a limited number of news outlets, which often had deep connections to powerful politicians. As a result, they were extremely hesitant to criticize them. These days, however, there are many independent publications on the Internet that are willing to expose political misbehavior. For example, an online magazine recently published a story revealing that the mayor of my hometown had taken bribes from a property developer. The report was so detailed and well-researched that the mayor had no choice but to resign. Although the evidence was not difficult to locate, only this independent website was willing to write about it. This example demonstrates how the Internet helps to strengthen democracy in the modern world.
Secondly, people are more motivated than ever to become politically active because they can freely exchange ideas online. In countries all over the globe, people use social networking services to share their ideas and opinions. While in the past people might have thought that they were alone in their beliefs, today they realize that others share their ideas. My own experience demonstrates this concept. When I was a university student, I learned that a municipal park near my apartment was going to be demolished to make room for a massive parking lot. This bothered me a lot because I enjoyed spending my free time in the park. At first I thought that there was nothing that I, as an individual, could do to stop this from happening. However, I later joined a Facebook group dedicated to opposing the plan. When the members of the group learned how many people in the city loved the park we were happy to get together and enthusiastically protest in front of city hall until our voices were heard. I am convinced that finding each other on that social networking platform gave us the courage to actively protect our park.
In conclusion, I strongly believe that the Internet has a positive effect on our lives. This is because online journalism strengthens our democracy, and because social networking sites encourage people to get involved in local politics. (411 words)
This essay was featured in a video lecture in 2019.
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The testing organization ETS pitted man against machine in evaluating more than 13,000 essays written by students in grades 8 to 12. They discovered that the AI model that powers ChatGPT penalized Asian American students more than other races and ethnicities in grading the essays.
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Sample TOEFL Agree/Disagree Essay - Widespread Use of the Internet. The Question. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? "Overall, the widespread use of the internet has a mostly positive effect on life in today's world.". Use reasons and details to support your opinion.