TOEFL Writing Mechanics

TOEFL Writing Mechanics

How much does your grammar, spelling, vocabulary, sentence complexity, and anything else you think of besides content affect your score? A lot, but not as much as you think.

Just as with the speaking section there is a common focus that is absolutely going in the wrong direction among many students: content is king, not mechanics. This means that poor content and great mechanics will yield a fair to low score and great content and poor mechanics will yield a fair score. In other words, strong content has more power over your score than mechanics.

Of course, you need good mechanics, but too many students study grammar instead of develop listening skill and overall writing skill in preparation for the TOEFL writing section, which is a massively ineffective way to study. Content mastery first and writing mechanics second. Remember that. Remember that. Remember that.

TOEFL Writing Good Stuff

 

 We know that we have 2 questions, right? Each is different and requires its own specific strategy, so watch and enjoy the videos below to master them. Don’t forget to take great notes.

TOEFL iBT Writing: Question 1

 Here are two fast points for this question. First, it’s all about your notes and understanding. I receive questions often about what to do if you didn’t get all the points from the lecture. My advice: do your best but you must work on your listening and note-taking skill (review the video and visit our TOEFL listening section for more help on this). Second, once you have all of the important content, that’s all you need. 250 words is the number of words you need for a perfect score. If you write more than 250, that's fine but be careful. When we read essays beyond 250 from students that score 24 or below, they are often wordy, repetitive and a bit unclear. So, stick to the content and be precise and exact. This doesn't mean to try to write less; it just means stick to your notes.

 

TOEFL iBT Writing: Question 2

 Here are two fast points about this question. First, a high word-count on this question won’t guarantee a high score (remember that content is king; you need good content with a high word-count). Second, use the easiest examples you can write well with, but don’t write the simplest. In other words, it’s better to write an example about a newspaper article you read about world affairs than what your friend ate for breakfast; or, it’s better to write an example about your career as a pharmacist than what you did at the park. Referencing more “professional” experiences will allow you to write better and use more advanced vocabulary.