{"id":4218,"date":"2016-04-06T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kibin.com\/blog\/?p=4218"},"modified":"2019-03-24T09:16:13","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T16:16:13","slug":"5-toefl-writing-mistakes-avoid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kibin.com\/essay-writing-blog\/5-toefl-writing-mistakes-avoid\/","title":{"rendered":"5 TOEFL Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

As an English teacher, I can tell you that everyone makes mistakes in writing. And in my years as a TOEFL tutor, I\u2019ve seen just about every kind of TOEFL writing mistake you can imagine.<\/p>\n

Still, certain kinds of writing mistakes are more common than others. The trick to creating a top-scoring TOEFL essay is to understand which common mistakes are the easiest to make \u2026 and learn to avoid these mistakes.<\/p>\n

Common TOEFL Writing Mistake #1: Run-on Sentences<\/h2>\n

A run-on sentence occurs when two or more complete sentences are incorrectly written as one sentence\u2014with a single capital letter at the beginning and a single punctuation mark at the end.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the correction:<\/p>\n

Notice that I added an extra comma in the second sentence as well (after really<\/i>). Run-on sentences often suffer from a lack of punctuation.<\/p>\n

Common TOEFL Writing Mistake #2: Run-on Paragraphs<\/h2>\n

A run-on paragraph is, as you may have guessed, the incorrect combining of two or more paragraphs into one. All too often, I see TOEFL essays that are just one big run-on paragraph\u2014dozens of sentences and hundreds of words with no line breaks for new paragraphs.<\/p>\n

Run-on sentences can be a little hard to follow. But for readers (and TOEFL writing scorers), run-on paragraphs can be downright exhausting. Plus, this confusing construction mistake can really hurt your TOEFL score.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example based on a TOEFL Independent Writing question from Good Luck TOEFL<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Question:<\/i><\/b> Some people say that physical exercise should be a required part of every school day. Other people believe that students should spend the whole school day on academic studies. Which opinion do you agree with? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.<\/p>\n

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I think physical education should be included as part of the daily class roster at schools. Physical education is important to keep children strong and healthy so that they can focus on their studies. Moreover, physical education classes are a form of study in their own way. By exploring exercise and other health-promoting activities, schoolkids learn important facts about their own bodies and about health in general. You cannot learn without a healthy mind, and you cannot have a healthy mind without a healthy body. Gym classes are important because they promote learning by keeping students in good physical condition. If students don\u2019t exercise every day, they can have too much energy, feeling tense and distracted. In the long run, children who don\u2019t get exercise may become overweight and develop aches and pains from unhealthy living. All of this can lead to emotional and behavioral problems that hinder academic performance.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\t

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Your grades will thank you. <\/div>\n\t\t\t
Never miss a post. Get free weekly writing help delivered straight to your inbox!<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Here\u2019s the correction:<\/p>\n

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I think physical education should be included as part of the daily class roster at schools. Physical education is important to keep children strong and healthy so that they can focus on their studies. Moreover, physical education classes are a form of study in their own way. By exploring exercise and other health-promoting activities, schoolkids learn important facts about their own bodies and about health in general.<\/p>\n

You cannot learn without a healthy mind, and you cannot have a healthy mind without a healthy body. Gym classes are important because they promote learning by keeping students in good physical condition. If students don\u2019t exercise every day, they can have too much energy, feeling tense and distracted. In the long run, children who don\u2019t get exercise may become overweight and develop aches and pains from unhealthy living. All of this can lead to emotional and behavioral problems that hinder academic performance.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Common TOEFL Writing Mistake #3: Getting Similar Words Mixed Up<\/h2>\n

\u201cAdversarial\u201d is not quite the same word as \u201cadverse\u201d or \u201cadversary,\u201d and it\u2019s certainly not the same word as \u201cadvertise.\u201d \u201cQuick\u201d is not \u201cclick,\u201d and \u201copinion\u201d is not \u201copening\u201d or \u201cpinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet many TOEFL test-takers confuse these and other similar words as they hastily type in their test responses.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the correction:<\/p>\n

Common TOEFL Writing Mistake #4: Missing Important Details<\/h2>\n

Organization and structure are very important in TOEFL writing. TOEFL scorers want to see any written claims backed up with sufficient details.<\/p>\n

In TOEFL Writing Task 1<\/a>, a written summary of a lecture and passage, you need to include all key details from the sources. And in Writing Task 2<\/a>, a personal essay, you must support your opinions and claims<\/a> sufficiently.<\/p>\n

Very often, however, test-takers\u2019 summaries are noticeably incomplete in Task 1, and their Task 2 answers offer arguments that are not clearly supported.<\/p>\n

Below is an example of missing details from the opening paragraph of a TOEFL Integrated Writing response. The response is based on a prompt from ETS\u2019 online TOEFL Quick Prep<\/a> practice page. The passage for this task appears on page 21 of ETS\u2019 TOEFL Quick Prep Volume 3 PDF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The lecture is on track 11 for the volume\u2014you can find it here<\/a> (with a transcript of the track on page 39 of the Volume 3 PDF).<\/p>\n

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In the reading passage, the author is very critical of Chevalier de Seignalt\u2019s memoirs. The passage claims that de Seignalt lied about the amount of money he had and made a false claim that he escaped jail. In contrast, the lecturer says de Seignalt\u2019s autobiography can be trusted, claiming he was truthful about his wealth and that he accurately recounted conversations he had with the famous thinker Voltaire.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here is the corrected version of this opening TOEFL Integrated Writing essay, covering all three key details as they appear in both the passage and the speech:<\/p>\n

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In the reading passage, the author is very critical of Chevalier de Seignalt\u2019s memoirs. The passage claims that de Seignalt lied about the amount of money he had, incorrectly recalled his conversations with the philosopher Voltaire<\/b>, and made a false claim that he escaped jail. In contrast, the lecturer says de Seignalt\u2019s autobiography can be trusted, claiming he was honest about his wealth, accurate in his descriptions of the talks he had with Voltaire, and truthful when he described his jailbreak<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now let\u2019s look at a personal opinion from a TOEFL Independent Writing essay that’s missing important support for its claims. Again, I\u2019ll show you just the opening paragraph.<\/p>\n

Question: <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?: Modern life is easier than life in the past. Use specific details and examples to support your answer.<\/p>\n

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I don\u2019t think modern life is easier than it was in the past. With greater efficiency of technology, we\u2019re expected to work even harder and produce even more. In addition, we wake up earlier and must travel farther to get to work and school<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The paragraph above is very incomplete. It doesn\u2019t give any evidence that earlier wake-up times or longer commutes to work are connected to modern life.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a better and more complete version of this TOEFL Independent Writing introductory paragraph:<\/p>\n

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I don\u2019t think modern life is easier than it was in the past. With greater efficiency of technology, we\u2019re expected to work even harder and produce even more. In addition, we wake up earlier due to another modern innovation: the alarm clock<\/b>. Not only that, we\u2019re also expected to travel farther for work and school. This is because the invention of the car has caused the layout of modern cities to become much more spread out.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the corrected examples for Task 1 and Task 2 above, the extra details seem obvious once they\u2019re added in. But it\u2019s easy to leave out key points in TOEFL essays if you\u2019re not careful.<\/p>\n

This is why it\u2019s especially important to brainstorm<\/a> and organize your ideas<\/a> before you start to write. Really think about what details are needed to back up the claims you make!<\/p>\n

Common TOEFL Writing Mistake #5: Phonetic Misspellings<\/h2>\n

This mistake happens especially often in Integrated Writing (Task 1) essays. Test-takers will hear the lecturer say a key term, but won\u2019t really know how the word is spelled in written form. This leads to some very confusing misspellings of source material language.<\/p>\n

For instance, students may badly misspell a scientific term like migration as \u201cgrashum\u201d or \u201cmigasun.\u201d In a less extreme but still confusing example, I\u2019ve also seen students misspell \u201criver\u201d as \u201cliver\u201d or \u201crivv\u201d after hearing this word in a lecture.<\/p>\n

To avoid this mistake, you will need to practice in advance. Listen to English speeches that have subtitles and transcripts.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
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Avoid phonetic misspellings by practicing. Listen to English speeches with subtitles\/transcripts.<\/a><\/div>\n

Click To Tweet<\/a><\/p>\n

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That way, you can check the written version of what you hear and make sure that you correctly understand how spoken words are spelled. TED Talks<\/a> are especially good for this as TED lectures are very TOEFL-like and come with interactive transcripts.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n

Here’s a few example essays you can read through, dissect, and learn from (both what to do and what not<\/em> to do!):<\/p>\n