Follow these two tips for TOEFL writing so that you can score higher.
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TOEFL Writing Tip 1: Increase your sentence length
Generally, in academic writing, you should use sentences longer than 20 words. A good sentence length is around 25 words. Every now and then, you can use shorter sentences to draw readers’ attention to an important part of your essay. In addition, remember that ETS uses ERater, their artificial intelligence scoring engine. ERater will grade you based on your sentence length and vocabulary level.
TOEFL Writing Tip 2: Use longer college-level words in your essay
Aim at having an average word length of about five characters in the practice tests that you are writing. Using longer college-level words will imply to ETS’s ERater that you have a high vocabulary level.
Example Introduction with shorter sentences and basic vocabulary
The below paragraph has an average sentence length of 10.6 words. In addition, the vocabulary is basic. Finally, the writer has some problems with sentence structure and ends the paragraph with a fragment: “Because of the following reasons.” Therefore, this paragraph receives a low Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level of 7.0.
Humans beings are very unique in different aspects. People’s success in life is based on their personalities. Those who have great qualities have high chances in life compared to those who have poor qualities. Personally speaking, I firmly believe that kindness is the best quality one can have. Because of the following reasons.
Edited Introduction with longer sentences and advanced vocabulary
On the other hand, the next paragraph is edited to reflect an average sentence length of 27 words. Moreover, the vocabulary used averages 5.4 characters. Because of these sentence length and vocabulary changes, this essay has a Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level of 16. In addition, I added some general information about the topic and recast the thesis. Now the essay is more clearly framed. These sentence length, vocabulary, developmental, and organizational changes guarantee that this paragraph and its accompanying body paragraphs score 30/30 pts.
In this world live approximately 8.5 billion people, all of whom have unique personalities and whose success in life depends on certain attributes to help them get along with others. Some people exhibit honesty, some display incredible hard work ethics, and others display a sense of humor that eases stressful situations. Indeed, those who display these enduring qualities dramatically increase their chances of success compared to those who lack these important characteristics. Out of all the important characteristics that define one’s success, I firmly believe that kindness is most important, for this attribute simplifies the complexities of our lives, and it is an infectious behavior that others can follow.
Now you know two TOEFL writing tips to help you score higher on the TOEFL writing section.
Resources to help you improve your sentence style
The following lessons will help you to improve your sentence style and length:
- TOEFL Connecting Word Quizzes
- Four Types of TOEFL Connecting Words
- TOEFL Sentence Variety Practice
- TOEFL Connecting Words
- Integrated Speaking and Writing Practice
- Clauses and Sentence Structure: TOEFL Speaking and Writing
Vocabulary resources for your improvement
In addition, included below are vocabulary lessons to help you:
TOEFL Speaking and Writing Feedback Service
Consider signing up for my TOEFL Speaking and Writing Feedback Service:
- Email me TPO speaking and Writing Practice daily
- Get feedback, including estimated 0-30 point scores, so that you can monitor your progress.
- Have access to the 7-Step System to Pass the TOEFL iBT
Michael Buckhoff, mbuckhoff@aol.com