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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The ultimate essay test guide: achieve top grades with ease.
An essay test, a fundamental tool in academic assessment, measures a student's ability to express, argue, and structure their thoughts on a given subject through written words. This test format delves deeper into a student's critical thinking and writing skills unlike other conventional exam types.
An essay test is a type of assessment in which a student is prompted to respond to a question or a series of questions by writing an essay.
This form of test isn’t merely about checking a student’s recall or memorisation skills , but more about gauging their ability to comprehend a subject, synthesise information, and articulate their understanding effectively.
Essay tests can be broadly classified into two categories: Restricted Response and Extended Response .
Essay tests offer numerous benefits but also have certain limitations. The advantages of an essay test are :
And the limitations of an essay test are :
That’s a pretty good statistic. Download our free all-in-one learning app and start your most successful learning journey yet. Let’s do it!
Essay tests involve a defined structure to ensure organised, coherent, and comprehensive expression of thoughts. Adhering to a specific structure can enhance your ability to answer essay questions effectively .
Writing an essay test typically involves seven steps :
The initial sentence of an essay, often termed a hook , plays a crucial role.
It aims to grab the reader’s attention and provoke interest in the essay topic. It should be engaging, and relevant, and set the tone for the rest of the essay .
The 5-paragraph essay format is commonly used in essay tests, providing a clear and organised approach for students to articulate their ideas. In this format, the introduction and the conclusion include 1 paragraph, while the body of the essay includes 3 .
Preparing for an essay test demands a structured approach to ensure thorough understanding and effective response. Here are some strategies to make this task more manageable:
Knowledge of key terminologies is essential. Understand the meaning of directives such as “describe”, “compare”, “contrast”, or “analyse”. Each term guides you on what is expected in your essay and helps you to answer the question accurately.
To make it easier, you can take advantage of AI technologies. While preparing for your exam, use similar essay questions as prompts and see how AI understands and evaluates the questions. If you are unfamiliar with AI, you can check out The Best Chat GPT Prompts For Essay Writing .
Take advantage of past essays or essay prompts to review and revise your writing . Analyse your strengths and areas for improvement, paying attention to grammar , structure , and clarity . This process helps you refine your writing skills and identify potential pitfalls to avoid in future tests.
Simulate test conditions by practising timed writing . Set a specific time limit for each essay question and strive to complete it within that timeframe. This exercise builds your ability to think and write quickly , improving your efficiency during the actual test.
To aid in memorisation and recall of key concepts or arguments, employ mnemonic techniques . These memory aids, such as acronyms, visualisation, or association techniques, can help you retain important information and retrieve it during the test. Practice using mnemonics to reinforce your understanding of critical points.
Get a good night’s rest with our free teacher-verified study sets and a smart study planner to help you manage your studies effectively.
Passing an essay test goes beyond understanding the topic; it also requires strategic planning and execution . Below are key strategies that can enhance your performance in an essay test.
About the Author Oğulcan Tezcan is a writer, translator, editor, and an accomplished engineer. Oğulcan is also a keen researcher and digital market analyst, with a particular interest in self-development, productivity, and human behaviour.
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How do you answer an essay question, when taking an essay test what is the first step, what type of test is an essay test, what is the first sentence in an essay, what are the six elements of an essay.
Test Resources
Toefl® writing practice questions (2024 update), about these toefl ® writing samples, practice toefl integrated essays.
On test day, you’ll first get a TOEFL Integrated Writing Question. You will first read an article, then listen to a lecture, and finally write an essay using details from both. Below are some practice questions you can use to get ready for the test.
These practice questions all include a reading and lecture. They closely resemble the real TOEFL iBT.
Next, you’ll get a “Writing for an Academic Discussion” question. This will ask you to answer a question that looks like it was posted to a university discussion group. Each link below includes a complete sample question and two possible responses.
These essays are all based on questions from famous books.
TIP Sheet HOW TO TAKE ESSAY TESTS
There are basically two types of exams:
Objective - requires answers of a word or short phrase, or the selection of an answer from several available choices that are provided on the test . Essay - requires answers to be written out at some length. The student functions as the source of information.
An essay exam requires you to see the significance and meaning of what you know. It tests your knowledge and understanding of the subject and your skill in reading and writing. To be successful on an essay exam, you must:
When you are writing an essay as part of an exam, all this must be done within what amounts to a first draft written in a very limited amount of time. As with all writing, if you think of your essay as being produced in three stages, you can tackle the test in an organized fashion. The three stages are pre-writing, writing, and revision. Suggestions for each of these stages follow.
The last section addresses preparation for essay exams. PRE-WRITING
Your first impulse in a writing exam is probably to read the question and start writing immediately, especially when you see those seconds ticking away on the clock. RESIST THAT IMPULSE! You can't successfully address the subject until you know precisely what you're required to do, you understand and have thought about the subject, and you are organized in how you approach the specific points you wish to make in your answer. 1. Understanding what to do:
Agree/Disagree : State your position and support it with facts Comment or Evaluate: State your position and support it with facts, discussing the issue and its merits. Analyze : Break down into all the parts or divisions looking at the relationships between them. Compare/Contrast : Show differences and similarities. Describe/Discuss : Examine in detail. Explain : Tell why something is as it is. Illustrate : Give examples and relate them to the statement in question. Prove/Defend : Demonstrate why something is true. Interpret : Explain the significance or meaning of something. List/State : Make a list of points or facts. Summarize : Hit the high points.
2. Understanding the subject
3. Getting organized
1. Remember your thesis. Now stick to it, referring back to it periodically throughout your essay. This gives your essay unity and coherence, and helps insure that you are not digressing. 2. Write in an orderly fashion. If you suddenly think of a new point, jot it down in a margin or on scratch paper until you find an appropriate place for it. Don't just put it into the middle of what you were writing. 3. Avoid:
Essay examinations are difficult because of the time pressures, yet you should always try to leave a few minutes at the end to proofread your essay. 1. Ask yourself, before you hand in the essay:
2. Proofreading:
3. You should proofread for:
3. Essay type tests depend a great deal on your basic writing skills - organization, punctuation, grammar, and spelling. If your answer is not clearly written, your instructor won't be able to find it! Here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind as you take an essay test:
PREPARING FOR ESSAY EXAMS
WRITING A SUCCESSFUL ESSAY EXAM BEGINS ON DAY ONE 1. Study regularly as you go along.
2. Final preparation
3. Come to the exam confident that you have something specific to say on all possible topics. KEY WORDS COMMONLY FOUND ON ESSAY EXAMS
Compare: Look for qualities or characteristics that resemble each other. Emphasize similarities among them, but in some cases also mention differences.
Contrast: Stress the dissimilarities, differences, or unlikenesses of things, qualities, events, or problems.
Criticize: Express your judgement about the merit or truth of the factors or views mentioned. Give the results of your analysis of these factors, discussing their limitations and good points.
Define: Give concise, clear, and authoritative meanings. Don't give details, but make sure to give the limits of the definitions. Show how the thing you are defining differs from things in other classes.
Describe: Recount, characterize, sketch, or relate in sequence or story form.
Diagram: Give a drawing, chart, plan, or graphic answer. Usually you should label a diagram. In some cases, add a brief explanation or description.
Discuss: Examine, analyze carefully, and give reasons pro and con. Be complete, and give details.
Enumerate: Write in list or outline form, giving points concisely one by one.
Evaluate: Carefully appraise the problem, citing both advantages and limitations. Emphasize the appraisal of authorities and, to lesser degree, your personal evaluation.
Explain: Clarify, interpret, and spell out the material you present. Give reasons for differences of opinion or of results, and try to analyze causes.
Illustrate: Use a figure, picture, diagram, or concrete example to explain or clarify a problem.
Interpret: Translate, give examples of, solve, or comment on, a subject, usually giving your judgment about it.
Justify: Prove or give reasons for decisions or conclusions, taking pains to be convincing.
List: As in "enumerate," write an itemized series of concise statements.
Outline: Organize a description under main points and subordinate points, omitting minor details and stressing the arrangement or classification of things.
Prove: Establish that something is true by citing factual evidence or giving clear logical reasons.
Relate: Show how things are related to, or connected with, each other or how one causes another, or is like another.
Review: Examine a subject critically, analyzing and commenting on the important statements to be made about it.
Sketch: means "break down into its component parts."
State: Present the main points in brief, clear sequence, usually omitting details, illustrations, or examples.
Summarize: Give the main points or facts in condensed form, like the summary of a chapter, omitting details and illustrations.
Trace: In narrative form describe progress, development, or historical events from some point of origin.
Identify or characterize: means "distinguish this term, or this person from all others that are similar." Both are clear injunctions to be as specific as possible.
Illustrate or exemplify: means "giving examples," showing thereby, rather than by definition, that you understand the concept. TRANSITIONAL WORDS AND PHRASES
To achieve unity and coherence, writers use transitional words and phrases. Transitional expressions clarify the relationships between clauses, sentences, and paragraphs, helping guide the readers along. The following is a partial list of transitional expressions.
To Add or Show Sequence: again, also, and, and then, besides, equally important, finally, first, further, furthermore, in addition, in the first place, last, moreover, next, second, still, too
To Compare: also, in the same way, likewise, similarly
To Contrast: although, and yet, but, but at the same time, despite, even so, even though, for all that, however, in contrast, in spite of, nevertheless, notwithstanding, on the contrary, on the other hand, regardless, sill, though, whereas, yet
To Give Examples or Intensify: after all, an illustration of, even, for example, for instance, indeed, in fact, it is true, of course, specifically, that is, to illustrate, truly
To Indicate Place: above, adjacent to, below, elsewhere, farther on, here, near, nearby, on the other side, opposite to, there, to the east, to the left
To Indicate Time: after a while, afterward, as long as, as soon as, at last, at length, at that time, before, earlier, formerly, immediately, in the meantime, in the past, lately, later, meanwhile, now, presently, shortly, simultaneously, since, so far, soon, subsequently, then, thereafter, until, until now, when
To Repeat Summarize or Conclude: all in all, altogether, as has been said, in brief, in conclusion in other words, in particular, in short, in simpler terms, in summary, on the whole,that is, therefore, to put it differently, to summarize
To Show Cause or Effect: accordingly, as a result, because, consequently, for this purpose, hence, otherwise, since, then, therefore, thereupon, this, to this end, with this object.
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Well Focused
Be sure to answer the question completely, that is, answer all parts of the question. Avoid "padding." A lot of rambling and ranting is a sure sign that the writer doesn't really know what the right answer is and hopes that somehow, something in that overgrown jungle of words was the correct answer.
Well Organized
Don't write in a haphazard "think-as-you-go" manner. Do some planning and be sure that what you write has a clearly marked introduction which both states the point(s) you are going to make and also, if possible, how you are going to proceed. In addition, the essay should have a clearly indicated conclusion which summarizes the material covered and emphasizes your thesis or main point.
Well Supported
Do not just assert something is true, prove it. What facts, figures, examples, tests, etc. prove your point? In many cases, the difference between an A and a B as a grade is due to the effective use of supporting evidence.
Well Packaged
People who do not use conventions of language are thought of by their readers as less competent and less educated. If you need help with these or other writing skills, come to the Writing Lab
Most essay questions will have one or more "key words" that indicate which organizational pattern you should use in your answer. The six most common organizational patterns for essay exams are definition, analysis, cause and effect, comparison/contrast, process analysis, and thesis-support.
Typical questions
Q: "What is a fanzine?"
A: A fanzine is a magazine written, mimeographed, and distributed by and for science fiction or comic strip enthusiasts.
Avoid constructions such as "An encounter group is where ..." and "General semantics is when ... ."
Tools you can use
Analysis involves breaking something down into its components and discovering the parts that make up the whole.
Q: "Discuss the different services a junior college offers a community."
A: Thesis: A junior college offers the community at least three main types of educational services: vocational education for young people, continuing education for older people, and personal development for all individuals.
Outline for supporting details and examples. For example, if you were answering the example question, an outline might include:
Write the essay, describing each part or component and making transitions between each of your descriptions. Some useful transition words include:
Conclude the essay by emphasizing how each part you have described makes up the whole you have been asked to analyze.
Cause and Effect
Cause and effect involves tracing probable or known effects of a certain cause or examining one or more effects and discussing the reasonable or known cause(s).
Typical questions:
Q: "Define recession and discuss the probable effects a recession would have on today's society."
A: Thesis: A recession, which is a nationwide lull in business activity, would be detrimental to society in the following ways: it would .......A......., it would .......B......., and it would .......C....... .
The rest of the answer would explain, in some detail, the three effects: A, B, and C.
Useful transition words:
Comparison-Contrast
Q: "Which would you rather own—a compact car or a full-sized car?"
A: Thesis: I would own a compact car rather than a full-sized car for the following reasons: .......A......., .......B......., .......C......., and .......D....... .
Two patterns of development:
Disadvantages
Useful transition words
Process (sometimes called process analysis)
This involves giving directions or telling the reader how to do something. It may involve discussing some complex procedure as a series of discrete steps. The organization is almost always chronological.
Q: "According to Richard Bolles' What Color Is Your Parachute?, what is the best procedure for finding a job?"
A: In What Color Is Your Parachute?, Richard Bolles lists seven steps that all job-hunters should follow: .....A....., .....B....., .....C....., .....D....., .....E....., .....F....., and .....G..... .
The remainder of the answer should discuss each of these seven steps in some detail.
Thesis and Support
Thesis and support involves stating a clearly worded opinion or interpretation and then defending it with all the data, examples, facts, and so on that you can draw from the material you have studied.
Q: "Despite criticism, television is useful because it aids in the socializing process of our children."
A: Television hinders rather than helps in the socializing process of our children because .......A......., .......B......., and .......C....... .
The rest of the answer is devoted to developing arguments A, B, and C.
A. Which of the following two answers is the better one? Why?
Question: Discuss the contribution of William Morris to book design, using as an example his edition of the works of Chaucer.
a. William Morris's Chaucer was his masterpiece. It shows his interest in the Middle Ages. The type is based on medieval manuscript writing, and the decoration around the edges of the pages is like that used in medieval books. The large initial letters are typical of medieval design. Those letters were printed from woodcuts, which was the medieval way of printing. The illustrations were by Burn-Jones, one of the best artists in England at the time. Morris was able to get the most competent people to help him because he was so famous as a poet and a designer (the Morris chair) and wallpaper and other decorative items for the home. He designed the furnishings for his own home, which was widely admired among the sort of people he associated with. In this way he started the arts and crafts movement.
b. Morris's contribution to book design was to approach the problem as an artist or fine craftsman, rather than a mere printer who reproduced texts. He wanted to raise the standards of printing, which had fallen to a low point, by showing that truly beautiful books could be produced. His Chaucer was designed as a unified work of art or high craft. Since Chaucer lived in the Middle Ages, Morris decided to design a new type based on medieval script and to imitate the format of a medieval manuscript. This involved elaborate letters and large initials at the beginnings of verses, as well as wide borders of intertwined vines with leaves, fruit, and flowers in strong colors. The effect was so unusual that the book caused great excitement and inspired other printers to design beautiful rather than purely utilitarian books.
From James M. McCrimmon, Writing with a Purpose , 7th ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980), pp. 261-263.
B. How would you plan the structure of the answers to these essay exam questions?
1. Was the X Act a continuation of earlier government policies or did it represent a departure from prior philosophies?
2. What seems to be the source of aggression in human beings? What can be done to lower the level of aggression in our society?
3. Choose one character from Novel X and, with specific references to the work, show how he or she functions as an "existential hero."
4. Define briefly the systems approach to business management. Illustrate how this differs from the traditional approach.
5. What is the cosmological argument? Does it prove that God exists?
6. Civil War historian Andy Bellum once wrote, "Blahblahblah blahed a blahblah, but of course if blahblah blahblahblahed the blah, then blahblahs are not blah but blahblah." To what extent and in what ways is the statement true? How is it false?
For more information on writing exam essays for the GED, please visit our Engagement area and go to the Community Writing and Education Station (CWEST) resources.
Strategies, Ideas, and Recommendations from the faculty Development Literature
General Strategies
Save essay questions for testing higher levels of thought (application, synthesis, and evaluation), not recall facts. Appropriate tasks for essays include: Comparing: Identify the similarities and differences between Relating cause and effect: What are the major causes of...? What would be the most likely effects of...? Justifying: Explain why you agree or disagree with the following statement. Generalizing: State a set of principles that can explain the following events. Inferring: How would character X react to the following? Creating: what would happen if...? Applying: Describe a situation that illustrates the principle of. Analyzing: Find and correct the reasoning errors in the following passage. Evaluating: Assess the strengths and weaknesses of.
There are three drawbacks to giving students a choice. First, some students will waste time trying to decide which questions to answer. Second, you will not know whether all students are equally knowledgeable about all the topics covered on the test. Third, since some questions are likely to be harder than others, the test could be unfair.
Tests that ask only one question are less valid and reliable than those with a wider sampling of test items. In a fifty-minute class period, you may be able to pose three essay questions or ten short answer questions.
To reduce students' anxiety and help them see that you want them to do their best, give them pointers on how to take an essay exam. For example:
Writing Effective Test Questions
Avoid vague questions that could lead students to different interpretations. If you use the word "how" or "why" in an essay question, students will be better able to develop a clear thesis. As examples of essay and short-answer questions: Poor: What are three types of market organization? In what ways are they different from one another? Better: Define oligopoly. How does oligopoly differ from both perfect competition and monopoly in terms of number of firms, control over price, conditions of entry, cost structure, and long-term profitability? Poor: Name the principles that determined postwar American foreign policy. Better: Describe three principles on which American foreign policy was based between 1945 and 1960; illustrate each of the principles with two actions of the executive branch of government.
If you want students to consider certain aspects or issues in developing their answers, set them out in separate paragraph. Leave the questions on a line by itself.
Use your version to help you revise the question, as needed, and to estimate how much time students will need to complete the question. If you can answer the question in ten minutes, students will probably need twenty to thirty minutes. Use these estimates in determining the number of questions to ask on the exam. Give students advice on how much time to spend on each question.
Decide which specific facts or ideas a student must mention to earn full credit and how you will award partial credit. Below is an example of a holistic scoring rubric used to evaluate essays:
Try not to bias your grading by carrying over your perceptions about individual students. Some faculty ask students to put a number or pseudonym on the exam and to place that number / pseudonym on an index card that is turned in with the test, or have students write their names on the last page of the blue book or on the back of the test.
Before you begin grading, you will want an overview of the general level of performance and the range of students' responses.
Identify exams that are excellent, good, adequate, and poor. Use these papers to refresh your memory of the standards by which you are grading and to ensure fairness over the period of time you spend grading.
Shuffle papers before scoring the next question to distribute your fatigue factor randomly. By randomly shuffling papers you also avoid ordering effects.
Don't let handwriting, use of pen or pencil, format (for example, many lists), or other such factors influence your judgment about the intellectual quality of the response.
Write brief notes on strengths and weaknesses to indicate what students have done well and where they need to improve. The process of writing comments also keeps your attention focused on the response. And your comments will refresh your memory if a student wants to talk to you about the exam.
Focus on the organization and flow of the response, not on whether you agree or disagree with the students' ideas. Experiences faculty note, however, that students tend not to read their returned final exams, so you probably do not need to comment extensively on those.
Most faculty tire after reading ten or so responses. Take short breaks to keep up your concentration. Also, try to set limits on how long to spend on each paper so that you maintain you energy level and do not get overwhelmed. However, research suggests that you read all responses to a single question in one sitting to avoid extraneous factors influencing your grading (for example, time of day, temperature, and so on).
Wait two days or so and review a random set of exams without looking at the grades you assigned. Rereading helps you increase your reliability as a grader. If your two score differ, take the average.
This protects students' privacy when you return or they pick up their tests. Returning Essay Exams
A quick turnaround reinforces learning and capitalizes on students' interest in the results. Try to return tests within a week or so.
Give students a copy of the scoring guide or grading criteria you used. Let students know what a good answer included and the most common errors the class made. If you wish, read an example of a good answer and contrast it with a poor answer you created. Give students information on the distribution of scores so they know where they stand.
Some faculty break the class into small groups to discuss answers to the test. Unresolved questions are brought up to the class as a whole.
Ask students to tell you what was particularly difficult or unexpected. Find out how they prepared for the exam and what they wish they had done differently. Pass along to next year's class tips on the specific skills and strategies this class found effective.
Include a copy of the test with your annotations on ways to improve it, the mistakes students made in responding to various question, the distribution of students' performance, and comments that students made about the exam. If possible, keep copies of good and poor exams.
The Strategies, Ideas and Recommendations Here Come Primarily From:
Gross Davis, B. Tools for Teaching. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 1993.
McKeachie, W. J. Teaching Tips. (10th ed.) Lexington, Mass.: Heath, 2002.
Walvoord, B. E. and Johnson Anderson, V. Effective Grading. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 1998.
And These Additional Sources... Brooks, P. Working in Subject A Courses. Berkeley: Subject A Program, University of California, 1990.
Cashin, W. E. "Improving Essay Tests." Idea Paper, no. 17. Manhattan: Center for Faculty
Evaluation and Development in Higher Education, Kansas State University, 1987.
Erickson, B. L., and Strommer, D. W. Teaching College Freshmen. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 1991.
Fuhrmann, B. S. and Grasha, A. F. A Practical Handbook for College Teachers. Boston:
Little, Brown, 1983.
Jacobs, L. C. and Chase, C. I. Developing and Using Tests Effectively: A Guide for Faculty.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1992.
Jedrey, C. M. "Grading and Evaluation." In M. M. gullette (ed.), The Art and Craft of Teaching.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984.
Lowman, J. Mastering the Techniques of Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1984.
Ory, J. C. Improving Your Test Questions. Urbana:
Office of Instructional Res., University of Illinois, 1985.
Tollefson, S. K. Encouraging Student Writing. Berkeley:
Office of Educational Development, University of California, 1988.
Unruh, D. Test Scoring manual: Guide for Developing and Scoring Course Examinations.
Los Angeles: Office of Instructional Development, University of California, 1988.
Walvoord, B. E. Helping Students Write Well: A Guide for Teachers in All Disciplines.
(2nded.) New York: Modern Language Association, 1986.
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Take a TSI essay practice test to help you prepare for the essay portion of your TSIA2 exam.
You will find 4 different TSI writing prompts below. Each prompt follows the style you will see on the actual exam. Start preparing for your TSI essay below!
You can prepare for other sections of the exam by visiting our TSI practice home.
The TSI essay is designed to test your ability to write and communicate your thoughts. You will find the essay on the ELAR portion of the TSIA2 exam.
You can expect the following:
Your essay will be graded on the following 6 characteristics:
You will need to score 5+ on the essay portion of the TSIA2. Remember, the essay is given along with the ELAR section.
Is the tsi essay timed.
The TSI essay is not timed. You can complete it on your own time. However, it must be completed in one session (no breaks).
Your TSI essay should be between 300 and 600 words. This is also stated in the directions given to you before you start.
Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.
Published on September 4, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.
An essay is a focused piece of writing designed to inform or persuade. There are many different types of essay, but they are often defined in four categories: argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive essays.
Argumentative and expository essays are focused on conveying information and making clear points, while narrative and descriptive essays are about exercising creativity and writing in an interesting way. At university level, argumentative essays are the most common type.
Essay type | Skills tested | Example prompt |
---|---|---|
Has the rise of the internet had a positive or negative impact on education? | ||
Explain how the invention of the printing press changed European society in the 15th century. | ||
Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself. | ||
Describe an object that has sentimental value for you. |
In high school and college, you will also often have to write textual analysis essays, which test your skills in close reading and interpretation.
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Argumentative essays, expository essays, narrative essays, descriptive essays, textual analysis essays, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about types of essays.
An argumentative essay presents an extended, evidence-based argument. It requires a strong thesis statement —a clearly defined stance on your topic. Your aim is to convince the reader of your thesis using evidence (such as quotations ) and analysis.
Argumentative essays test your ability to research and present your own position on a topic. This is the most common type of essay at college level—most papers you write will involve some kind of argumentation.
The essay is divided into an introduction, body, and conclusion:
The example below is a paragraph from the body of an argumentative essay about the effects of the internet on education. Mouse over it to learn more.
A common frustration for teachers is students’ use of Wikipedia as a source in their writing. Its prevalence among students is not exaggerated; a survey found that the vast majority of the students surveyed used Wikipedia (Head & Eisenberg, 2010). An article in The Guardian stresses a common objection to its use: “a reliance on Wikipedia can discourage students from engaging with genuine academic writing” (Coomer, 2013). Teachers are clearly not mistaken in viewing Wikipedia usage as ubiquitous among their students; but the claim that it discourages engagement with academic sources requires further investigation. This point is treated as self-evident by many teachers, but Wikipedia itself explicitly encourages students to look into other sources. Its articles often provide references to academic publications and include warning notes where citations are missing; the site’s own guidelines for research make clear that it should be used as a starting point, emphasizing that users should always “read the references and check whether they really do support what the article says” (“Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia,” 2020). Indeed, for many students, Wikipedia is their first encounter with the concepts of citation and referencing. The use of Wikipedia therefore has a positive side that merits deeper consideration than it often receives.
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An expository essay provides a clear, focused explanation of a topic. It doesn’t require an original argument, just a balanced and well-organized view of the topic.
Expository essays test your familiarity with a topic and your ability to organize and convey information. They are commonly assigned at high school or in exam questions at college level.
The introduction of an expository essay states your topic and provides some general background, the body presents the details, and the conclusion summarizes the information presented.
A typical body paragraph from an expository essay about the invention of the printing press is shown below. Mouse over it to learn more.
The invention of the printing press in 1440 changed this situation dramatically. Johannes Gutenberg, who had worked as a goldsmith, used his knowledge of metals in the design of the press. He made his type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, whose durability allowed for the reliable production of high-quality books. This new technology allowed texts to be reproduced and disseminated on a much larger scale than was previously possible. The Gutenberg Bible appeared in the 1450s, and a large number of printing presses sprang up across the continent in the following decades. Gutenberg’s invention rapidly transformed cultural production in Europe; among other things, it would lead to the Protestant Reformation.
A narrative essay is one that tells a story. This is usually a story about a personal experience you had, but it may also be an imaginative exploration of something you have not experienced.
Narrative essays test your ability to build up a narrative in an engaging, well-structured way. They are much more personal and creative than other kinds of academic writing . Writing a personal statement for an application requires the same skills as a narrative essay.
A narrative essay isn’t strictly divided into introduction, body, and conclusion, but it should still begin by setting up the narrative and finish by expressing the point of the story—what you learned from your experience, or why it made an impression on you.
Mouse over the example below, a short narrative essay responding to the prompt “Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself,” to explore its structure.
Since elementary school, I have always favored subjects like science and math over the humanities. My instinct was always to think of these subjects as more solid and serious than classes like English. If there was no right answer, I thought, why bother? But recently I had an experience that taught me my academic interests are more flexible than I had thought: I took my first philosophy class.
Before I entered the classroom, I was skeptical. I waited outside with the other students and wondered what exactly philosophy would involve—I really had no idea. I imagined something pretty abstract: long, stilted conversations pondering the meaning of life. But what I got was something quite different.
A young man in jeans, Mr. Jones—“but you can call me Rob”—was far from the white-haired, buttoned-up old man I had half-expected. And rather than pulling us into pedantic arguments about obscure philosophical points, Rob engaged us on our level. To talk free will, we looked at our own choices. To talk ethics, we looked at dilemmas we had faced ourselves. By the end of class, I’d discovered that questions with no right answer can turn out to be the most interesting ones.
The experience has taught me to look at things a little more “philosophically”—and not just because it was a philosophy class! I learned that if I let go of my preconceptions, I can actually get a lot out of subjects I was previously dismissive of. The class taught me—in more ways than one—to look at things with an open mind.
A descriptive essay provides a detailed sensory description of something. Like narrative essays, they allow you to be more creative than most academic writing, but they are more tightly focused than narrative essays. You might describe a specific place or object, rather than telling a whole story.
Descriptive essays test your ability to use language creatively, making striking word choices to convey a memorable picture of what you’re describing.
A descriptive essay can be quite loosely structured, though it should usually begin by introducing the object of your description and end by drawing an overall picture of it. The important thing is to use careful word choices and figurative language to create an original description of your object.
Mouse over the example below, a response to the prompt “Describe a place you love to spend time in,” to learn more about descriptive essays.
On Sunday afternoons I like to spend my time in the garden behind my house. The garden is narrow but long, a corridor of green extending from the back of the house, and I sit on a lawn chair at the far end to read and relax. I am in my small peaceful paradise: the shade of the tree, the feel of the grass on my feet, the gentle activity of the fish in the pond beside me.
My cat crosses the garden nimbly and leaps onto the fence to survey it from above. From his perch he can watch over his little kingdom and keep an eye on the neighbours. He does this until the barking of next door’s dog scares him from his post and he bolts for the cat flap to govern from the safety of the kitchen.
With that, I am left alone with the fish, whose whole world is the pond by my feet. The fish explore the pond every day as if for the first time, prodding and inspecting every stone. I sometimes feel the same about sitting here in the garden; I know the place better than anyone, but whenever I return I still feel compelled to pay attention to all its details and novelties—a new bird perched in the tree, the growth of the grass, and the movement of the insects it shelters…
Sitting out in the garden, I feel serene. I feel at home. And yet I always feel there is more to discover. The bounds of my garden may be small, but there is a whole world contained within it, and it is one I will never get tired of inhabiting.
Though every essay type tests your writing skills, some essays also test your ability to read carefully and critically. In a textual analysis essay, you don’t just present information on a topic, but closely analyze a text to explain how it achieves certain effects.
A rhetorical analysis looks at a persuasive text (e.g. a speech, an essay, a political cartoon) in terms of the rhetorical devices it uses, and evaluates their effectiveness.
The goal is not to state whether you agree with the author’s argument but to look at how they have constructed it.
The introduction of a rhetorical analysis presents the text, some background information, and your thesis statement; the body comprises the analysis itself; and the conclusion wraps up your analysis of the text, emphasizing its relevance to broader concerns.
The example below is from a rhetorical analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech . Mouse over it to learn more.
King’s speech is infused with prophetic language throughout. Even before the famous “dream” part of the speech, King’s language consistently strikes a prophetic tone. He refers to the Lincoln Memorial as a “hallowed spot” and speaks of rising “from the dark and desolate valley of segregation” to “make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” The assumption of this prophetic voice constitutes the text’s strongest ethical appeal; after linking himself with political figures like Lincoln and the Founding Fathers, King’s ethos adopts a distinctly religious tone, recalling Biblical prophets and preachers of change from across history. This adds significant force to his words; standing before an audience of hundreds of thousands, he states not just what the future should be, but what it will be: “The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.” This warning is almost apocalyptic in tone, though it concludes with the positive image of the “bright day of justice.” The power of King’s rhetoric thus stems not only from the pathos of his vision of a brighter future, but from the ethos of the prophetic voice he adopts in expressing this vision.
A literary analysis essay presents a close reading of a work of literature—e.g. a poem or novel—to explore the choices made by the author and how they help to convey the text’s theme. It is not simply a book report or a review, but an in-depth interpretation of the text.
Literary analysis looks at things like setting, characters, themes, and figurative language. The goal is to closely analyze what the author conveys and how.
The introduction of a literary analysis essay presents the text and background, and provides your thesis statement; the body consists of close readings of the text with quotations and analysis in support of your argument; and the conclusion emphasizes what your approach tells us about the text.
Mouse over the example below, the introduction to a literary analysis essay on Frankenstein , to learn more.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, protagonist Victor Frankenstein is a stable representation of the callous ambition of modern science throughout the novel. This essay, however, argues that far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as. This essay begins by exploring the positive portrayal of Frankenstein in the first volume, then moves on to the creature’s perception of him, and finally discusses the third volume’s narrative shift toward viewing Frankenstein as the creature views him.
If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!
College essays
(AI) Tools
At high school and in composition classes at university, you’ll often be told to write a specific type of essay , but you might also just be given prompts.
Look for keywords in these prompts that suggest a certain approach: The word “explain” suggests you should write an expository essay , while the word “describe” implies a descriptive essay . An argumentative essay might be prompted with the word “assess” or “argue.”
The vast majority of essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Almost all academic writing involves building up an argument, though other types of essay might be assigned in composition classes.
Essays can present arguments about all kinds of different topics. For example:
An argumentative essay tends to be a longer essay involving independent research, and aims to make an original argument about a topic. Its thesis statement makes a contentious claim that must be supported in an objective, evidence-based way.
An expository essay also aims to be objective, but it doesn’t have to make an original argument. Rather, it aims to explain something (e.g., a process or idea) in a clear, concise way. Expository essays are often shorter assignments and rely less on research.
The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.
Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
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During the ACCUPLACER test, you will have to take the WritePlacer exam, which requires you to write an essay. Your essay will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
You will have 1 hour to plan, write, and proofread this essay.
Your Accuplacer essay is only required to be 300–600 words in length, so a simple 5 paragraph essay will be more than sufficient. Scores on WritePlacer range from 1 to 8, with 8 being the highest.
An essay that is too short to be evaluated, written on a topic other than the one presented, or written in a language other than English will be given a score of zero.
The biggest differences between a low-scoring and a high-scoring essay is LENGTH and CLARITY. Aim to achieve multiple paragraphs with good organization, and this essay should be fairly easy!
This is a sample outline for the ACCUPLACER Essay. Notice we are aiming for 5 paragraphs total. You may opt for a shorter 4 paragraph version if 5 paragraphs are too many for you to write, but aim for 5 paragraphs if you can. If you have trouble completing 5 paragraphs, see if you can streamline your body paragraphs. They can often be bloated with unnecessary wordiness. Keep the introduction and the conclusion short and sweet.
You will want to begin your essay with one of the following:
Admit to the complexity of the issue. You have two goals in the beginning part of the essay: to introduce the topic , and to express your opinion on it. Be sure to place your thesis as the final sentence in your introduction.
Start with your most-powerful or relevant example. Remember that you won’t have any material to work from, so it’s OK that you don’t have direct quotes, statistics, or other incredibly specific details in your examples. However, be as specific as you can be about how your example supports your position. Anything can be an example, but choose ONE only for each paragraph. It needs to be something you are knowledgeable about and also something that you believe strongly supports your thesis. You have three tasks in your body paragraphs:
You should be spending the majority of your body paragraph accomplishing the third step: explaining how it fully supports your thesis . Aim to convince the reader through very concrete details how your position on the issue is correct.
Use a transition phrase to introduce the second example, and then follow the same format as the previous paragraph with your new example. It’s OK to mention your first example, but the main focus of your paragraph should be on the new example, and, most importantly, how the new example proves your thesis.
Use another transition phrase to introduce your third example. Then, follow the same format as the previous two paragraphs. Again, make sure the focus of your paragraph is on your new example and how it proves your thesis.
Many writers struggle with the conclusion. A good way to end your essay is with a counter-argument. Introduce an opposing opinion, explain it in general terms, then refute it. Finish the paragraph by reinforcing the correctness of your own stance. Here’s how it might look:
Despite the fact that , some people will argue that . However, (refute the opposing viewpoint as wrong and/or shortsighted) . Instead, (discuss how your viewpoint is more valid than the viewpoint of the opposition ). Therefore, (leave the reader thinking about how correct your stance is) .
Be sure to write at least 2 sample essays before your exam. This will help you sharpen your skills and ensure that you are comfortable with the format. Have a teacher, friend, or mentor read through your exam and give you feedback. Use the links below to find our 2 practice ACCUPLACER essay prompts. As you write your practice essays try to follow the above template to the best of your ability:
Practice Essay 1
Practice Essay 2
Agreement Words
Opposition Words
Causation Words
Example Words
We have plenty of additional resources to help you with your Accuplacer test prep. Check out both of our practice essays for more WritePlacer practice, or head over to our home page for a full-length practice test.
Accuplacer Practice Test
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) writing section is a 1-hour test that comprises two questions: task 1 and task 2, which assess your vocabulary, grammar, word count, collocations, and ability to construct complex sentences with moderation and without repetition.
Table of Contents
To begin, it is pivotal to understand that the IELTS essay topics vary for IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training Tasks. In Task 1 of IELTS Academic, you must write a report on a graph, diagram or chart, whereas, for IELTS General Training Task 1, you must write a letter. Task 2 of the General and Academic modules is essay writing; while the topics for essays in both modules may differ, the essay writing strategy remains the same.
Examiners use the following criteria to calculate Academic IELTS Writing Task 1 and Task 2 scores: Task Achievement, Task Response, Coherence, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Lexical Resource.
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The IELTS Academic Writing section consists of two tasks that must be completed in one hour:
In Task 1, you are assigned a graph, visual information, table or chart, which you are required to describe in your own words. You must write a report in 150 words, accurately describing what the information in the graph or picture represents. The IELTS writing task 1 marking criteria accounts for 33% of the total IELTS writing evaluation score, and you should try to finish this part in 20 minutes or less because IELTS writing task 2 is more difficult and will take at least 40 minutes to complete.
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IELTS writing task 2 marking criteria has a 66% weightage, where you must complete a 250-word essay in 40 minutes. Candidates must respond to a problem, a point of view, or an argument in this task, with a curated response. The essay’s content should be written with perfect grammar and focused solely on the topic. As task 2 holds more weight, candidates should devote significant time to it and ensure a properly curated essay for a good band score.
Let us now review some fundamentals of IELTS essay structure that you can apply to this task. A typical writing piece includes an introduction, the main body consisting of a few paragraphs, and a conclusion. In the introduction, you should write the context of your issue and a thesis statement representing the main idea of your text.
The central section of your essay will discuss various facts and arguments that support or oppose the thesis statement. Finally, restate the thesis statement, bolstering it with new details from the main body.
Here’s a list of the latest IELTS essay topics and sample questions to help you efficiently prepare for task 2 of the IELTS Writing section.
IELTS essay writing topics are usually based on current events and world affairs. You will find a series of essay writing topics for IELTS in the following listicles. Also, one of the most effective ways to prepare for answering essays in the Writing section of IELTS is to work on the sample essay questions. The topic categories and essay writing samples to help students looking for the latest IELTS essay topics are stated below:
Click here for the Environmental Crisis essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Global Warming essay format, sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Sustainable Energy essay structure, sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Fossil Fuels essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Personality essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Hobbies essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Fashion essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Education essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Government and Society essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Ideal So c iety essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Social Media essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the International Trade essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Management and Leadership essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Culture essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Sports essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Covid 19 essay sample and answers for practice.
Click here for the Health essay sample and answers for practice.
IELTS essay writing topics are usually classified under various sections. You can expect essays in the IELTS exam from any of the following types:
In this essay category, you must discuss your opinion on the given topic. Naturally, the best way to score high in such essays is to have prior knowledge of common topics that are popular in the IELTS exam.
Sample Questions:
You can also check out this detailed guide on Opinion Essays to learn the appropriate structure for maximum scores!
In the case of discussion essays, the candidates need to put forward an explanation for or against any given topic. Such essays are the most common to appear in the IELTS exam.
Sample Questions:
We have covered valuable tips & tricks to attempt Discussion Essays that can come in handy in your exam.
For solution essays, you will have to provide a solution to a particular issue. At times, questions might be provided as to why a specific issue has occurred, and candidates have to provide their opinion on the answer.
Check out our sample question and answer on Solution Essays for a more thorough explanation.
In this type of essay, students have to write about a particular topic’s positive and negative sides. Such essays test your argument construction skills and how well you can use English to communicate your views as clearly and coherently as possible.
Use the sample questions from the Advantage/Disadvantage Essay type to practise your writing skills.
For this type of essay, the topics will be provided as direct questions, which students have to answer based on their experiences and thoughts.
Many students believe they don’t need to prepare much because they speak English reasonably well. Well, the IELTS exam is not that easy. In fact, even native English speakers may find the test difficult. As a result, candidates should prepare for this section rigorously and methodically and start early preparation.
As mentioned above it’s only practice that can get you the desire scores. But along with it you also need the best preparation materials and guidance. And the best solution we suggest is to register for the LeapScholar IELTS courses .
Along with live classes from the best IELTS tutors, you’ll also have access to mock tests, speaking and writing evaluations and comprehensive study materials. As a reward you’ll also receive a course completion certificate.
Students can employ the following steps to successfully enhance their ability to answer essays in the Writing section:
The first step to nailing task 2 essays is to read and understand the question carefully. Most of the time, candidates answer the question without understanding what it demands. Candidates should carefully analyse the question, identify the question type and try to identify the keywords. Finally, they should clearly understand the instructions and then attempt to answer.
Once students have understood the question, they need to plan the structure of the answer. This will allow candidates to organise their ideas and produce a clear and coherent response.
The introduction of the essay should give an idea of what the essay is all about. Make sure to write an appropriate introduction conveying the gist of the essay.
The main body is the essential part of the essay, where you must provide the necessary details. State your points accordingly and substantiate them with explanations, examples, and other relevant data. Once done, you need to give a proper conclusion.
You can use the following tips to ace their IELTS Writing test:
Although IELTS is a difficult test to master, one can achieve a good score with systematic and consistent preparation. If you require assistance in acing your IELTS Writing Task 1 and 2, our Leap Scholar experts will provide the necessary guidance, tips, and tricks to help you pass your IELTS test with flying colours. If you are planning to prepare for the essay task in the Writing section, you can go through this comprehensive guide to get an idea about the latest IELTS essay topics. You can prepare for the essay task accordingly with the help of sample essay topics and questions provided in the above sections.
Still unclear about some portions of IELTS, then enrol for IELTS professional coaching. IELTS Prep app by Leap Scholar is a one-stop solution for your study abroad dream. You can access specially crafted lessons by experts accredited by IDP, British Council, and Cambridge. About 1M + students have trusted us with their IELTS prep journey. Join us, download our IELTS prep app and get access to the best resources!
Q. how can you score well in ielts writing task 2.
Ans. IELTS Writing Task 2 mainly has four performance descriptors: Task Response, Cohesion & Coherence , Lexical Resource, and finally Grammatical range and accuracy. The scoring happens on four parameters, so follow these and prepare with the correct books and practice questions.
Ans. The different types of questions in IELTS Writing Task 2 include: Problem/ Causes questions, Opinion questions, Advantage/ Disadvantage questions, Discussion of views, etc.
Ans. Some of the broad themes include Environment, Food, Health, Art, Business, Communication, Crime & Punishment and more. Ideas and topics are taken under these broad themes for question framing.
Ans. Having a good vocabulary is an added advantage. However, difficult words should not be forcefully put in sentences. Your sentences should be organic and should fit the meaning and the context of your essays.
Ans. The easiest ways to generate ideas for IELTS Writing Task 2 are by analysing model essays, finding ideas on google, talking to experts, watching movies, asking yourself some questions about the topic, generating main ideas from specific examples.
Ans. Making one or two mistakes is overlooked by the examiner if the overall essay is good. However, making more mistakes than that can lead to lower IELTS band score.
Ans. Some of the common IELTS topics for Writing Task 2 are Art, Environment, Education, Health, Jobs and Employment, Sport, Science and Technology Friends and Family, Government and Society etc.
Ans. To prepare for IELTS essay writing, practice writing essays on a variety of topics to improve your writing skills. Focus on structuring your essays with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Familiarise yourself with different types of essay questions (e.g., opinion, discussion, problem-solution) and practice organising your thoughts coherently. Additionally, seek feedback from teachers or peers to identify and work on your weaknesses.
Ans. You can find sample IELTS essay topics on official IELTS websites such as the British Council and IDP. Many educational websites and IELTS preparation books also offer a wide range of practice topics. Online forums and study groups often share essay questions from recent exams, providing a good source of up-to-date practice material.
Ans. The IELTS essay (Task 2) requires a minimum of 250 words. It is typically structured with an introduction that presents the main idea, body paragraphs that develop this idea with supporting arguments or examples, and a conclusion that summarises the key points. It’s important to write clearly and coherently, ensuring each paragraph flows logically into the next.
Ans. Common IELTS essay topics include education, technology, environment, health, and society. For example, you might encounter questions about the benefits and drawbacks of online education, the impact of technology on communication, environmental conservation efforts, public health issues, or social issues like the aging population. Practicing essays on these topics will help you become familiar with the kinds of questions you may face in the exam.
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Five high school students helped our tech columnist test a ChatGPT detector coming from Turnitin to 2.1 million teachers. It missed enough to get someone in trouble.
High school senior Lucy Goetz got the highest possible grade on an original essay she wrote about socialism. So imagine her surprise when I told her that a new kind of educational software I’ve been testing claimed she got help from artificial intelligence.
A new AI-writing detector from Turnitin — whose software is already used by 2.1 million teachers to spot plagiarism — flagged the end of her essay as likely being generated by ChatGPT .
“Say what?” says Goetz, who swears she didn’t use the AI writing tool to cheat. “I’m glad I have good relationships with my teachers.”
After months of sounding the alarm about students using AI apps that can churn out essays and assignments, teachers are getting AI technology of their own. On April 4, Turnitin is activating the software I tested for some 10,700 secondary and higher-educational institutions, assigning “generated by AI” scores and sentence-by-sentence analysis to student work. It joins a handful of other free detectors already online. For many teachers I’ve been hearing from, AI detection offers a weapon to deter a 21st-century form of cheating.
But AI alone won’t solve the problem AI created. The flag on a portion of Goetz’s essay was an outlier, but shows detectors can sometimes get it wrong — with potentially disastrous consequences for students. Detectors are being introduced before they’ve been widely vetted, yet AI tech is moving so fast, any tool is likely already out of date.
It’s a pivotal moment for educators: Ignore AI and cheating could go rampant. Yet even Turnitin’s executives tell me that treating AI purely as the enemy of education makes about as much sense in the long run as trying to ban calculators.
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Ahead of Turnitin’s launch this week, the company says 2 percent of customers have asked it not to display the AI writing score on student work. That includes a "significant majority” of universities in the United Kingdom, according to UCISA , a professional body for digital educators.
To see what’s at stake, I asked Turnitin for early access to its software. Five high school students, including Goetz, volunteered to help me test it by creating 16 samples of real, AI-fabricated and mixed-source essays to run past Turnitin’s detector.
The result? It got over half of them at least partly wrong. Turnitin accurately identified six of the 16 — but failed on three, including a flag on 8 percent of Goetz’s original essay. And I’d give it only partial credit on the remaining seven, where it was directionally correct but misidentified some portion of ChatGPT-generated or mixed-source writing.
Turnitin claims its detector is 98 percent accurate overall. And it says situations such as what happened with Goetz’s essay, known as a false positive, happen less than 1 percent of the time, according to its own tests.
Turnitin also says its scores should be treated as an indication, not an accusation . Still, will millions of teachers understand they should treat AI scores as anything other than fact? After my conversations with the company, it added a caution flag to its score that reads, “Percentage may not indicate cheating. Review required.”
“Our job is to create directionally correct information for the teacher to prompt a conversation,” Turnitin chief product officer Annie Chechitelli tells me. “I’m confident enough to put it out in the market, as long as we’re continuing to educate educators on how to use the data.” She says the company will keep adjusting its software based on feedback and new AI advancements.
The question is whether that will be enough. “The fact that the Turnitin system for flagging AI text doesn’t work all the time is concerning,” says Rebecca Dell, who teaches Goetz’s AP English class in Concord, Calif. “I’m not sure how schools will be able to definitively use the checker as ‘evidence’ of students using unoriginal work.”
Unlike accusations of plagiarism, AI cheating has no source document to reference as proof. “This leaves the door open for teacher bias to creep in,” says Dell.
For students, that makes the prospect of being accused of AI cheating especially scary. “There is no way to prove that you didn’t cheat unless your teacher knows your writing style, or trusts you as a student,” says Goetz.
Spotting AI writing sounds deceptively simple. When a colleague recently asked me if I could detect the difference between real and ChatGPT-generated emails, I didn’t perform very well.
Detecting AI writing with software involves statistics. And statistically speaking, the thing that makes AI distinct from humans is that it’s “extremely consistently average,” says Eric Wang, Turnitin’s vice president of AI.
Systems such as ChatGPT work like a sophisticated version of auto-complete, looking for the most probable word to write next. “That’s actually the reason why it reads so naturally: AI writing is the most probable subset of human writing,” he says.
Turnitin’s detector “identifies when writing is too consistently average,” Wang says.
The challenge is that sometimes a human writer may actually look consistently average.
On economics, math and lab reports, students tend to hew to set styles, meaning they’re more likely to be misidentified as AI writing, says Wang. That’s likely why Turnitin erroneously flagged Goetz’s essay, which veered into economics. (“My teachers have always been fairly impressed with my writing,” says Goetz.)
Wang says Turnitin worked to tune its systems to err on the side of requiring higher confidence before flagging a sentence as AI. I saw that develop in real time: I first tested Goetz’s essay in late January, and the software identified much more of it — about 50 percent — as being AI generated. Turnitin ran my samples through its system again in late March, and that time only flagged 8 percent of Goetz’s essay as AI-generated.
But tightening up the software’s tolerance came with a cost: Across the second test of my samples, Turnitin missed more actual AI writing. “We’re really emphasizing student safety,” says Chechitelli.
Say hello to your new tutor: It’s ChatGPT
Turnitin does perform better than other public AI detectors I tested. One introduced in February by OpenAI, the company that invented ChatGPT, got eight of our 16 test samples wrong. (Independent tests of other detectors have declared they “ fail spectacularly .”)
Turnitin’s detector faces other important technical limitations, too. In the six samples it got completely right, they were all clearly 100 percent student work or produced by ChatGPT. But when I tested it with essays from mixed AI and human sources, it often misidentified the individual sentences or missed the human part entirely. And it couldn’t spot the ChatGPT in papers we ran through Quillbot, a paraphrasing program that remixes sentences.
What’s more, Turnitin’s detector may already be behind the state of the AI art. My student helpers created samples with ChatGPT, but since they did the writing, the app has gotten a software update called GPT-4 with more creative and stylistic capabilities. Google also introduced a new AI bot called Bard . Wang says addressing them is on his road map.
Some AI experts say any detection efforts are at best setting up an arms race between cheaters and detectors. “I don’t think a detector is long-term reliable,” says Jim Fan, an AI scientist at Nvidia who used to work at OpenAI and Google.
“The AI will get better, and will write in ways more and more like humans. It is pretty safe to say that all of these little quirks of language models will be reduced over time,” he says.
Given the potential — even at 1 percent — of being wrong, why release an AI detector into software that will touch so many students?
“Teachers want deterrence,” says Chechitelli. They’re extremely worried about AI and helping them see the scale of the actual problem will “bring down the temperature.”
Some educators worry it will actually raise the temperature.
Mitchel Sollenberger, the associate provost for digital education at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, is among the officials who asked Turnitin not to activate AI detection for his campus at its initial launch.
He has specific concerns about how false positives on the roughly 20,000 student papers his faculty run through Turnitin each semester could lead to baseless academic-integrity investigations. “Faculty shouldn’t have to be expert in a third-party software system — they shouldn’t necessarily have to understand every nuance,” he says.
Ian Linkletter, who serves as emerging technology and open-education librarian at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, says the push for AI detectors reminds him of the debate about AI exam proctoring during pandemic virtual learning.
“I am worried they’re marketing it as a precision product, but they’re using dodgy language about how it shouldn’t be used to make decisions,” he says. “They’re working at an accelerated pace not because there is any desperation to get the product out but because they’re terrified their existing product is becoming obsolete.”
Said Chechitelli: “We are committed to transparency with the community and have been clear about the need to continue iterating on the user experience as we learn more from students and educators.
Deborah Green, CEO of UCISA in the U.K., tells me she understands and appreciates Turnitin’s motives for the detector. “What we need is time to satisfy ourselves as to the accuracy, the reliability and particularly the suitability of any tool of this nature.”
It’s not clear how the idea of an AI detector fits into where AI is headed in education . “In some academic disciplines, AI tools are already being used in the classroom and in assessment,” says Green. “The emerging view in many U.K. universities is that with AI already being used in many professions and areas of business, students actually need to develop the critical thinking skills and competencies to use and apply AI well.”
There’s a lot more subtlety to how students might use AI than a detector can flag today.
My student tests included a sample of an original student essay written in Spanish, then translated into English with ChatGPT. In that case, what should count: the ideas or the words? What if the student was struggling with English as a second language? (In our test, Turnitin’s detector appeared to miss the AI writing, and flagged none of it.)
Would it be more or less acceptable if a student asked ChatGPT to outline all the ideas for an assignment, and then wrote the actual words themselves?
“That’s the most interesting and most important conversation to be having in the next six months to a year — and one we’ve been having with instructors ourselves,” says Chechitelli.
“We really feel strongly that visibility, transparency and integrity are the foundations of the conversations we want to have next around how this technology is going to be used,” says Wang.
For Dell, the California teacher, the foundation of AI in the classroom is an open conversation with her students.
When ChatGPT first started making headlines in December, Dell focused an entire lesson with Goetz’s English class on what ChatGPT is, and isn’t good for. She asked it to write an essay for an English prompt her students had already completed themselves, and then the class analyzed the AI’s performance.
The AI wasn’t very good.
“Part of convincing kids not to cheat is making them understand what we ask them to do is important for them,” said Dell.
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See sample questions to help you practice for ACCUPLACER ESL tests. PDF. 212.16 KB. Download sample essay prompts and view scored essays. WritePlacer and WritePlacer ESL guides show you the types of prompts you might see on the WritePlacer tests, as well as examples of responses to those prompts, the scores they received, and why they received ...
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Special note: The prompt for Practice Test 4 also appears on the College Board's site with real sample essays written in response. If you've written a practice essay for practice test 4 and want to see what essays of different score levels look like for that particular prompt, you can go there and look at eight real student essays.
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TOEFL Writing Introduction. The writing section is the fourth section of the TOEFL iBT test and takes about 50 minutes to complete. It consists of two separate tasks: an Integrated Writing task and an Academic Discussion Writing task.The Independent task requires you to write an opinionated essay based on your own knowledge and experience, whereas the Integrated task requires you to write a ...
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The Chevalier (from "TOEFL Sample Test") Wave Farms (from "Hackers Actual Test") The Anasazi (from "Hackers Actual Test") Trans Lunar Phenomena (from "Hackers Actual Test") Four-day Workweek; TOEFL Writing Guides and Templates. Complete templates for each essay task. A detailed master guide to the integrated essay task.
Essay Tests. There are basically two types of exams: Objective - requires answers of a word or short phrase, or the selection of an answer from several available choices that are provided on the test. Essay - requires answers to be written out at some length. The student functions as the source of information.
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The TSI essay is designed to test your ability to write and communicate your thoughts. You will find the essay on the ELAR portion of the TSIA2 exam. You can expect the following: 1 Prompt; 300-600 Word Essay Style Response; Your essay will be graded on the following 6 characteristics:
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From free test prep to a checklist of what to bring on test day, College Board provides everything you need to prepare. Get Ready for Test Day Educators: Learn about the SAT Suite. The SAT Suite of Assessments is an integrated system of tests including the SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10, and PSAT 8/9.
Five high school students helped our tech columnist test a ChatGPT detector coming from Turnitin to 2.1 million teachers. It missed enough to get someone in trouble. Lucy Goetz, a student at ...
Application essay All first-year students must complete an essay via the Common App or Coalition with Scoir. ... If you took a test more than once, you will be evaluated on the highest score you received in each individual section of the exam. ... Dramatic Writing/Playwriting Submit a 20-page sample of your work in either playwriting or ...