TOEFL iBT Independent Writing
General Strategies.
You have only 30
minutes to complete the essay. Divide your time into three parts.
Plan
the essay – 5 minutes
Write
the essay – 20
minutes
Revise
the essay – 5 minutes
Try
to follow the steps below when writing your essay.
Plan
your essay
1) Write
your thesis statement.
2) Write
down your general ideas.
3) Expand
your general ideas by adding specific details for each idea
Write
your essay
4) Write a
topic sentence for each of your body paragraphs.
5) Write
the introduction of your essay.
6) Write
the body paragraphs of your essay.
7) Write
the conclusion of your essay.
Revise
your essay
8) Check
the content.
(Are the
sentences you write relevant to the topic of the essay?)
9) Check
the clarity.
(Can the
reader understand what you are trying to say?)
10) Check
the grammar.
(e.g. Do
all the sentences have a subject and a verb? Are all subjects and verbs
in agreement? Do all pronouns clearly indicate their antecedent and do
they both agree in number, gender and grammar function?)
11) Check
the spelling and punctuation.
(Are there
any typing errors or silly spelling mistakes? Do all sentences start
with a capital letter and end with a full stop?)