srathi

Raghu, I think you should not measure your prepration by the no. of essays you practice,but most important is to get the basics right.If you can write one essay and score 6 then whatever may happen(till you are not doing it delebrately)your score will always be in the range of 5-6.(That's my experience..) Therefore, the most important points which I have learned ,and are applicable for any essay are :- -Read the topic carefully ( Sometimes it may have a hidden clue or meaning)..Pay attention to words like support,Explain etc. -Make a structured planned approach. (But,watch the time as too much time spent on planning will mean less time for writing...a mistake which I made and thus lost valuable 10 marks on the overall score). -I really benifitted from the advice of erin that in case we have to take a stand in an essay it would be much better and also sensible to make the most obvious choice...as it is more easy to justify taking the time constraint into consideration.For e.g. if we are asked which is more benificial war or peace ?,the answer is obvious but then if I say war is more beneficial it cannot be said that I am wrong (as, it is a matter of opinion) but then I would have to give some solid logical arguments with supporting examples which may be possible but not easy in the 30 minutes. The essay which I got in the exam is a good example of the same i.e. "The doctorine of the obvious".Honestly,I want to build a swimming pool on the land I get and invite all my friends and have a good time but then my objective is to get a good score in TOEFL, therefore in the test I wrote that I want to build a house for my old parents and then expanded on the same giving justfications and examples.It is more easier to support and above all looks "politically" correct. Hope this helps. Sanjiv.

I received my TOEFL Scores for which I appeared on 05/06/2002 at New Delhi INDIA.Listening 27, Structure 27, Reading 27, Total Score 270 and Essay Rating 5.0. Firstly, I would like to thank you as due to practice and guidance received by solving numerous excercises and writing essays I was able to face the actual test with confidence . I am not really happy with my essay score ,but I think I took a lot of time in planning out the structure of the essay which ultimately cost me valuable marks.It is really suprising how fast the time of 30 minutes runs out.My essay topic was "Imagine that you have received some land to use as you wish.How would you use this land?Use specific details to explain your answer." The difficult part was on deciding how to "use this land" and at the same time justify my decision,which took my valuable time.So, by the time I finished I hardly had time to revise my essay and correct typographical errors as the essay is automatically saved after 30 mins. The best way to prepare is to write the essays and use the free service(if you can wait for 20-30 days) to get your score. Never, be tempted to exceed the time limit of 30 mins during practice. Regarding other sections practice whatever excercises are available on this site.For listening section I watched BBC World,CNBC and CNN . I am really impressed the way erin regularly maintains and updates this site and answers to queries.Whoever said "The best things in life are free" must have had this site in mind. Thanks Erin ,Keep it up! Sanjiv .

Buddy, If you really did not press confirm,expect a Zero ,but let's hope for the best.

I had written essays and had been waiting for them to be marked. But today I find that when I looked at my scores only one of my essays were there and the rest had disappeared. I could not even find my last scored essay which had been posted in the excellent essays (topic 27). The disapperance is causing depression to me. Please restore the same ASAP.

it is really confusing ,e seems to be correct

I think the correct answer is "to one made using" as only this answer provides the intended meaning to the sentence.