zack_ibt

Dear management, I am a member of Test Magic Forums, and I just want to ask why we are not allowed to post our contact details especially when finding a speaking partner. I've read from the rules that its detrimental for us because those info would be recorded by search engines, spiders, spambots. Yes, that is true, but so what? At least it is more convenient for people to add our contacts and reach out to other potential speaking partners. I'm afraid I'm not convinced that the harm outweighs the benefit. I hope someone clarifies this for us, thank you.

It's impressive that you have written a lot of things under 30 minutes. But I personally suggest that you spend some of the time focusing on improving your sentence structure, choice of words, and the intro, since the style of essay writing bear a lot more weight than its length :) As for the rating, I would give it a 4. The coherence and unity of your ideas are remarkable, and you have a pretty nice transition and choice of words. Making the introduction more captivating would warrant you a full score of 5 if I am the official rater. Since a rater might be receiving several entries a day, making the intro strong would make your essay stand out and impress the rater. So I guess it's pretty important to have a nice intro. Keep up the good work Adrien!

When one compares the luxury that present people enjoy against the basic commodities that amuse people in the past ages, it might be tempting to believe that present people are lot more satisfied than their previous counterparts. But all that’s happening around the world today depicts quite a different image. Suicide rates are higher than ever, such as in Japan, Korea, and Ireland. Despite the improving standards of living and the conveniences of technology, there remain millions of people who are never satisfied with oneself. Different people have different needs. A person might have the riches equal to that of Bill Gates, but if his needs dictate the warmth of a loving mother and he never receives such, personal satisfaction is questionable. Princess Diana enjoyed the luxury of a royalty, a blessing a lot of people would have envied, but she was reported to be depressed during her teens due to long periods of isolation. Another fact that contributes to dissatisfaction is the inevitable trait of human nature – jealousy. Human behavior tends to lead people to occasionally compare themselves against others. There are bright students who want to achieve the ranks of Einstein to satisfy oneself or runway models that are insecure because they use Kate Moss as their basis of comparison. Societal forces are also at play here, since competition runs deep in the almost every country. Rising to the top ranks of the corporate ladder may make one comfortable at first, but if a rival achieves a lot more, even billionaires might feel the urge to fight back and regain his position or satisfy his ego. The list could go on, but the bottom line is there is nothing we could do to stop what appears to be a law of human nature. No one in history has truly shown the ability to be perfectly satisfied in oneself and sadly, nor has anyone found a way to determine such fact.

Refer to the more recent post with the same title.

Hello everyone, I will be taking the Toefl exam on Dec 15. I'm looking for any speaking partner. I am available everyday from 2PM - 9 PM (GMT +8 time) Regards, Zack

Lying is a double edged sword. Sometimes it can help us get away with problems. Other instances, however, it could break up even the most perfect relationship. Since it is a delicate matter, I often play cautious in terms of when to tell a lie and tell the truth. On my mind are several preconditions upon which I base my decisions on lying. In a family relationship, I often discipline myself on telling the truth as much as possible. I do not like to face the dire consequences of having my parents find out my lying as I had once experienced during my high school days. I still remember playing basketball against my parents will and having covered up such illegal pursuits by making up lots of excuses. My mother eventually found out through my playmates’ mother. A series of rage and infuriation followed. My parents whipped me hard and grounded me for at least a week. I was denied from attending parties because my parents suspected that it might be another excuse to cover up a far more extreme activity. I took around a year before receiving forgiveness, so the whole experience often reminded me to keep my integrity high at all times, especially on matters concerning the family. On the other hand, I play by a different set of rules in short term relationships, especially with someone I am not very familiar with. I don’t trust people easily. When they ask me a personal question, or anything I regard as a personal secret, I would lie to them. Unless I respect that person a lot, I believe that things like income level, weaknesses, past wrong deeds should not be carelessly divulged since it can be used against you in the future. In conclusion, I believe that the reason people never put the word always in the phrase “honesty is the best policy”, is because it can vary from one condition to another. As for me, honesty is a golden rule in my family, but not necessarily applied in short term relationships.

Not bad, personally, I would give it a 3 out of 4. You display a good faculty of english. You use sophisticated words you've provided good details to support your answer. However, there are a couple of mistakes in your work. You tend to be redundant in your ideas, such as mentioning the value of convenience twice and consecutively. "Technology is beneficial because it makes people’s lives more convenient and improves human’s abilities. Technology provides people with a lot of conveniences" Some words were misspelled or misused. Diversified should have been Diverse, belie should be belief. But those are minor mistakes, I think you did a pretty good job!