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Thank you! :) As for speaking, for the 2 first questions, I used this pattern: my statement + one supporting example, reason or detail + another supporting example, reason, or detail As for writing, you can check some of the essays I posted some days ago. I did exactly the same during my exam!

Got my results this morning (EU local time). Overall 111/120 R30 L29 S24 W28 I'm so happy! I was so worried about my speaking section... never spoke in English before 19th December 2008! Went trough an intensive course with a private English teacher though... about 10 hours of speaking and 3 hours of writing revisions. Well, I only needed 90/120 with a minimum of 24 in writing... so, I'm done on my first attempt! :grad: Just to let you know: I used the Longman cd-rom to practice.

Amazing score!!! Greetings!!!

Hi, Oskar. Well, the essay at the top of the topic is not reflecting a subject from the 10th Jan. examination. It is just an essay that Nupa wrote in order to practice. I had the TOEFL in Italy in the same date and I remember well that the independent writing task was about improving schools as an important step to develop a Country. I think you had the same in the Netherlands. And do not be worried about your results before you actually view them! There is always a good surprise in our life! :grad: Whish you the best!

Hi! I also believe that your essay is a bit too lenghty, although its content is very good. I found only minor grammar problems (but I'm not a pro!). For example I would change your sentence -"There is no one else to share the owner the earnings and the profits" into "There is no one else to share the owner's earnings and profits with". - "For example, two years ago my friend worked as an employee..." into "For example, two years ago, a friend of mine worked as an employee...". - "Moreover, I would be the one responsible to manage all the plans and develop the ideas..." into "Moreover, I would be the one who is responsible to manage all the plans and to develop the ideas..." - "The example can be cited to clarify my point is that a friend of mine has his own business in the field of furniture manufacturing, he [...] always away from his family;" into "The example that can be cited to clarify my point is that a friend of mine has his own business in the field of furniture manufacturing and he is always away from his family;" - "So, having the opportunity to observe the advantages of each field through my friends gave me the ability to decide which way that I'm going to pursue in the future." into "So, having the opportunity to observe the advantages of each field through my friends gave me the ability to decide which way I'm going to pursue in the future" - "I do think that some people would absolutely prefer to have positions in a company." into "I do think that some people would absolutely prefer to have a position in a company." Anyhow, according to my 1on1 English teacher, in a shorter essay you will probably make fewer errors. He told me to focus on the main question's point and to stay within the recommended 300 words range. And, what a coincidence, I just finished the same essay this afternoon! It's 304 words long, while yours is 578. I write all my essay under strict timing, as if I were at the TOEFL. I practice with Longman cd: when time is over, the writing window disappears! Well, maybe you might like reading my essay on this same topic. Here it is: I believe that working in my own business would be better than taking a position in a company and working as an employee, although I have to say that each solution presents some advantages. The main reason why I prefer not to work in a company is easily explained: if you are the boss of yourself you would not be forced to do something just because you are ordered to do it by someone else. Indeed, this can be quite frustrating, especially if you are not allowed to give your opinion on your assigned tasks. Moreover, working for the sake of the company rather than for your own goals could lead to a loss of motivation. In this case the extreme consequence could be developing hate for your job and thus hate for your life. In addition, going into business for yourself is the best way to develop your skills and improve your personality. On the other hand, some could argue that working for a company has a big advantage in that you are not risking your own wealth in the business. For instance, if some problems in the economics arise during a certain period of the year, you would not be worried about your salary. In fact, you can rely on your monthly income unless the company you are working for is going through a major trouble. But, if you are a person with enough motivation, you would not be scared by the risk I mentioned above. Thus, in my opinion, there are so many big advantages in developing your own business that I would really like to work for myself in the future. However I’m aware of the fact that this is a very personal choice and that some could think that the economical security that an employment provides should be prevalent.

Thanks a lot! I wish you the best!

Hi Nupa, where will you take it?

Hi! I'm looking for other test takers for January, 10th! :grad:

:) You're welcome! :)

Up! Any advices on this?

I think that the last sentence in the first paraghraph should be corrected into "We ourselves make our own luck by our hard working". And, in my opinion, in the closing paragraph, "There are a lot of reasons to agree with the statement above" would better fit the context. I would change "details" to "reasons" since it is mostly because of a reason than of a detail if someone agrees or not with a certain concept (I mean, details do actually support reasons, of course, but are useless without them). P.S. Could anyone check my essays in this topic: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/toefl/107298-ill-take-test-jan-10th-please-check-my-last-essays-thanks.html I'm also going to take the test in january, 10th. Thanks.

QUESTION Telecommuting (working for a company from home rather than in the office and communicating with the office by computer) is becoming more and more common. Discuss the advantages of telecommuting versus working in an office. Then indicate which you prefer and why. MY ESSAY Nowadays telecommuting is becoming more and more common as a result of the internet technology development. Telecommuting basically requires a computer and an internet connection. Indeed, since almost every person in the most advanced countries has both a computer at home and a good internet acces, it is easy to understand why such a phenomenon occurs. There are many advantages in telecommuting, and all of them are related to time. Actually time is one of the most important and valuable things in our busy lives. Then, for instance, working from home prevents a person from driving to his or her office trhough the city trafic. In such an example this person saves a considerable amount of hours out of the total time that is needed every day for gaining the money to live, and that time is then available for many other acvities involving the family or leisure or even for studying in order to get a better position in the future. Furthermore, staying at home implies that this person will not be exposed to pollution during the trip to work. Another important point is the chance to choose when to work and when to have a stop during the whole day, without being forced to follow a strict daily schedule. In addition, working from home avoid a person getting exposed to negative social behaviours such as bullying. On the other hand, some could argue that being isolated from the rest of the world could limit the social life of those who work from home, because they cannot have real interaction with their collegues. This is an important thing to think about while choosing whether to do or not to do telecommuting. Therefore, in my opinion, the advantages as stated above are much more prevalent, and that is why I prefer telecommuting rather than working in the traditional way.

Question: Sometimes an event that seems to be going badly turns out well after all. Discuss such an event in your life, using specific details to support your response. MY ESSAY It is a very common situation that things in our lives do not take the path we are expecting for. In fact, it would even be possible to say that in most cases things seem to be going the wrong way, and this can be quite frustrating at the time. However, in some cases the overall result of such a situation could be either as good or better than what people were eager to obtain. For example, I remember an event in my early youth that could explain this statement. I planned a long trip abroad as a reward for my graduation and I was very excited about it. Indeed, I carefully looked for the papers required to enter the countries I had decided to visit as well as I thoroughly wrote down a detailed schedule for each single day of this long journey. I might say that I was thinking about this trip as the most important event in my life after graduation. Unfortunately, just a few days after the end of my last semester, I was involved in a car crash and I broke my left arm. I was so angry after the accident, although I was grateful because I survived without any major consequence. However, at that time, I was only thinking about my trip and about how bad it was for me not being able to leave anymore. Nevertheless, during that summer, I met a nice girl and, since we liked each other, we started dating. Well, that girl is now not only my wife, but also the mother of our two children. Thus I may say that the accident I had was not such a terrible thing and, indeed, it did not ruin my life. Moreover, I might tell you that now I'm quite glad that it occurred; otherwise I could have missed the chance to meet that lovely girl.

Here it is: [ TOEFL iBT ] Renshaw Internet School of English Look at the frame in the middle of the page.

You're welcome. Quickly, about your last sentence. 1) "For the following reasons" cannot be used in conclusions, since the meaning of "following" is "something that comes after". Thus, you might use it at the beginning of an essay, but not in your closing paragraph. 2) In the second part of this sentece, you used the adverb "from" but it's wrong. The correct construction is "xxx is more important THAN yyy"

Hi there, I'm a newbie! I think that your essay is good, and I can understand your reasons, though there are some problems with grammar and sentence structure here and there. For example, your last one's "For the following reasons, knowledge gained from experience is more important from knowledge gained from books". I think that "For the STATED reasons, knowledge gained from experience is more important THAN knowledge gained from books" would be better.

While looking forward to your comments, I'm going to tell you something about me. I'm going to take the test within a couple of weeks and started my preparation 10 days ago. I know, I'm crazy, but I suddenly went into it, then I have to face the whole thing without fear... :blush: I don't need those high scores that some among you seem to be looking after... I need a total of 90, with at least 24 in writing.

#3 In some organizations, promotions are based on seniority, while in other organizations, promotions are based on performance. Discuss the advantages of each position. Then indicate which position you think is best and why. The main advantage of a system based on seniority related promotion can be found on its neutrality. When a person’s career is based on the amount of time spent in the organization, it is most probable that he or she will work correctly and honestly for as long as possible, contributing to productivity and promoting a good ambience to be in. However, some could argue that in such a system a specially capable person would not be able to get what he or she really deserves for his or her job: an employee with an higher seniority would be better paid than a new one with better capabilities. That shows the biggest advantage on performance based promotions: a person’s career progress only rely on its daily work and so employees are motivated to do better and better every day. In my opinion a performance based promotion system is better because in such an environment individuals are stimulated to do their best. Performance is mostly related to motivation, which then leads to a better results for the company. I’m aware of the fact that in some cases over stressed motivation is the reason that leads many people to acting unfairly and out of the rules in order to appear as a better worker in front of the boss, but I’m also firmly convinced that a good corporate governance, along with well planned policies, should avoid such a negative side effect. 239 words :blush: :blush: :blush: :blush:

#2 In some classes, course grades are based solely on exams, while in other classes, grades are based more on class participation than on exams. Which type of grading do you prefer? Use specific reasons to support your response. I surely prefer when course grades are based solely on exams, without giving too much importance to class participation. I’m not saying this because I think that going to classes and getting involved in their activities nor interact with the other students and the teacher is not a very important thing. Indeed, in my opinion this is absolutely the best way to choose in order to get better results and then higher grades in exams. Nevertheless, it could happen that a student - let’s say a good student - unfortunately get injured in a sport accident or even in a car crash, and thus his or her condition prevents him/her from going to classes for a certain amount of time. Wouldn’t be really unfair if this good student gets a bad grade because of an event which was totally out of his/her control and that forced him/her to stay at the dorm instead of going to classes? On the other hand, even if this student cannot go to classes for some weeks, he or she could be able to study hard in order to get well prepared for the final exam and thus obtaining a good grade, even if some classes have been missed. Anyway, I’m aware that certain courses cannot be attended with profit without constant class participation. Obviously a student majoring in chemistry absolutely needs to practice in a lab on a regular basis, otherwise there won’t be any chance at all for the student to be able to successfully go through the exam. But those are specific cases that cannot change my mind on this matter. That’s why I’m firmly convinced that a system where grades are based solely on class participation is better. 287 words :blush:

#1 What is your approach to problem-solving, and how does it work for you? Use specifc details to support your response. My approach to problem-solving is quite typical and relies on two steps. First of all, I start thinking about the problem and try to figure out a good solution by myself. The reason I prefer such an approach is not related to a lack of trust in other people: I simply believe that doing something by yourself is the best way to improve your personal skills and get used to life. For example, two years ago, I was driving my car when a never seen before icon suddenly appeared in the dash. I had no clue about what that icon was pointing at, so I stopped my car and I started to read the owner’s handbook. I looked through the whole set of materials provided with the car, and I was eventually able to understand what happened: a fuse in the wiper’s motor failed. In that occasion I have been lucky because it was a sunny day, so there was no reason to be worried about that faulty fuse as I was not supposed to use the wipers. I think that such a rational approach avoided me to rush into a repair station and allowed my trip to be completed without any major concern. However, I’m aware that not every single problem can be handed by a single person. When this occurs, it is very important to understand that we need to ask other people for help and that failing to do so could lead to a very bad outcome. That is, should I start feeling pain on my head for two or three days, it would not be wise at all to go to the pharmacist and ask for a pain killer. Although the pain could disappear by taking the pills, if the cause of that pain is a serious problem I would risk to treat it properly too late. Then, in that case the best thing to do would be going to see a doctor and ask for his advice. Then, in my opinion, when a problem occurs, it is good to try to solve it by yourself at first, but it is also important to understand if or when you need to ask another person for help. 370 words Thanks in advance! :)