guillote

Hey everybody... I've got *The* Letter: - Listening: 28 - Structure/Writing: 28 - Reading: 26 - Essay: 5.0 Thanks EB and TMians for your help! G. [dance]

Hi Pratt! First of all, congratulations for your score. And don't get anxious about the essay, It'll be ok for sure.. Regarding this, I don't think it is a good idea to divulgue the subject of your essay. You have signed a confidentiality agreement and could get into trouble if some ETSian happen to read this forum. Good luck for the essay final grade! G.

Hey kirting! The listening was just like the PowerPrep, except that the sound quality was much better:). I don't think it was so hard. Ok, this is the way I studied: 1.- PowerPrep. Do it as many times as you can. The two exams have a big pool of questions and listenings, so profit from them. For me (I don't live in an english-speaking country), this helped me a lot. Do it until you recognize every single thing they say. And, as the powerprep audio is poor, you'll feel absolutely relieved and confident when you listen to the real toefl audio. 2.- Go to The Buzz (ABC Radio National). This guy Richar Aedy presents a great science program. Each one lasts half an hour, they are available on-line (real player) and they also have the full transcripts. Besides that, it is really fun!!!. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/buzz/ 3.- For slang, there's nothing as Friends. There is a site with soundclips and transcripts available for free. I listened three or four episodes of the last season, and was a big help too. http://www.geocities.com/friends_greatestsitcom/soundclip.htm Anyway, take it easy because you have plenty of time to improve your grades. If you have further questions, just let me know. Guillote

Hi guys, Last Friday I took the TOEFL. I had been really concerned about the listening comprehension section and the audio quality, but they turned out to be exellent! Anyway, the toughest part was the reading comprehension section. I hadn't had a lot of practice on this, so this is a piece of advice: don't misjudge it. There were 55 questions in 1h30'. The time was ok, but two things made it difficult: the understanding of the subjects considered and the ambiguity of the words/synonyms used (the choices were very similar with slight differences) Eventually I had 29 (LC), 28 (S) and 25 (RC), which yielded 223-277 The other thing is that I just realized how important is the essay. I need more than 250 and it now depends on my performance in the writing section. My final conclusion is that every part of the exam is equally important in terms of the final score, so when studying for the Toefl, work uniformly hard in the four sections!!Thanks Erin Billy and TestMagic for allowing me learn from you, Guillote Next Step: GRE [bounce]

Svetlana... THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS!!!!!!!!!

Hey pilum, Thank you VERY MUCH for the corrections!!!! You help me a lot... What do you think could be the grade of this essay? (errors included)

Hi there [dance], here's another one! Any comment will be appreciated. Throughout our lives, we face different situations in which we need to take difficult decisions. Freedom means that there are options, and among them there always exist the possibility of failure, and the chance of success. Nevertheless, no matter what the result will be, the individual will be the main responsible. That is the reason why I believe a person must rely on itself and take the decision alone. To take an important decision is a matter of responsibility. While taking into account the advice that might be given by friends or coworkers, the last decision is ours. Thus, we will be the last responsible of the success or failure that decision brought. This is specially true when we dare to start something new. In my experience, I have made many decisions –both right and wrong – and I had to bear the consequences. When I wanted to move to a bigger university, for instance, my friends were all baffled and advised me not to do it, pointing out many reasons. I was really influenced by their oppinion, but finally I took the risks and moved in spite of their recommendations. Today I am still happy for the decision I made, because it was a whole new and rewarding experience and I met fortunately many of my today’s very best friends. But this does not mean that others’ points of view are not necessary. As responsible adults, before taking a decision we should consider every option. Indeed, we need to be open minded to listen different oppinions, humble enough to recognize when we fail, and very strong to go ahead when the majority is against us. For all these reasons, I believe that we must take the difficult decisions alone. The responsibility will be eventually ours, so it should be a very personal decision. Only in this way we will be adults and responsible for what we have done and left undone.

Dear Svetlana, Your *fault-finderness* is a big help! Thanks a million for taking the time to correct me and for your nice and supporting words. I agree with you in every fault you've found. Some came up for typing fast -the 30' countdown-, but others were pretty discouraging (kind of 'how could I use THAT') [bomb] Anyway, the day of the test is coming and is a lot of fun to be here...[dance] Hasta el proximo 'topic', Guillote

Though this topic is overwritten, I will give my small contribution. [:(!] People often have dreams and goals to pursue. While some of them work hard and never give up until they succeed, others tend to change their goal in the middle, when understand that the difficulties are overly excessive. It is my contention that sometimes it is wise to stop working toward the goal in order to think if we are in the right path; and move into something more appropriate for us. It might be asserted that a person that gives up is a looser, and does not deserve to succeed. However, the problem arises when we analyze wisely and prudently how much can we obtain and how much can we lose. The ex-president of my country, for instance, was very popular and elected twice. Until today, he is considered the best president of the history. On the other hand, while in duty, he divorced from his wife and his firstborn son was murdered for political reasons. Thus the question is, can we consider him a successful person?. If he had the opportunity to go back in time, how much will he work in order to be a successful president? Another point to consider is that giving up in time is wise too. Each person has different conditions, skills and vocation. But the problem can arise not in the determination the person has, but in the choice he made at the beginning. In my own experience, I studied laws during two semesters. My grades were not good, but I knew that working harder I was going to obtain the degree. But at the end I changed to the Medical School, and I will always be happy for that early and though decision, because I discovered how much I did like to treat patients. All in all, although to give up does not sound appealing, when it is done at the right time and in the right conditions, it turns out to be wiser than insisting hard on something, just for the challenge itself. If we thing prudently, we will do fewer mistakes and take wiser decisions for our future. [bounce] JUMP AROUND'!

[/size]Hi [/size]everybody, I'm not sure about it, but what it's done, it's done. See you all..:p --------------------------------------------------------------------- There exists a thin line separating the right of the public to know about personalities and the right celebrities have to preserve their own privacy. In the era of media, tabloids and yellow press have gone too far in their eagerness to sell, violating the privacy of public figures justifying this in the public’s rights. This damages not only the harassed celebrity, but also the media space that is not used for useful and more constructive news. It might be contended that celebrities make a living out of their public, so they should bear the negative consequences that this dependence might carry. However, the individual privacy must be respected, no matter their job or level of media exposition. A known and tragic example is the fatal accident that took Lady Di’s life as a result of a “paparazzi” harassment. In fact, usually not only the celebrity suffers, but also his/her family and friends. On the other hand, the yellow press knows very well what facet of celebrities are more interesting to the public, and it is not the noblest one. Because of this, and extremely valuable resource as the media gets filled with negative and useless news. Indeed, a given actress might support charities and foundations to help the poor or support research, but as news like that do not sell, the best part of the celebrity remains often unknown. This is lamentable because far from being constructive and instructive, such information only brings out our worst feelings. All in all, media pays excessive attention to the personal lives of celebrities and popular figures. This violates the celebrities’ private rights and the general public’s right to be well informed. If this attention is not drawn to its right path, the public and the celebrities will suffer the negative consequences, though yellow press will continue to enjoy the benefits of such a situation. [bounce]

Hi forum I think most of these essays are out of topic [}:)], because most of the reasons explained here (trips, surgeries, vacations, etc) can be achieved either with money from savings, loans or everyday earnings. I think we should get deeper into point: Why it is better saving money? Here are some ideas: - Economical reasons: it is more profitable or advantageous (instead of asking for loans which are not for free, prices usually are lower if we pay cash, etc.) - Preventive Reasons: to be prepared when facing unexpected circumstances (disease, disaster, death or even getting fired). Saved money (in opposition to everyday earned money) allows us to survive them. Also for retirement, when we are older and want to enjoy what we have done during our lives. Any suggestions? [bounce]

Hey there, this is my contribution, please take a look and tell me what you think! :shy: There are many individuals who, through important accomplishments in a given field, have influenced and changed the course of history. But among all of them, if I had the possibility to travel back in time I would like to meet Dr. Luis Agote, an argentinian physician and researcher who discovered the effect of sodium citrate in human blood. My interest is based mainly in two reasons: the discovery itself, which brought an outstanding therapeutic innovation; and, more importantly, the particular conditions in which the discovery was made. In the earliest 1900’s, there was no simple procedure to transfund (transfuse) blood from one human to another. That was because when blood was taken out of the body it clotted, being dangerous as a source of emboliae (embolism) and thrombosis. Dr. Agote, working in his small laboratory in Buenos Aires, discovered that when small, non-toxic amounts of sodium citrate was added to the blood extracted, it could be preserved in a liquid, viable state in a bottle, which could be transfunded later. Such a procedure produced a hughe impact in the treatment of human diseases like haemofilia and shock, and led to the construction of the first Blood Banks. Such a method had been the goal of several investigators all around the world. In fact, the year that Dr. Agote demonstrated publicly the first stored-blood transfusion was 1914, the beginning of the World War I, when thousands of soldiers needed blood transfusions after being injured in a battle. But the discovery did not come up in those well-known laboratories around the world. On the contrary, it eventually was discovered in a distant place of South America, without the essential equipment and materials otherwise essentials. This fact makes Dr. Agote a very special one for me, because he resumes all the conditions I believe a researcher should have: courage, intelligence and passion for his job even under difficult circumstances. For these reasons, though there are many individuals worthy to be met, having the fantastic chance to travel back in time to meet one of them, that one would be Dr. Agote. His discovery and personal characteristics makes him an inspiring person for all those who, like me, want to do research in places where things are difficult but not impossible.

Dear Erin, First of all, I want to thank you for such an useful site. I know it means a lot of effort and hours of work (so I'll try not to take much of your time!) I wrote this essay in about 30 min, I'm still working on that. Please, would you take a look at it and give your impression? Thanks again! “Some people like doing work by hand. Others prefer using machines. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.” Time: 32’ - Nº of words: 270 In this era of technology, the possibility of performing tasks and duties with machines specially designed is an invaluable tool that must be taken advantage of. Firstly, time is a important factor, even more nowadays. How much will it take to write a paper by hand, cutting pictures from magazines and searching bibliography only in a library? Fortunately students today count on the computer and internet to perform excellent tasks not only faster, but also more consistent in information and details. And with a good color printer, the results could become extraordinary. Secondly, value should be taken into account. If we had to choose between two products of similar characteristics, but one is considerably cheaper than the other, which would we choose? It might be argued that a job performed by hand is unique and more valuable because has the personal imprint of the manufacturer. A work by hand, so this argument goes, performed by an artist is unique and irrepetible. This may be true in the case of jewlery or works of art. However, to be unique is not necessarily to be better. And because of the high price, the possibility of being acquired for the general public is undermined. On the other hand, as the work performed will never be the same, the possibility of defects is higher than when a machine is doing the same work over again in a stereotyped manner. Therefore, progress and evolution had left plenty of technology which must be used. Only in this way a modern society will be satisfied with goods and basic products of good quality and available for everyone. [dance][tm][dance]

This is a hard topic, I agree with you elenka. However, the toughest part for me iis to put reasonings made in our native language into english... and in thirty minutes! Anyway, here's my humble contribution.. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Modern technology is creating a single world culture. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion. Time: 30’ – Nº of words: 298 In this new era of technology and communications, the world has become more accesible for everyone. Some people believe that in the future, every single culture will gradually transform under the influence of the other ones until differences will dissapear, giving place to a single culture all over the world. However, it is my contention that taking a part of a culture is not necessarily to be similar to others. On the contrary, enriches the cultural bagage without losing its particularity. The influence of the media in the modern culture has reached its pinnacle during the last decades. Since the invention of the television, the impact on masification of cultures has growed contanstly. But the best exponent of such a change is, by far, the internet. By media, cultures can learn from each other, understand why are differents and what aspects are worth to be acquired and what aspects do not. Nevertheless, as cultures are differents, will interpretate those characteristics on their own way, conservating their difference that makes them unique. Transportation has contributed to generate changes in cultures as well. Ships, airplanes, motorcars and trains can bring not only information as I expained in the paragraph above, but more importantly, human beings. Immigrants, moved to a new place, carry values, customs, religions, languages and behaviors that were inherent of their former culture. But mixing with the new place, new customs, words and values will arise, giving to the adopted culture new elements and a better identity. All in all, modern technology has produced a better understanding of different cultures. Because of this, in the future there will be many changes that will, in turn, not only conservate the identities of the cultures, but also provide an enrichment because of the particular interpretation of the new elements aported.