I get this question a lot. Here’s what I think you should do:
- Get some templates for each essay type.
- Watch videos lectures on each question type.
- Read as many sample essays as possible.
- Take accurate practice tests.
- Improve your grammar.
- Get your practice essays graded.
Details about how to do these things are below!
Read My Guides (and Templates) for Each Writing Task
Everything I know about the writing section
can be found in my guides to the two tasks. Here they are:
Not only will these guides show you how to write the essays, but they will tell you how the questions are structured and the patterns to look out for.
Check out My Video Series
I have also made a bunch of YouTube videos about this section. Here’s the first:
Read some Good Sample Essays
The best way to internalize what you need to do on test day is to read as many strong sample essays as possible. Start with my personal collection. They are categorized by style, which will help you to understand how the question will actually be structured on test day.
Get some Good Practice Tests
You absolutely need to get good practice tests and questions to answer. This will make you more familiar with the test.
Getting good independent questions is easy. You can find those on my page.
Getting good integrated questions is more difficult, but I recommend the following sources:
- The Official Guide to the TOEFL (but skip Test 1)
- The Official iBT Test Collection Volume 1 (five good tests)
- The Official iBT Test Collection Volume 2 (five good tests)
- TSTPrep’s Test Pack (10 good tests, online) – try the coupon code “goodine10off” for a discount.
I don’t recommend anything from:
- Edusynch
- Best My Test
- Kaplan
- Barron’s
Work on Your Grammar
I know, studying grammar really sucks. But it will make a different in the medium and long term. You should probably work with one of the following books:
- English Grammar in Use 5th Edition
- Grammar in Use Intermediate 4th Edition (same as the above, but American)
- Oxford Practice Grammar Intermediate
If you use the first book, you can pair it with my study guide.
Get Your Practice Essays Corrected and Scored
Once you actually start writing essays you can hire me to correct your mistakes and tell you how they would score. That costs about $19 bucks but it might help a lot. You can sign up over here. It looks a bit like this: