Introduction to the TOEFLiBT Writing

2. OVERVIEW
• About the TOEFLibt
• Scores
• Writing Section
• Timed Writing in Writing 3A
• Test-taking Tactics
• Practice on Webcourses

3. WHAT IS THE TOEFLIBT?
• Most common English language assessment in the world
• I B T = Internet Based Test
• P B T = Paper Based Test (much less common)
• The Total score of the TOEFL ibt is 120
 Reading Section (Score of: 0–30)
 Listening Section (Score of: 0–30)
 Speaking Section (Score of: 0–30)
 Writing Section (Score of: 0–30)
 Total Score (0–120)

4. SCORE ADMISSIONS TO UCF
• Undergraduate:
 IELTS Score: 6.5
 TOEFL Scores
Internet: 80
Computer: 213
Paper: 550
• Graduate:
 Minimum UCF Requirement for TOEFL/IELTS
 TOEFL score of 220 (computer test or equivalent score on the paper
test)
 TOEFL iBT score of 80
 IELTS band score of 6.5

5. TOEFL IBT TEST SECTIONS
Section Time Limit Questions Tasks
Reading* 60–80 minutes 36–56 questions Read 3 or 4 passages from academic
texts and answer questions.
Listening 60–90 minutes 34–51 questions Listen to lectures, classroom
discussions and conversations, then
answer questions.
Break 10 minutes — —
Speaking 20 minutes 6 tasks Express an opinion on a familiar topic;
speak based on reading and listening
tasks.
Writing 50 minutes 2 tasks Write essay responses based on
reading and listening tasks; support
an opinion in writing.

6. WRITING SECTION
• There are two writing tasks in the TOEFLibt
• Task 1: The Reading-Listening-Writing Integrated Task
• Students are given a reading, a lecture, and then are asked to
summarize the main points
• Task 2: Independent Writing Task
• 30 minutes to write about an assigned topic
• Example:
http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEFL/pdf/ibt_writing_sample_r
esponses.pdf

7. FOR WRITING 3A…
• All students are required to take 3 timed writings
• All essays are scored on a 5 point rubric (covering 6 areas of criteria)
• According to the rubric, they must score at least a “3.25”
• Timed writings will be conducted on Webcourses and scored by the
professor according to the rubric

8. TIMED WRITING RUBRIC
5 4 3 2 1 0
Answer to
Question
s
 The student answers
the questions
thoroughly.
 The student answers
the questions
adequately but not
thoroughly.
 The student gives a
basically accurate
response to the
question.
 The student
discusses
information from
the task but does
not answer the
question directly.
 The student’s
response is
only slightly
related to the
topic.
 The student
either writes
nothing or fails
to answer the
question.
Comprehe
nsibility
 The student can be
understood
completely.
 The student can
generally be
understood.
 The student’s basic
ideas can be
understood.
 The student’s
ideas are not
always intelligible.
 The student’s
ideas are only
occasionally
intelligible.
.
Organizati
on
 The student’s
response is maturely
organized and
developed.
 The student’s
response is
adequately organized
and developed.
 The student’s response
is organized basically
and is not thoroughly
developed.
 The student’s
response is not
clearly organized
and is incomplete
or contains some
inaccurate points.
 The student’s
response is not
clearly
organized and
is only
minimally on
the topic.
Flow of
Ideas
 The student’s ideas
flow cohesively.
 The student’s ideas
generally flow
cohesively.
 The student’s ideas flow
cohesively sometimes
and at other times do
not.
 The student’s
ideas often do not
flow cohesively.
 The student’s
ideas do not
flow smoothly.
Grammar
 The student uses
advanced
grammatical
structures with a
high degree of
accuracy.
 The student uses
either accurate easier
grammatical
structures or more
advanced
grammatical
structures with a few
errors.
 The student has a
number of errors and
uses only very basic
grammar fairly
correctly.
 The student has
numerous errors
in grammar that
interfere in
meaning.
 The student
produces very
little
grammatically
correct
language.
Vocabular
y
 The student uses
advanced vocabulary
with a high degree of
 The student uses
either accurate easier
vocabulary or more
 The student has a
number of errors in
vocabulary or uses only
 The student has
numerous errors
in vocabulary that
 The student
uses very little
vocabulary

9. NOW, IMAGINE THIS..
You are given 30 minutes to answer the
following question:
• “Some young adults want independence
from their parents as soon as possible, while
others prefer to live with their families for a
longer time. Which option do you think it is
better? Support your reasoning with
examples.”
• How do you plan your essay? What tactics
do you use?
Only 30 minutes!

10. HOW TO PLAN YOUR ESSAY
• Planning your essay ahead of time will allow you to best utilize
your time!
1. Establish position
2. Smart outline
3. Develop body paragraphs
4. Develop introduction/conclusion
5. Proofreading
30 Minutes
Establish
Position
Outline
Write Body
Write
Conc./Intro
Proofread
How to use your 30 minutes.

11. PRACTICE ON WEBCOURSES
• Enter Webcourses
• In Writing 3B, take the “Practice Timed Writing”

12. PRACTICE ASSIGNMENT ON WEBCOURSES
http://webcourses.ucf.edu