1. TOEFL Writing. Exam 1.
First exercise:
The man who has talked, questions the theory shown in the reading. It is a logical thought that a worker
can be more productive if he is rewarded when he achieves a goal in his task. However, it is not that
simple. The speaker argues that employees can perceive rewards as a punishment. Firstly, when an
employee is offered a reward if he or she can achive an objective, this person can feel overcontrolled
by the bosses of the company. In addition, the employee has to work harder in order to get that bonus
but it is possible he won´t be able to carry out the mission or task they commanded him. In such a case,
the employee will have worked more than usual but he won´t have receiveD any kind of compensation.
Besides, the environment in the workplace could get worsE due to facts I have just explained. Finally,
the speaker sums up by saying that, due to all of these arguments, it´s not always a good ideaTO
reward employees for their productivity and, in some cases this idea even decreaseS the productivity in
a company.
Second exercise:
Childhood is the happiest time of a person´s life
I think childhood is the happiest and the most important time of a person´s life. Life is beautiful when it
´s seen from a child"s perspective and I think that one is the most important point ..because of that, I
agree with this statement. When you are a little boy, you don´t have to face big problems, everybody
smiles at you and YOU only have to go to school, so you have a lot of time to play with your friends
and to do whatever you want. I remember when I spent all afternoon playing football with my crowd of
friends. We had a lot of fun and the best of all: we didn´t have any other thing to do. However and
speaking honestly, childhood is not a bed of roses. I think most people consider their childhood as their
best stage in their liVES because they only remember the positive experiences. In fact, probably all of
us, have had some embarrassing, discouraging or simply bad experiences in our childhood. For
example, when I was a little boy, I had to fight with two boys, bigger than I was, because they took my
toy car and threw it away. When I think about it now, I can realize that it´s not a big deal. However, I
remember myself crying a lot because that car was my favorite one because my uncle had given it to
me. I consider that another very happy time of a person´s life is when you are 20, That is a gold stage
because you have a lot of privileges, for example you can drive a car, go to parties, travel with friends
and drink alcoholic drinkS but you don´t have to face adult problems yet, like payments and things like
that. In fact, I spent my 17 looking forward to beING 18 in order to get the car license. However I must
say that life is not as beautiful in that stage as when you are a little boy, probably because life has hit
you several times when you become 20 and you have lost the happiness which is characteristic in a
child.