By Fatskills Exam Guides Team — the exam nerds behind 28,500+ quizzes and 2.1M practice questions across 500+ global exams.
There are 185 possible topics for the essay, but there are only four ways that the topic is stated. If you learn to recognize the kind of topic that you have been assigned, you will be able to organize your writing more efficiently.
Most essay topics ask you to make a choice.
For example: Some people prefer to eat at food stands or restaurants. Other people prefer to prepare and eat food at home. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. You probably enjoy eating in restaurants and at home, depending on your mood, your work schedule, or your diet. However, do not write an essay that says that sometimes you like eating in a restaurant and sometimes at home. You must choose one or the other if you want to write an essay that answers the question correctly.
Other topics ask you whether you agree or disagree with a statement.
Others will ask you to tell which is better or whether you support one thing or another. These topics require you to choose only one thing and write about it. Do not write about both.
One kind of topic can easily deceive you.
Read the following: Nowadays, food has become easier to prepare. Has this change improved the way people live? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. This topic asks you to make a choice, but it may not be obvious. It is not about food. It’s about the way food preparation affects the way people live. You have to choose between two possible opinions. Opinion one is “The change in food preparation has improved the way people live.” The other is “The change has not improved the way people live.” Make sure your essay covers the right topic.
Single Topics There are some types of questions that ask you to choose the topic yourself. These topics are often referred to as “desert island questions.” For example: If you had to live on a desert island and could have only one book to read, what would it be? Explain your answer, using specific reasons and details. The topic question gives you the circumstances of your choice, but it leaves the choice of the details of your answer up to you. A more likely topic is as follows: If you could study a subject that you have never had the opportunity to study, what would you choose? Explain your choice, using specific reasons and details.
Here is the desert island question in a slightly different form. You have to write about one academic subject, not necessarily one that you always wanted to study, but also one that might have helped you in a particular way or one that your parents would have been pleased about. Whatever subject you write about, you must provide details about your desires or those of your parents. Or, you could write about the way the course would have helped your work.
Cause And Effect Topics Some topics require you to identify causes, effects, and causes and effects together.
Look at the following example: How do movies or television influence people’s behavior? Use reasons and specific examples to support your answer. In this example, the statement gives you the cause, “movies or television.” It is your job to write about the effect of these media on people’s behavior. In the following example, the statement gives you the effect: Why do you think some people are attracted to dangerous sports or other dangerous activities? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. The effect is “some people are attracted to dangerous sports or other dangerous activities.” You must write about the causes of this attraction. In the following example, you are required to write about both cause and effect: People do many different things to stay healthy. What do you do for good health? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. You must write about what you do for good health, which is the cause. You must also write about the effect of what you do.
“Many Things” Topics Topics often require you to report several facts.
For example: Films can tell us a lot about the country where they were made. What have you learned about a country from watching its movies? Use specific examples and details to support your response. To write this essay, you have to choose a film from a country other than your own—a film that is about the country that produced it. You have to say what you learned about that country from watching its movies. If the movies had been Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Parts 1, 2, and 3, what would you have learned about America? About Italian immigrants in America? About Italian-American actors? About the causes of organized crime in America?
About family life, religion, and divorce? About political and economic power? Let’s look at the next example: People listen to music for different reasons and at different times. Why is music important to many people? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice. This topic has been the subject of magazine articles, long books, and even encyclopedias. You must write not about the kinds of music found throughout the world but about the reasons that people listen to it, e.g., relaxation, religious devotion, or artistic engagement. Before you begin writing your essay, make sure you are focusing on the correct idea.
Classifying The Topics In the TOEFL Bulletin, there is a list of 185 topics from which your assigned topic will be chosen. You should become familiar with this list and take extra time to practice writing essays before you take the computer-based TOEFL test.
To see a list of possible assigned topics, go to www.toefl.org and download the entire list. To help yourself become familiar with the topics, try to break them down into categories such as the following:
Practice writing on a variety of these topics from each of the categories. There is no way to memorize an essay or all of the questions, but you can become more comfortable with the types of questions and the process of writing an essay under timed conditions.
Join 4M+ learners. Unlock unlimited quizzes, wrong-answer tracking, flashcards + reminders, study guides, and 1-on-1 challenges.