City Life and Entertainment

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in a big city and in a small town/village? Support your opinion with specific examples.

2. Choose any two kinds of public transportation and compare their pros and cons. Which is more expensive, convenient, fast, etc.? Which do you usually use? Which is more popular?

city3. One of your friends plans to move to your town/city/village. Tell him/her the positive sides of living in your town as well as mention something he/she might not like. Explain, why.

4. A new big shopping center is planned to be built in your neighbourhood. Do you like the idea or not? Why or why not? What are the perspective good and bad sides of the issue?

5. A new cinema is going to be built in the area where you live. What do you think about such a plan? Do you think people in your neighbourhood will support or oppose such a decision? Why? Why not?

6. What are the main pollution-connected environmental problems in your city/town? Suggest the ways to improve the situation. Who should take care of the environment? Do common people have any chance to contribute to the nature preservation in their own area of living?

7. Your city council decided to built a monument in honour of a prominent person of you country. In your opinion, who deserves such recognition? Why?

8. City life may at times be very stressful and tiring. Suggest several ways to fight back tiredness and combat stress.

9. If you were unexpectedly given a piece of land, what would you do with it? How would you use it?

10. What is volunteering? How can it improve the conditions of life in your city or town? Who should become volunteers and should such a practice be present in our modern world at all? Back up your answers with concrete examples.

11. How can teenagers have a rest in your city? Where can they go and what can they do? Are there enough facilities and/or group organizations to make young people interested?

12. Why is music important in our lives or is it at all?

13. There are plenty of holidays celebrated by people of one country, city, or even worldwide. If you had a chance to make up your own holiday, what holiday would it be? Who and how would celebrate it? Be specific with your examples.

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Writing Topic Type 3: Describe or Explain

In a way, this is the most difficult type of independent essay question because it doesn’t give you an A or B situation. Instead, you have to think of your own subject from a very big pool of possibilities.

“What discovery in the last 100 years has been most beneficial for people in your country? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice.”

“The 21st century has begun. What changes do you think this new century will bring? Use examples and details in your answer.”

“What change would make your hometown more appealing to people your age? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.”

“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.”

“If you could invent something new, what product would you develop? Use specific details to explain why this invention is needed.”

Because these writing topics don’t give you a yes–no or A–B choice, it’s easy to get stuck in the planning phase. (By the way, planning is incredibly important for writing any standardized test essay; don’t skip it!)

The structure doesn’t have to be very different, though. Here’s a rough idea of how you might organize a descriptive essay:

Intro

Your choice/subject

Body 1

Reason 1 and examples

Body 2

Reason 2 and examples

Body 3

Reason 3 and examples

Conclusion

Why this is significant in the real world

Notice I added one more body paragraph. Because there’s no “other side” to deal with, you have more time to explain the one topic you chose. So why not use that time for another paragraph!

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Writing Topic Type 2: View Both Sides

This is actually very similar to the “choose a side” type of essay subject, but it’s a little bit more complicated because you have to think from two different standpoints. Thankfully, it’s also not as common.

Here are a few examples:

“The government has announced that it plans to build a new university. Some people think that your community would be a good place to locate the university. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of establishing  a new university in your community. Use specific details in your discussion.”

“Some young children spend a great amount of their time practicing sports. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.”

There are a couple of different ways you might structure an essay like, but the simplest one may be the best.

Intro

General statements about issue

Body 1

Advantages and examples

Body 2

Disadvantages and examples

Conclusion

Why this is significant in the real world

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TOEFL Writing Topic Type 1: Choose a Side

This is by far the most common type of independent writing question. These TOEFL prompts ask you to choose A or B then explain your decision. There are a couple of different approaches to writing this type of essay, but the simplest form is the “five paragraph essay.” Usually this is actually only four paragraphs, because you don’t have that much time—the test only gives you 30 minutes to complete your independent essay.

So if you choose A, you might write an essay that looks like this:

Intro

A is better

Body 1

Reason 1 and examples of why A is better

Short contrast with B

Body 2

Reason 2 and examples of why A is better

Short contrast with B

Conclusion

Why this is significant in the real world

Of course, there are other ways to write an essay, but it’s a good idea to use a relatively simple structure for clarity. This is more true for the TOEFL than it is for essays on other tests, like the GRE, because the TOEFL is really a test of communication and how well you can write in English.

Here are some examples of the “choose a side” writing topics:

“Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Parents are the best teachers. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.”

“Some people like to travel with a companion. Other people prefer to travel alone. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice.”

“Some people believe that the Earth is being harmed (damaged) by human activity. Others feel that human activity makes the Earth a better place to live. What is your opinion? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.”

“It has recently been announced that a large shopping center may be built in your neighborhood. Do you support or oppose this plan? Why? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer”

There are a few common phrases which you will see in these essay topics, so they’re easy to spot — those phrases are bold in the examples above.

You might also get a slightly more complicated version of the “choose a side” prompt that asks you to compare sides, like this one:

“When people move to another country, some of them decide to follow the customs of the new country. Others prefer to keep their own customs. Compare these two choices. Which one do you prefer? Support your answer with specific details.”

In that case, you could still use the structure I showed above, but you would emphasize the contrasts with “B” and write a bit more about them.

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TOEFL Writing Topics

While the TOEFL is generally a very different type of test from the GRE, the GMAT, and the SAT, there are a few similarities, and the writing section is one of them.

As with most standardized tests, the TOEFL asks you to write an essay. Well, it asks for two essays, actually — one is about a reading and a lecture (which you’ll summarize), and the second is more open-ended.

Let’s look at the questions that you might see for that second TOEFL essay, the “independent task.”

On one hand, there are a LOT of different TOEFL writing topics. You might be asked to write an essay about technology, education, media, family, or some other subject. But on the other hand, there are only a few different types of questions.

ETS does provide a list of TOEFL independent essay questions, and it’s a good idea to look over those. If you practice writing the essay before test day (a good idea!), then you should use an essay prompt from that list. But there’s an excess of information in that pdf—we want to know some more useful generalities! So let’s divide those subjects into types.

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