TOEFL iBT Free Practice Writing Items
Task 2: Writing for an Academic Discussion
Pack 1 Theme: Education (Questions 2, 4, 7, 12)
This document contains the text and images of a selection of the twenty-eight (28) Writing for Academic
Discussion free practice questions that are available to the public at https://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt-
enhancements/prep.html.
Question 2 Item Information ......................................................................................................................... 2
Question 4 Item Information ......................................................................................................................... 3
Question 7 Item Information ......................................................................................................................... 4
Question 12 Item Information ....................................................................................................................... 5
Question 2 Item Information
Your professor is teaching a class on education. Write a post responding to the professor’s question.
In your response, you should do the following.
Express and support your opinion.
Make a contribution to the discussion in your own words.
An effective response will contain at least 100 words.
Doctor Gupta
This week, I want you to discuss assessment criteria. Some schoolteachers give high grades (marks) only
to those students who perform well on their homework assignments and tests. Other teachers, however,
may give high grades to students who have worked very hard on their assignments but have not
performed so well. Which approach do you think is better: Giving grades based only on performance, or
grading students not just on performance but also on their effort?
I think grades should be based on performance only. It’s a matter of fairness. I’d be
really upset if another student got nearly the same grade that I did when I turned in
work that was almost perfect and the other student’s work had incorrect answers or
unclear ideas. It wouldn’t matter to me if they worked harder.
Sure, evaluation should mainly be based upon the student’s performance, but hard
work should count for something. A student who works hard, even when the final
grade isn’t the highest in the class, builds character, which will benefit the student
later in life when they go to university or apply for a job.
Question 4 Item Information
Your professor is teaching a class on education. Write a post responding to the professor’s question.
In your response, you should do the following.
Express and support your opinion.
Make a contribution to the discussion in your own words.
An effective response will contain at least 100 words.
Doctor Achebe
This week, we’ll look at how well students transition to university. Many recent high school graduates
have taken a gap year—a yearlong break after graduation—before studying at a university. During a gap
year, students may get jobs, travel, or simply relax and think about their future. Some students say their
gap year was beneficial, while others regret having taken one. In your opinion, does taking a gap year
create more advantages or disadvantages for students? Why?
The gap year would be a good opportunity for students to reflect on their education
goals and confirm their plans for university. At least it would give someone time to
investigate different fields and get a better sense of what it means to be in business,
to work in an office, or to work with their hands, etc.
Because university can be expensive, students should not take a gap year. Tuition,
the cost of books, and living expenses rise every year. The money a student might
save during a gap year might not be enough to cover the rise in prices when they
enter university a year later.
Question 7 Item Information
Your professor is teaching a class on education. Write a post responding to the professor’s question.
In your response, you should do the following.
Express and support your opinion.
Make a contribution to the discussion in your own words.
An effective response will contain at least 100 words.
Doctor Achebe
Companies now make computer games designed to help very young children learn. The games are
advertised for use by children aged 2 to 8 years and often involve basic math and reading skills, presented
in a fun, game-like style. Some people say that this results in children spending too much time looking at
computer screens. Do you think it’s a good idea for very young children to play educational computer
games? Why or why not?
I think it’s completely inappropriate for children as young as 2 years old to play
what are essentially video games. Even if the games are educational, the same skills
can be taught in traditional ways—by reading books to children, for example. And
it would be beneficial to interact with their parents in this way.
Considering how important computers are to human societies these days, I think it
actually makes sense to allow very young children to explore them. And if the
computer games that children play also give them early access to subject matter that
will later be taught in school, all the better.
Question 12 Item Information
Your professor is teaching a class on education. Write a post responding to the professor’s question.
In your response, you should do the following.
Express and support your opinion.
Make a contribution to the discussion in your own words.
An effective response will contain at least 100 words.
Doctor Gupta
Let’s discuss how teachers’ job performance is assessed or evaluated. Regular evaluations of teachers
help to ensure that students receive high-quality instruction, that good teachers are rewarded, and that
struggling teachers receive help to improve. But what is the best way to evaluate teachers? Should
teachers be evaluated based on their students’ test scores? Should more-experienced teachers evaluate
less-experienced teachers? Should students’ feedback be considered? Which approach is best, and why?
I think experienced senior teachers are the best source of information for teacher
evaluations. School leaders can assign experienced teachers to observe their fellow
teachers periodically during class, and these senior teachers can then provide
feedback on their colleagues’ performance. An experienced teacher has the
knowledge to determine what other teachers are doing well and what needs
improvement.
I’m not convinced that any one person’s occasional visits to a classroom would
provide accurate information. I’d like a more objective, fairer source of data, so I’d
prefer to rely on test scores to inform teacher evaluations. If all students take the
same test, and some classes perform better than others, then we know which
teachers have been most successful.
