Tips for Toefl Structure and Written Expansion

Tips for Toefl Structure and Written Expression

What is Toefl Structure and Written Expression ?

The Structure and Written Expression section contains sentences that test your knowledge of important structural and grammatical elements of standard written English. These sentences include a variety of topics and give no particular advantage to individuals in any specific field of study.

When topics have a national context, they refer to the United States or Canadian history, culture, art, or literature. However, you do not need to have a prior knowledge of these contexts to answer the structural or grammatical points being tested.

Think about the simplest, clearest way to express an idea. If an answer choice sounds awkward or overly complicated, chances are good that it's wrong. Brush up on your English grammar for this part of the test. You will have 25 minutes to complete 40 questions.

General Strategies

1.      Be familiar with the directions.

The directions on every TOEFL test are the same.

Don’t spend time reading the directions carefully when you take the test.

Be completely familiar with the directions before the day of the test.

2.      Begin with questions 1 through 15

Anticipate that questions 1 through 5 will be the easiest. 

Anticipate that questions 11 through 15 will be the most difficult.

Do not spend too much time on questions 11 through 15

There will be easier questions that come later.

3.      Continue with questions  16 through 40

Anticipate that questions  16 through 20 will be the easiest.

Anticipate that questions 36 through 40 will be the most difficult.

Do not spend too much time on questions 36 through 40.

4.      If you have time, return to questions 11 through 15

Spend extra time on questions  11 through 15 only after you spend all the time that you want on the easier questions.

5.      Altogether there are 40 Qs in 25 minutes

That means one item is anwered in ±1.6 min.

6.      Never leave any questions blank on your answer sheet.

Even if you are not sure of the correct respose, you should answer the question.

There is no penalty for guessing.

General Strategies for Structure

1.      Study the sentence

Determine what is needed to complete the sentence correctly.

2.      Study each answer based on how well it completes the sentence

Eliminate answers that do not complete the sentence correctly.

3.      Do not try to eliminate incorrect answers by looking only at the answers 

The incorrect answers are generally incorrect only when used to complete the sentence.

     4. Never leave any answers blank

     5. Do not spend too much time on the Structure questions 

Be sure to leave adequate time for the Written Expression questions.

    6. Questions in Structure have some patterns which are tested regularly.

    7. Time is essential here.