English as a Second Language /TOEFL

This text aims at students whose native language is other than English and who want help either with the TOEFL Test of Written English or with the essays that they have to write for admission to graduate school in the United States.

The Test of Written English is given by the Educational Testing Service to students taking the TOEFL test and who choose to write an essay in order to demonstrate their writing ability. The scores are used then by admissions persons at colleges and universities to evaluate the student's ability to express himself/herself in writing. The essays are scored on a 1 to 6 level basis, level 6 being the highest score possible, and level 1 the lowest. The first part of the book is devoted to The Test of Written English and to a discussion of the kinds of things that students want to consider before they take the test, like the importance of the organization and development of ideas, and the importance of providing examples for the points made in their essay.

Although the questions that are provided in this book are not the exact questions students will receive on their test (these are provided in the bulletin used to register for the exam), they are close enough to give readers a good idea of the kinds of responses that the rater is looking for. The models in this book, then, will give the reader a good idea of what to do and what not to do when writing his or her own essay. Practice is always important, and it would be a good idea for the reader to practice with the questions in this book as well as the questions provided in the TOEFL test bulletin. If readers have an opportunity to have an experienced rater read their essay, this would give them a good chance to get feedback and to learn from their mistakes.
The second part of this book is devoted to the graduate statement of purpose or college/university application essay. This essay is part of nearly all the applications required by undergraduate and graduate schools in the United States--and it is an important part of the application, since it is often a student's only chance to speak personally and directly to the admissions committee. In this part of the book, we look at examples of essays that have been part of accepted applications to some of Americas top-level graduate and MBA programs.

The essays represent many of the disciplines that are offered by American colleges and universities, including a special section on the MBA application essay, which typically consists of 4 or 5 separate essays in response to specific questions. The essays are intended to be used for inspiration, providing readers with ideas about how to best present themselves to the schools of their choice. It is hoped that the essays and writing advice contained in this book will help students to write their own essays and to realize their academic goals. Writing is hard work, but it is enjoyable and rewarding work. In this case, the reward might be the education and career of a lifetime.