I am more inclined to study with group of students rather than preparing to test alone [TOEFL]

Hi, everyone.
I am about to take TOEFL exam
Please give me some suggestions or advises!
Also, i am a little confused about the summary.
Do i basically just sum up the things that I mention in my essay?
Thanks in advance!

Some students prefer to study alone. Others prefer to study with a group of students.
Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

group of students helpful in tasks

While some like to study alone to prepare test, I am more inclined to study with group of students, because they can give me guidance to the difficult questions for me and I can practice English oral skill with them as well.

Figuring out questions you do not know is a good way to study. When we are studying, often finding some theories or questions very hard to comprehensive even if we may simply check the answer key. This results in not understanding what's the main gist behind it. As a result, group studying comes into handy! Take myself for an example. When I study, I always need someone to give me "backup". If I have difficulty with certain theory, I can just ask the people beside me, instead of peeking answer key and still confusing myself.

English oral skill should be prepared by conversation with real people. In college, it goes without saying that everyone has to take English courses. In this modern society, it is impossible that you only have to learn reading and listening. Thus, the school will test you English speaking ability, but how do you prepare it? Take for example my group studying association in university. In this group, I can learn lots of academic knowledge. Much to my astonishment, it can also help me to sharpen my English skill because there are many native speakers in the group. What I have to do is to speak to them. No matter what subject we are talking about, my English speaking skill only goes up so that why I always get A+ in my English test.

To sum up, it is really helpful to have a group of students help you to prepare test or study together. They can figure out the questions you don't know. The most important of all, they can help you speak fluently. That's the reason why you have to study with group of students.

Hi @kenChen

I think the format you have shown is considered great. You split the content equally on every paragraph, and your summary also good, you tell some advantages by studying in a group. I think it's great Ken.

Hao, you need to first stop transliterating your essay from Chinese to English. This practice, which is commonplace for most ESL students, creates an incomprehensible or difficult to understand or analyze sentence and paragraph presentation. This will also be the cause of the failing score for your essay. In paragraph 2, I found it extremely difficult to understand what you were saying in terms relating to that of the topic sentence because your choice of English words did not suit the sentence you were developing. When reader stress is present, the result will be negative for your score.

The regular format for all English exam essays covers 3-5 sentences per paragraph. So your opening statement is short of the required number. You need to split up your presentation into individual sentences so that you can better explain yourself. Don't try to present complex sentences at this point. Just take baby steps. Simple sentences that carry your thoughts accurately will be a better bet than trying to use too many English words that don't really get your point across.

The summary should be nothing more than a restatement of the prompt along with your opinion at the end. Here is an example of a prompt for this topic:

There are students who learn better when they review their lessons alone. Other students, prefer to join group study sessions for several reasons. I personally prefer to study with a group. In this essay, I will explain the reasons and offer examples as to why group studying is a better choice for me.

As for the conclusion, that is actually optional in the TOEFL test. However, if you want to present a concluding paragraph at the end then yes, sum up the things you mentioned in the essay within 3 sentences. I prefer that students offer a conclusion at the end of a TOEFL test because it helps to prove your English comprehension and presentation (ability to understand and discuss) skills. That can easily help to increase your final score.

In a TOEFL essay, you should not use exclamation points because you are supposed to be presenting an academic paper. So only periods and commas should be found in the presentation. Do not pose questions in your paragraphs because you will end up discussing something different from the original prompt in the process. After all, when you present a question, you have to answer it. If the response is not related to the original prompt, then you are in trouble. Hence, it is better to not pose questions within your discussion. Rather, present the questions as statements in order to make it more suitable for the purpose of the essay.

@afriawan33
Thanks

@Holt
Thanks for your advices!
But I want to ask you what do you mean by "I transliterate my essay". I mean in which point and how can I avoid that.

Thanks a lot.