This is an entire test of a real TOEFL Writing Section, extracted from a new real TOEFL test. It has 2 writing tasks, and a sample response for each. The reading passage and lecture transcript are posted again below.
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READING PASSAGE (3 minutes)
Historically, schools in the United States have borrowed the European system of school organization, a system that separates students into grades by chronological age. In general, children begin formal schooling at the age of six in what is referred to as the first grade. For the most part, students progress through twelve grades; however, some students who do not meet minimum requirements for a particular grade may be asked to repeat the year.
Graded schools are divided into primary grades, intermediate grades, and secondary grades. Primary education includes grades 1 through 5 or 6, and may also provide kindergarten as a preparation for first grade. Referred to as elementary school, these grades are usually taught by one teacher in a self-contained classroom. Intermediate grades begin with grade 6 or 7 and offer three years of instruction. At this level, teams of teachers may collaborate to provide subject-based classes similar to those offered in high school. Viewed as a preparation for high school, intermediate education is known as junior high school. At grade 9 or 10, secondary school begins. Classes taught by subject specialists usually last about fifty minutes to allow a student ten minutes to move to the next class before it begins at the top of the hour. At the end of twelve successful grades of instruction, students are eligible for a secondary school diploma, more commonly called a high school diploma.
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LECTURE TRANSCRIPT
Professor: So what are the problems associated with the graded school system? Well, for one thing, graded schools don’t take into account the ... the differences in academic readiness on the part of individual learners. And by that I mean that some six-year-olds are simply not socially, mentally, or even physically mature enough to begin school, but others are ready in all of those important ways by their fifth or even fourth birthdays. And uh . . . by the time that girls and boys are in their early teens, we can see that there’s a significant difference in maturity, in ... in physical and social maturity but . . . they’re still grouped together in intermediate grades in a graded school system.
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SAMPLE ESSAY FOR INTEGRATED WRITING TASK
“The graded school system, which groups students by age, is usually divided into primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. However, according to the lecture, there are several disadvantages to this type of system. In the first place, maturity is not considered. All students begin the first grade at six years old; however, many children are not mature enough to go to school at that age. In contrast, some younger children are ready for school before their sixth birthdays but are denied the opportunity to begin until they reach the required age of six. In addition, the disparity in the maturity of girls and boys is marked in the intermediate grades. Nevertheless, they are still scheduled for classes according to age, not maturity. Even more concerning is the problem of grade-level standards, which rely on testing to evaluate progress by age instead of by actual mastery on the part of individuals. The grade-level system is inefficient because it requires some learners to repeat concepts that they have already learned in order to master those that they still need to know. It also penalizes students who are capable of learning more material than the grade-level curriculum allows. Furthermore, research shows a correlation between low self-esteem and drop-out rates with the requirement that students repeat a calendar year because they have not learned part of the material for their grade.”
