2017/1/17 InsidetheTOEFLtestWritingQuestion1

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VideoTitle:InsidetheTOEFLTest
WritingQuestion1
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Michael

Intro

[musicplaying]

Onscreen:
ETSTOEFLInsidetheTOEFLTest

Michael:Hi,I'mMichaelfromETS,andwelcometoInsidetheTOEFLtest.

Michael:Today,we'regoinginsidetheTOEFLiBTwritingsectionspecifically,questionone,the
IntegratedWritingquestion.So,inthenextfewminuteswe'regoingtolookathowthequestionis
structured,howtoapproachthequestion,howyourresponseisscored.We'lllookatasample
responsethatreceivedahighscore,andwe'llgiveyousometipsforimprovingyourwritingskills.

Onscreen:ETSTOEFLWritingQuestion1

QuestionStructure
ApproachTips
ScoringCriteria
SampleResponse
SkillBuildingTips

Michael:So,here'sgenerallywhatquestiononewilllooklike.Forthistask,youwillfirstreada
passageaboutatopic.Then,you'lllistentoashortlecturerelatedtothesametopic.Then,youwill
have20minutestotypeyourresponseatthecomputer.Thereisnomaximumlengthforyour
response,buttypicallyaneffectiveresponsehasbetween150and225words.

Onscreen:

20minutes
150to225words

CriticssaythatcurrentvotingsystemsusedintheUnitedStatesareinefficientandoftenleadtothe
inaccuratecountingofvotes.Miscountscanbeespeciallydamagingifanelectionisclosely
contested.Thosecriticswouldlikethetraditionalsystemstobereplacedwithfarmoreefficient
andtrustworthycomputerizedvotingsystems.

Intraditionalvoting,onemajorsourceofinaccuracyisthatpeopleaccidentallyvoteforthewrong
candidate.Votersusuallyhavetofindthenameoftheircandidateonalargesheetofpaper
containingmanynamestheballotandmakeasmallmarknexttothatname.Peoplewithpoor
eyesightcaneasilymarkthewrongname.Thecomputerizedvotingmachineshaveaneasytouse
touchscreentechnology:tocastavote,avoterneedsonlytotouchthecandidatevoterscaneven
havethecomputermagnifythenameforeasierviewing.

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Anothermajorproblemwitholdvotingsystemsisthattheyrelyheavilyonpeopletocountthe
votes.Officialsmustoftencountupthevotesonebyone,goingthrougheveryballotandrecording
thevote.Sincetheyhavetodealwiththousandsofballots,itisalmostinevitablethattheywill
makemistakes.Ifanerrorisdetected,alongandexpensiverecounthastotakeplace.Incontrast
computerizedsystemsremovethepossibilityofhumanerror,sinceallthevotecountingisdone
quicklyandautomaticallybythecomputers.

Finallysomepeoplesayitistooriskytoimplementcomplicatedvotingtechnologynationwide.But
withoutgivingitathought,governmentsandindividualsaliketrustothercomplexcomputer
technologyeverydaytobeperfectlyaccurateinbankingtransactionsaswellasinthe
communicationofhighlysensitiveinformation.

Michael:Now,let'slookmorecloselyatwhattheIntegratedWritingquestionisaskingyoutodo.

Onscreen:ReadingPassage

3minutestoread
lookforthemainidea
takenotesonkeypoints
don'tneedtomemorize

Michael:First,you'llseethereadingpassage,andyou'llhavethreeminutestoreadit.So,asyou
read,lookforthemainideaofthepassage.Takenotesaboutkeypointsthatrelatetothatmain
idea.Youdon'tneedtomemorizethepassagebecauseitwillreappearonyourscreenwhenit's
timetowrite.

Onscreen:Lecture

sametopic,differentperspective
2minutes
takenotes
listenforpointsthatrespondtothereadingpassage

Michael:Next,you'lllistentoalecture.Thespeakerwilltalkaboutthesametopicfromadifferent
perspectiveforabouttwominutes.Asyoulisten,youcantakenotesonyourscratchpaper.Listen
forinformationthatrespondstothepointsinthereadingpassage.

Onscreen:

Summarizethepointsinthelecture
Explainhowtheyrelatetospecificpointsinthereadingpassage

Michael:Youwillonlyhearthelisteningpassageonce,andwhenit'sfinishedthereadingpassage
willreappearonyourscreenalongwiththequestion.Thequestionwillalwaysaskyouto
summarizethepointsmadeinthelectureandexplainhowtheyrelatetospecificpointsinthe
readingpassage.

Onscreen:ApproachTips

Michael:Nowthatyouunderstandhowthequestionispresented,herearesomestrategiesforwhat
todoasyouprepareandwriteyourresponse.

Onscreen:Mainidea
Currentvotingsystemsareinaccurateandunreliable.Theyshouldbereplacedbycomputerized
voting.

Michael:Aswementionedaboutthereadingpassage,it'simportanttoidentifythemainidea,
whichisusuallyinthefirstparagraph,andseehowit'sdeveloped.Usually,therewillbethree
pointsthatsupportthatmainidea.

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Michael:Forthispassageaboutcomputerizedvoting,themainideaisstatedinthefirstparagraph.
Itbasicallysaysthatcurrentvotingsystemsareinaccurateandunreliable,andshouldbereplaced
bycomputerizedvotingsystems.

Onscreen:Supportingpoints

Computerizedvotingwouldreducemistakesbypeoplewhentheyvote.
Itwouldreducemistakespeoplemakewhentheycountthevotes.
Notanyriskierthanothercommonelectronictransactionslikebanking.

Michael:You'llfindthethreesupportingpointsinthenextthreeparagraphs.Computerizedvoting
wouldreducethemistakespeoplemakewhentheyvote.Itwouldreducethemistakespeoplemake
whentheycountthevotes,anditisn'tanyriskierthananyotherwidelyusedelectronictransactions
likeinbanking.

Inthelisteningpassage,thespeaker'sgoingtoindicatehisorherperspectivenearthebeginningof
thelecture.So,besuretolistencarefully.Inthiscase,it'sclearthatthespeakeropposesachange
toelectronicvoting.

Onscreen:
It'sdoubtfulthatcomputerizedvotingwouldsolvetheproblemsofvoting.

AudioExample:It'sdoubtfulthatcomputerizedvotingwillmakethesituationanybetter.[Audio
fadesouttobackground]

Michael:Then,whenyou'retakingnotesduringthelisteningpassage,rememberyou'relookingfor
specificpointsthatrelatetothepointsinthereading.

AudioExample:Thesevoterscaneasilycastthewrongvoteorbediscouragedfromvotingall
togetherbecauseoffearoftechnology.Furthermore,it'struethathumansmakemistakeswhen
theycountupballotsbyhand,butarewesurethatcomputerswilldoabetterjob?Afterall,
computersareprogrammedbyhumans.So,humanerrorcanshowupinmistakesintheir
programs,andinmanyvotingsystems,thereisnophysicalrecordofthevotes.So,acomputer
recountinthecaseofasuspectederrorisimpossible.Asforourtrustofcomputertechnologyfor
bankingandcommunications,rememberonething,thesesystemsareuseddailyandtheyareused
heavily,butvotinghappensonlyonceeverytwoyearsnationallyintheUnitedStates,andnot
muchmorethantwiceayearinmanylocalareas.Thisishardlysufficientforustodevelop
confidencethatcomputerizedvotingcanbefullytrusted.

Michael:Inthisexample,thespeakermakesseveralpoints.So,afteryoufindthosekeypointsin
thelecture,youmaybeabletomatchupthosepointswiththemainpointsfromthereading.

Onscreen:

Peoplenotfamiliarwithcomputerscanvoteincorrectlyornotatalliftheyareafraidof
them.
Computerscanalsomakemistakescountingvotesifprogrammedpoorly.
Computervotingsystemsdon'thavewrittenrecordsthatcanbechecked.
Computersforbankingareusedeveryday.Votingmachinesareusedonlyonceortwicea
year.

Onscreen:Answerthequestion!

Summarizethelecture
Howthelecturerespondstothepointsinthereadingpassage.

Michael:Finally,andthismaysoundobvious,makesureyouanswerthequestion.Thequestion
willalwaysaskyoutosummarizethelectureanditwillalwaysaskyouhowthelectureresponds

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tothepointsmadeinthereadingpassage.So,ifyouonlywriteaboutwhat'sinthereadingpassage,
you'renotansweringthequestion.

Onscreen:Scoringcriteria

Michael:Beforethetest,makesureyouunderstandwhattheratersarelookingforandhoweach
questionisscored.Thetasksinthewritingsectionwilleachbegivenanoverallscorefromzeroto
five.

Onscreen:Accuratedevelopment

Michael:Forquestionone,theIntegratedWritingquestion,ratersarelookingforthreemainthings
accuratedevelopment,organizationandlanguageuse.

Onscreen:

Howwellyouselectimportantinformationfromthelecture.
Howwellyoupresentitinrelationtorelevantinformationfromthereading.

Michael:First,accuratedevelopment:Theratersarelookingforhowwellyou'reabletoselect
importantinformationfromthelecture,thenclearlypresentitinrelationtotherelevant
informationfromthereading.

Onscreen:Organization

Writeinparagraphs
Usetransitions
Avoidredundancy

Michael:Second,organization:Thisbasicallymeansthereadercanreadyouressayfrom
beginningtoendwithoutbecomingconfused.Youcanhelpthereaderfollowyourideasbywriting
inparagraphsandusinggoodtransitionsandavoidredundancy,whichissayingthesamethings
overandover,justusingdifferentwords.

Onscreen:Languageuse

Sentencestructure
Wordchoice
Vocabulary
Useofgrammar

Michael:Thethirdcriterionislanguageuse.Ratersarelookingforthingslikesentencestructure,
wordchoiceandvocabulary.It'salsoimportantthatyouruseofgrammarisstrongandconsistent,
thoughitdoesn'thavetobeperfecttogetatopscore.

Onscreen:Sampleresponse

Michael:Now,let'slookatasampleresponsetothissamequestionaboutcomputerizedvotingthat
receivedascoreoffiveonafivepointscale.Thisresponseisverywellorganizedanditdoesa
verygoodjobofselectingtheimportantinformationfromthepointsmadeinthelectureand
explaininghowtheinformationrelatestoeachoftheclaimsmadeinthereadingpassage.

Onscreen:Scoreof5ona5pointscale

Wellorganized
Selectsimportantinformationfromthelecture
Explainshowthepointsinthelecturerelatetoclaimsinthereadingpassage

Michael:First,itsaysthatmanyvotersareunfamiliarwithcomputers.So,somevotersmayendup
notvotingatall,andthiscounterstheargumentthatcomputerizedvotingismoreuserfriendlyand
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preventsthevotingresultsfrombeingdistorted.

Second,itdirectlychallengestheargumentthatcomputerizedvotingwillresultinfewermiscounts
bysayingthatcomputerprogrammingerrorscouldresultsinevenlargermiscountorthelossof
votingrecords.

Third,itrejectstheideathatcomputerizedvotingwouldbesimilartocomputerizedbankingby
pointingoutthatthecomputerizedbankingisonlyreliablebecauseitissofrequentlyused,and
thatdoesnotapplytovoting.

Onscreen:Scoreof5ona5pointscale

Michael:So,overall,theresponseiswellorganized,anditshowsthewriterreallyunderstands
howtoexplainthewaysinwhichonesourcedisagreeswithanother.Thereareoccasionalminor
languageerrorslike"Somepeoplearenotusedofcomputers,"insteadof"Somepeoplearenot
usedtocomputers,"andmaking"miscounted"twowordsinsteadofone,buttherearen'tverymany
ofthesekindsoferrors.Mostimportant,theydon'tmakethecontentoftheresponseunclearor
inaccurate.So,thisresponsewouldreceivethehighestscoreoffiveoutoffive.It'sagoodexample
ofhowyourresponsedoesn'thavetobeperfecttogetahighscore.Formoredetailsaboutscoring
thistypeofquestion,lookattheIntegratedWritingRubrics.

Onscreen:SkillBuildingTips
Practiceparaphrasing,whichisexpressingthesameideaindifferentways

Michael:Nowhereareafewtipsthatcanhelpyouimproveyourwritingskills.First,practice
paraphrasing,whichisexpressingthesameideaindifferentways.Knowinghowtoparaphraseis
importantbecauseitgivesyoumoreoptionswhenyouneedtorespondtoaquestion.Youcan
practiceparaphrasingjustaboutanythinganewsarticle,atelevisionad,anemailfromafriend,
apoem,basicallyanythingyoureadorhear.

Onscreen:Buildyourvocabulary
Practiceusingsynonymswhenyouwrite.

Michael:Tobeabletoparaphrasewellandtowritewell,youneedtobuildyourvocabulary.It's
importanttobeabletousesynonymsofkeywordswhenyouwrite.

Onscreen:Practiceidentifyingmainpoints
Listentorecordedlecturesandwritedownthemainpoints.

Michael:Next,rememberhowwesaiditwasimportanttobeabletoidentifymainpoints?Youcan
practicethisbylisteningtorecordedlecturesandwritingdownwhatthemainpointsare.Thisisa
greatactivitytodowithastudypartnerbecauseyoucancomparenotes.

Onscreen:
Readtwoarticlesonthesametopicandwriteasummaryofeach.
Explainwaystheyaresimilarandwaystheyaredifferent.

Michael:Here'sanothertip:Readtwoarticlesthatareonthesametopic,andwriteasummaryof
each.Then,explainthewaysinwhichtheyaresimilarandthewaysthatthey'redifferent.

Onscreen:ETSTOEFLWritingQuestion1

Michael:TherearelotsofwaystoimproveyourEnglishskills.Whateveryoudo,keeppracticing
andgoodluckonyourTOEFLtest.

[END]

Totallengthofvideo:9:22

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2017/1/17 InsidetheTOEFLtestWritingQuestion1

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