Academic Discussion: task 3

 Here's the essay that I wrote for the third academic discussion. You can find them at https://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt-enhancements/prep.html

I wrote 173 words (7 minutes), so I needed to take 2 photos of the screen.

Notes:

I tried to "contribute to the discussion" by acknowledging Kelly and Paul's contributions, but also saying that water and air pollution aren't big problems in Tokyo.

Then in paragraph two, I explained that climate change (global warming) is a big problem in Tokyo. Anyone who was here 30 years ago knows that it's gotten much warmer, and summers can get dangerously hot.

Finally, at the end of paragraph two, I suggested that scientists should try to pull CO2 out of the air to solve/ameliorate the problem.

This one got 5.0 too. I'm going to try some shorter essays to test the recommended 100 words.

My school, E4TG, will begin offering TOEFL Writing July 31, 2023.

New Academic Discussion writing tasks

 As of late June 2023, ETS has published 23 Academic Discussion tasks for TOEFL Writing. They are in the subjects of:

• business

• education

• ecology

• economics

• political science

• psychology

• public policy

• sociology

In other words, social sciences. It makes sense for ETS to use social science topics because they are topics that people disagree about. I will not be surprised to see tasks from other social sciences, such as anthropology, geography, law, and linguistics.

It seems to me that the hard sciences and literature/history are too difficult for this task. Also, there are already plenty of biology and paleontology tasks on the integrated writing task.

The questions are similar to the independent writing questions in the Official Guide to TOEFL iBT. Some of them are open-ended (you can write about anything you like), and some of them are forced choices (choose one of two choices).

With this logic in mind, I’ve written 32 academic discussions (and am continuing to write more). E4TG will begin offering an online (by email) Academic Discussion scoring service in late July, 2023.

For more information, contact Donald at toeflcoach@gmail.com.

感染の緊急事態宣言に関する

We're going to follow the Abe administration's declaration of emergency and close from April 6 until at least May 6. I'll post the next schedule when we make that decision, but we won't be accepting new students until after Golden Week.

What should you do to prepare for TOEFL in the meantime?

1. Listening is the most important language skill, and it's the least stable TOEFL section score. Working on that should be priority #1. The best practice is dictation. And when you get good at that, reproduction is faster and more interesting.
2. Vocabulary is another area people need to improve. The general advice is N+1. Your level is N; you should read materials that are "+1," or SLIGHTLY above your current level. Read things that are interesting to you, but cover all your bases (all of the arts and sciences). Wikipedia is your friend. 
3. Grammar is another language skill that many people need to improve. My general advice is to simplify your grammar. Unfortunately, the Japanese school system seems to believe that complexity = good. That's dumb. TOEFL is a communication test, not a complex grammar test. Aim to use natural expressions, not just complex ones.
4. Fluency and intonation are important for the speaking section, and I'm going to try to make some videos to explain some key ideas later this week. I'll announce them on the blog when I post them to Youtube.
5. Don't study for long periods. Research shows that you have 15-20 minutes of high-level attention. After that, you lose focus. So break your study up into 15-20 minute chunks. At E4TG, we always say 期間より頻度. That's good advice.

Be safe and be focused. If you work on these things now, you'll be well-prepared for our TOEFL speaking classes when we resume.  

MBA Interview Seminar

John Couke and Adam Markus are hosting an MBA Interview Workshop at E4TG in the afternoon of October 11. John was director of admissions consulting at AGOS, and Adam was director of admissions consulting at The Princeton Review Japan. You will not find better interview counselors in Japan. There are a few seats left. 

Please contact John directly to register!

2014 Admissions results

It looks like we've got 20 students going to top ten American business schools this year. That is down a little from last year, mostly because we have fewer people going to Kellogg and UCLA.

However, we also had 14 people accepted at Stanford and Harvard, which is more than twice previous years.

At Stanford, we have one person joining the two year MBA, two joining the one year MSX program, and FOUR joining the LLM program.

At Harvard, we have three in the MBA program, two in the LLM program, two in Harvand Kennedy School, and one in the School of Design (architecture).


Congratulations everyone! I wish you all the best at graduate school!

Limits on taking the TOEFL (again)

ETS is limited how often you can take the TOEFL test to once every 12 days:

You can retake the test as many times as you wish, but you cannot take it more than once in a 12-day period. If you already have a test appointment, you cannot register for another test date that is within 12 days of your existing appointment.

 As I've said before, you should take TOEFL as often as possible once you hit 95 because the difficulty varies from test to test. So this is a disappointment.

Please use English well!