11 lessons in the Writing course
Work through them in order, or jump straight to the task that keeps costing you marks.
- 1StartStart hereFree
How TOEFL Writing Works in 2026
TOEFL Writing 2026 is 23 minutes and 12 items: ten Build a Sentence, one email and one academic discussion. The format, the timers and how the band is set.
- 2StartLesson 2Monthly & Premium
How Writing Is Scored: The Rubric in Plain English
What separates a 3 from a 4 and a 4 from a 5 on TOEFL Writing. The 0 to 5 band descriptors for the email and discussion tasks, decoded with real examples.
- 3StartLesson 3Monthly & Premium
Build a Sentence: All 10 Items, Every Pattern
Build a Sentence is 10 items and a third of your TOEFL Writing band. The recurring grammar patterns, why some items have two right answers, and 15 drills.
- 4StartLesson 4Monthly & Premium
Write an Email: The Structure That Scores
The TOEFL email task is 5 points in about seven minutes. The paragraph structure that covers every required point, plus model answers at bands 2 to 5.
- 5StartLesson 5Monthly & Premium
Write an Email: Register, Tone and Politeness
TOEFL email tasks are not all written to a professor. How to read the recipient, pick the right register, and use the polite forms raters reward.
- 6StartLesson 6Monthly & Premium
Academic Discussion: The Structure That Scores
The TOEFL academic discussion is 5 points in about ten minutes. The four-move structure that reaches band 5, with model posts at bands 2, 3, 4 and 5.
- 7StartLesson 7Monthly & Premium
Academic Discussion: Engaging With the Other Students
Engaging with the two classmate posts separates band 4 from band 5 on the TOEFL discussion task. Six engagement moves, with examples and a full model.
- 8StartLesson 8Monthly & Premium
The Grammar That Actually Moves Your Band
Not all grammar errors cost the same. Which mistakes block meaning and drop your TOEFL Writing band, which raters tolerate, and what lifts a 4 to a 5.
- 9StartLesson 9Monthly & Premium
Vocabulary Range Without Sounding Forced
The TOEFL rubric asks for precise, well-chosen vocabulary, not rare words. What precision means, which upgrades raters reward, and which cost you marks.
- 10StartLesson 10Monthly & Premium
Pacing: Splitting 23 Minutes Across Three Tasks
TOEFL Writing is 23 minutes across three separate timers. A minute-by-minute plan for Build a Sentence, the email and the discussion, plus how to catch up.
- 11StartLesson 11Monthly & Premium
Why Good English Still Scores Badly
Fluent writers lose TOEFL Writing bands to avoidable traps: templates, vague requests, ignored classmates, copied prompts and cut-off sentences.
What trips most students up in Writing
These are the habits that cost marks most often. Each one is covered properly inside the course.
Reaching for impressive vocabulary
Writing is scored on four equally weighted areas and none of them rewards difficulty for its own sake. A precise common word beats a misused rare one every time, and the misuse is what the rater notices.
Writing a memorised template that ignores the prompt
A structure you can think inside is useful. A paragraph you have pre-written is not, because raters can see when a response is answering a different question from the one asked.
Spending too long on Build a Sentence
It is 10 of the 12 Writing items, so it deserves real time, but each individual item is short. Students who agonise over word order early arrive at the Email and Discussion tasks with nothing left on the clock.
Getting the register wrong on the Email task
Task 1 can address a professor or a peer, and the same email sent to the wrong one loses marks. Deciding formal or informal before writing a word takes five seconds and prevents the whole response from being misjudged.
Common questions
What students ask about the Writing course.
Three: Build a Sentence, Write an Email and Academic Discussion, 23 minutes for 12 items in total. Build a Sentence alone is 10 of those 12 items, which is why it gets a full lesson of its own in this course.
On four equally weighted areas, and none of them is impressive vocabulary. The scoring lesson covers what raters actually reward, which is usually the opposite of what students assume: clear, correct, well-organised writing beats ambitious writing with slips in it.
Yes. The email lesson gives one structure that fits every Task 1 prompt shape, and the discussion lessons give a repeatable four-part map. They are frames to think inside, not scripts to memorise, because a memorised answer that ignores the prompt scores badly.
Long enough to make a clear position and support it properly, which in practice is a focused paragraph rather than an essay. The course covers what the length actually needs to do rather than giving a word count to hit blindly.
Ready to test it?
Lessons teach the method. A timed attempt tells you whether it stuck.