TOEFL Email Task — Band 5 Sample Response (Lab Schedule)

Prompt

You receive the following email from your laboratory teaching assistant.

Subject: BIO 240 Friday lab section — schedule change

Hi everyone,

The department has assigned our usual Friday-afternoon lab room to a different course for the rest of the term, so I need to move our weekly section. The two options I have are:

  Option A: Tuesdays 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM in Room 214
  Option B: Thursdays 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM in Room 308

Please reply by Wednesday with your preference and let me know if either time creates a serious conflict for you. Whichever option a clear majority chooses is the one I will book.

Thanks,
Daniel (TA, BIO 240)

Instructions: Write a reply of 100-150 words. State a preference, give a clear reason for your choice, and raise any conflict that the new time would create.

Sample response

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for sorting out a new room so quickly. Of the two options, I have a clear preference for Option A — Tuesdays 4:30-6:30 in Room 214. The main reason is that Thursday mornings are when our lecture-section problem sets are due at 9:00, and an 8:00 AM lab the same morning would mean writing them up the night before in a rush rather than after the lecture has fully landed.

I do want to flag one issue with Option A. Our cohort has a recurring research-methods workshop that ends at 4:15 in Hutton Hall, which is across campus from Room 214. I can make it on time most weeks, but if the workshop runs five minutes long I will be a few minutes late. Could the lab plan to start with the safety briefing so that latecomers do not miss the experimental setup?

Best,
Aarav

Rubric breakdown

What works in this response

• States a preference in the first line of the second paragraph. Examiners reward responses that commit early — wishy-washy "either is fine" answers fail the prompt.
• Reasons are causal, not categorical: it explains why the early Thursday is bad (collision with the same-day problem-set deadline), rather than just labelling it inconvenient.
• The Hutton-Hall conflict is raised as a real-world detail with a concrete ask attached (start with the safety briefing). This converts a complaint into a useful planning input — a band 5 move.
• Length is right in the middle of the 100-150 target. Going much over typically signals padding and risks losing structure.
• Mirrors the TA's register: first-name greeting, clipped sign-off, no "Dear Sir / Madam" stiffness. Mismatched register is one of the easiest band-3 errors on this task type.

How to push higher

At band 5.0 there is little headroom on this task. The only optimisation worth attempting is more idiomatic discourse markers (that said, granted, on balance) used to manage the small concession in the second paragraph. The current response is fine without them, so this is purely about ceiling-raising rather than fixing a weakness.

Common mistakes at lower bands on this prompt

Band 3 responses on this scheduling prompt typically (1) fail to commit to an option and instead list pros and cons of both, leaving Daniel with no information to act on; (2) raise a generic "I am busy" conflict with no named clash; (3) miss the closing question entirely, treating the email as a one-way confirmation rather than the start of a planning conversation. Band 4 responses commit to a preference but skip the conflict altogether, leaving Daniel to discover it on the day. The single biggest band-3-to-band-4 move on this prompt is naming a specific conflict with a specific course, room, or time — anything that turns a vague reservation into something the TA can plan around.

More TOEFL Writing samples

• Email task — Band 5 sample (grading-scheme change)
• Email task — Band 3 sample (with critique)
• Academic Discussion — Band 5 sample
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