An essay collection for Toefl

Essay Collection For TOEFL– Mời bạn vào đây để có thêm thông tin tài liệu ôn thi tiếng Anh 
An Essay Collection 
For TOEFL 
COLLECTED BY 
WWW.DETHI.COM 
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Essay Collection For TOEFL– Mời bạn vào đây để có thêm thông tin tài liệu ôn thi tiếng Anh 
Sample Essays For TOEFL 
2) Why do you think people attend college or university? Use specific reasons 
and examples to support your answer. 
(a) College is a place that the students can learn more and new knowledge and experience 
in it. Of course, different people have different reason to study in college. For example, 
some people want to be to go on a further study after they graduate from the college; some 
people hope to find a good job after their studying in the college and also some people 
wish to exchange their present situation through studying in the college. In my opinion, no 
matter what reason people study in the college for, studying in the college is just a 
preparation for their future’ life. 
First of all, students can learn new knowledge and experiences from the studying in the 
college. There are many teachers, professors with abundant teaching experience who 
teach students lots of new knowledge and help them to solve the problems in their study. 
With their help, student can learn a lot of useful basic and professional knowledge which 
is very helpful for their future’ work and study. After they finish their study in the college, 
students go to work in the society and contribute to the different fields. 
Secondly, students can learn how to arrange their own time reasonably. Before their 
studying in college, their life often arranged by their parents and their study often arranged 
by their teachers. It is very different for them to live and study in college, because students 
studying in college have to arrange their life and study by themselves. They have right to 
arrange their part time, such as when to get up, when is the sport-time, when to finish the 
assignment etc. This is very important experience for students’ work and life in the future. 
Thirdly, studying in the college make students having opportunity to live with other 
student and learn how to cooperate with other people. Usually, people often have 
uncomfortable feeling to live with a stranger, because they do not know each other and 
perhaps their habit and personality are different. But for the long run, it is good for them. 
They have to cooperate with each other and solve a lot of problems they will face together. 
Gradually, they can learn how to care and understand other people. It is a preparation for 
students to go to cooperate with other people in the society. 
All in all, students not only can learn lots of new knowledge from the books but also can 
learn much more necessary experience such as how to arrange time and how to cooperate 
with other people. It is very important for their future work and life. 
(b) People study in college or university for many different reasons. I think the most 
important reason is to gain more knowledge and learn more skills. Of course, there are also 
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many other reasons that people study in college such as to get more friends, and increase 
one's self-confidence. 
These days, most jobs require people who are educated and have good job skills. 
Therefore, the people who want a good job have to study hard and at least graduate with a 
high education. Furthermore, as technology advances all over the world, more and more 
education is required of people. 
Some people who study in college or university want to make more friends and increase 
their interpersonal skills. They enjoy their lives in university or college and tend to 
socialize a lot. They can meet more people who have the similar interests with themselves. 
They can go to uni ball after school and make more friends who they trust. 
The people who graduate from college seem more confident in our community. These 
people are more respected by society. Many people want to be respected and to be 
important by family, friends, their bosses, and others in their lives. They find that most 
of them can confidently talk and do their jobs, as they are more educated. Therefore, 
most people want to get the confidence through the university or college study. 
In today's society, people need more knowledge and skills to be adapted. The 
university and college study is a good way to achieve this. 
3) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Parents are the best teachers. 
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 
(a) Obviously, the first teachers we have in our lives in most cases are our parents. They 
teach us to walk, to speak, and to have good manners before we reach "the real world." 
More than even the professional teachers that we have in school, parents are generally the 
most involved in t ... chnology such as computers or television or of studying at traditional schools. Which 
would you prefer? Use reasons and specific details to explain your choice. 
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158) When famous people such as actors, athletes and rock stars give their opinions, 
many people listen. Do you think we should pay attention to these opinions? Use specific 
reasons and examples to support your answer. 
159) The twentieth century saw great change. In your opinion, what is one change that 
should be remembered about the twentieth century? Use specific reasons and details to 
explain your choice. 
160) When people need to complain about a product or poor service, some prefer to 
complain in writing and others prefer to complain in person. Which way do you prefer? 
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 
161) People remember special gifts or presents that they have received. Why? Use 
specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 
162) Some famous athletes and entertainers earn millions of dollars every year. Do you 
think these people deserve such high salaries? Use specific reasons and examples to 
support your opinion. 
163) Is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past? Why or why 
not? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 
(a) It is a very dangerous thing to say that basic literacy skills are more important now than 
they have ever been in the past. While a strong argument can be made in favor of this idea, 
making such an argument would imply that reading and writing were somehow less 
important in the past. While there is a grain of truth to the argument that literacy was not 
fundamental to the daily existence of most people in the pre-Industrial Revolution period, 
rationalizing such a lack of need for education in such a way is the first step to withholding 
education from certain groups, a great social crime that has led to the disempowerment of 
disadvantage groups all over the world throughout history. However, if we can keep in 
mind that education is a basic human right, then we can discuss the strengths of the 
proposition that literacy is more important now than it has ever been before. 
It is true that in the past the majority of people all over the world made their livelihood 
from agricultural activities and that the vast majority of these activities required little or no 
literacy skills. In some senses, we could argue that literacy skills were less important in the 
agricultural age than they are now, but to do so would be to forget that literacy also reflects 
an active mind and that people have always needed to engage in activities of the mind. For 
example, even though a farmer might have labored all day in her cornfield, she may enjoy 
reading the latest Jane Austen novel when arrived at home. We can see in this example 
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that while literacy was not directly related to this laborer's livelihood, literacy was 
important to her quality of life. 
However, we could make a good argument that literacy is more important now that it was 
in the past. As we all know, the world is experiencing a revolution that may turn out to be 
more important than the Industrial Revolution. We are now entering the Information 
Age, an age in which information and knowledge have more value than the ability to 
build machines, create "stuff," grow crops, or even mine precious metals and produce 
gemstones. Nowadays, accurate information may be worth more than the most expensive 
Rolls Royce or the biggest diamond. The perfect example of this increasing dominance is 
the explosive rise in the popularity of the Internet--the Internet offers the world countless 
bytes of information twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. 
Companies all over the world, but principally in the United States, are rushing to stake 
their claim in cyberspace and stiff competition among companies has resulted. In order to 
gain dominance, these companies must have the best-skilled workers, an advanced 
understanding of computer systems, and good intuition about what will happen in the 
future. All of these abilities to compete in the global marketplace stem directly from 
literacy skills and those without these skills will be stuck in the service, agricultural, and 
heavy industry fields. 
In short, we can see that people in the past who were lacking in literacy skills essentially 
had more company than those lacking these skills have today and could still earn their 
livelihood. Further, we could argue that because of the nature of the global marketplace 
and because of the emergence of the Information Age, we could make the argument that 
literacy is fundamental to professional success nowadays. However, literacy should be 
considered a basic human right in a literate society--all people throughout history should 
have learned to read and write. 
(b) While some countries have strong programs against illiteracy, others still do not care 
that much. But, illiteracy has become a big obstacle during the last century and is still 
problematic question now with quick development of technology and automation. From 
my everyday experience and observation I can state several factors, which defend the 
statement, that reading and writing now is more important than ever before. 
First of all, it is essential for a person to have at least basic knowledge of reading and 
writing to survive in our society. While in the past, some people could live in wilderness or 
even in cities without any knowledge of written language, now it is almost impossible. The 
way of living has change so much that it is impossible to be a part of nation, especially in 
developed countries, without ability to read and write your bills, to understand your 
mortgage documents or job applications. Moreover, you can go nowhere by yourself but in 
your own small town without reading the maps and signs on the roads and in cities. 
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Second, nowadays, most of jobs require reading and writing as necessary skills and 
tendency that these skills will be more and more important for future jobs increases. In 
fact, because of sharp development of technology, more of jobs on the labor market are for 
literate people and less of them are for people without any or slight reading or writing 
knowledge. For example, there are not needed so much people who can work on lands or 
select parts in auto- factories because the machines do that kinds of jobs now. On the other 
hand, factories and corporations need people who can read the instructions and control the 
machines. It is barely true that without jobs that need only physical abilities, illiterate 
people are forced to be constantly on unemployment lists. 
In conclusion, the most scare part of living illiterate in our society is maybe living 
dependable of someone. An illiterate person will have difficulties not only to do simple 
tasks such as writing bills, withdrawing money from cash machines, or reading menu in a 
restaurant, but also to be a productive and useful individual of our society with job and 
normal life. 
164) People do many different things to stay healthy. What do you do for good health? 
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 
165) You have decided to give several hours of your time each month to improve the 
community where you live. What is one thing you will do to improve your community? 
Why? Use specific reasons and details to explain your choice. 
166) People recognize a difference between children and adults. What events 
(experiences or ceremonies) make a person an adult? Use specific reasons and examples 
to explain your answer. 
167) Your school has enough money to purchase either computer for students or books 
for the library. Which should your school choose to buy — computers or books? Use 
specific reasons and examples to support your recommendation. 
168) Many students choose to attend schools or universities outside their home 
countries. Why do some students study abroad? Use specific reasons and details 
to explain your answer. 
169) People listen to music for different reasons and at different times. Why is music 
important to many people? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice. 
170) Groups or organizations are an important part of some people’s lives. Why are 
groups or organizations important to people? Use specific reasons and examples to 
explain your answer. 
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171) Imagine that you are preparing for a trip. You plan to be away from your home for 
a year. In addition to clothing and personal care items, you can take one additional 
thing. What would you take and why? Use specific reasons and details to support your 
choice. 
172) When students move to a new school, they sometimes face problems. How can 
schools help these students with their problems? Use specific reasons and examples to 
explain your answer. 
173) It is sometimes said that borrowing money from a friend can harm or damage 
the friendship. Do you agree? Why or why not? Use reasons and specific examples to 
explain your answer. 
174) Every generation of people is different in important ways. How is your generation 
different from your parents’ generation? Use specific reasons and examples to explain 
your answer. 
175) Some students like classes where teachers lecture (do all of the talking) in class. 
Other students prefer classes where the students do some of the talking. Which type 
of class do you prefer? Give specific reasons and details to support your choice. 
176) Holidays honor people or events. If you could create a new holiday, what person or 
event would it honor and how would you want people to celebrate it? Use specific 
reasons and details to support your answer. 
(a) Most countries already have many holidays. In my country, Taiwan, we have nineteen 
official holidays. However, I believe that my new holiday, "Walking Day" would be very 
beneficial and should be added to the nineteen holidays Taiwan already has. In this essay, I 
will outline the three main reasons why "Walking Day" would be a very good holiday. 
First, walking is good exercise. As we all know, people all over the world are becoming 
busier and busier. They are studying more and more so that they can have better jobs. 
When they work, they are working more and more. As a result, people have less time for 
other important things in their lives, including exercise. We can read reports in the 
newspapers everyday about people who have worse health and complain about poor health 
condition. Exercising more could reduce many of these problems and walking is one of the 
best and simplest exercises for people. 
Second, by walking, we can reduce pollution and thereby protect the environment. As 
technology improves all over the world and people have more and more money, they are 
starting to use this money to buy automobiles. As a result, people are using public 
transportation less and less. Driving one's own car every day has had a very large impact 
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on the environment as a result of the pollution created by gas burning automobiles. 
Walking is the perfect way to reduce pollution since there are so many other benefits 
as well. 
Finally, by walking, people can slow down the pace of their lives. Perhaps this is one of 
the greatest benefits of walking more. Life at the beginning of the new millennium is 
stressful--people are competing with each other for better jobs, countries and companies 
are competing with each other for business. Many people start to forget about the 
importance of slowing down in their lives, of simply enjoying the moment. People need to 
contemplate life more. Walking is a perfect opportunity to slow down, think about life, and 
simply enjoy the big, beautiful world that we live in. 
Finally, we could celebrate this holiday by encouraging people to walk instead of driving 
or taking the bus for at least one trip during the day. I believe that people could find at 
least one trip during the day that they could make on foot instead of some other form of 
transportation. For example, if people usually drive to a large supermarket to buy food, 
perhaps they could walk to a closer, smaller market to buy only a few things. I believe that 
while people were walking, they would be able to enjoy the exercise and the fresh air and 
would be able to think calmly and clearly. 
In short, if I had to create a new holiday, I would create "Walking Day" because of the 
many simple benefits it could provide us. 
177) A friend of yours has received some money and plans to use all of it either 
• to go on vacation 
• to buy a car 
178) Your friend has asked you for advice. Compare your friend’s two choices and 
explain which one you think your friend should choose. Use specific reasons and details 
to support your choice. 
179) The 21st century has begun. What changes do you think this new century will 
bring? Use examples and details in your answer. What are some of the qualities of a 
good parent? Use specific details and examples to explain your answer. 
180) Movies are popular all over the world. Explain why movies are so popular. Use 
reasons and specific examples to support your answer. 
181) In your country, is there more need for land to be left in its natural condition or is 
there more need for land to be developed for housing and industry? Use specific reasons 
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and examples to support your answer. 
182) Many people have a close relationship with their pets. These people treat their 
birds, cats, or other animals as members of their family. In your opinion, are such 
relationships good? Why or why not? Use specific reasons and examples to support 
your answer. 
183) Films can tell us a lot about the country where they were made. What have you 
learned about a country from watching its movies? Use specific examples and details to 
support your response. 
184) Some students prefer to study alone. Others prefer to study with a group of 
students. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support 
your answer. 
185) You have enough money to purchase either a house or a business. Which would 
you choose to buy? Give specific reasons to explain your choice. 
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