TOEFL speaking practice, tips and tricks

Amine M'Charrak, 03 June 2019

TOEFL Speaking Question Nr. 1

Sometimes the question asks you to describe your answer.

For instance “What is your favorite toy? Describe it and explain why it is your favorite.”.

Basic structure of our answer:

  • a: note down the key word of your answer
    -> (write down your answer WHILE you are still listening to the audio question)
  • r1: note down reason number one to support your answer
  • r2: note down reason number two to support your answer
    -> (use the full 15 seconds of preparation time to come up with two good reasons)

Use the following structure to answer the question.

  1. In my view, … + answer the question + repeat the question + … for two reasons.
  2. Describe the thing/topic of your answer
  3. The first reason is that … for example … The second reason is that … for instance …
  4. That’s why … your answer … is important.

Troubleshooting:

It might be the case that you are not able to come up with two specific reasons. In that case we can simply use two examples for the same reason. You may want to use the expression “on the other hand” when introducing the second example. A simple and straightforward second example might be an example which is exactly the opposite of your previous example, such that it supports the expressiveness of your first example.