In compliance with a recent U.S. Treasury (OFAC) regulatory change, TOEFL and GRE testing within Iran has been paused effective immediately. Iranian nationals may continue to test outside Iran where testing is available. Affected test takers will be contacted directly regarding cancellations and next steps. [Find out more]
TOEFL Essentials Writing Section
The TOEFL Essentials Writing section measures your ability to write, review and edit texts in English for different communication purposes, such as emails and online discussions.
There are 14 to 18 Build a Sentence questions and two writing tasks. The section takes 24–30 minutes to complete.
Writing tasks
- Build a Sentence
View a sentence with words or phrases in the wrong order and move them to form a grammatically correct sentence. - Write an Email
Write an email for a specific purpose — for example, making a recommendation, extending an invitation or proposing a solution to a problem. - Describe a Photo
Write a social media post about a photo. Describe the photo to your social media friends. - Write for an Academic Discussion
State and support an opinion on a given topic in an online class discussion forum.
Your test will include the Describe a Photo task or the Write for an Academic Discussion task, but not both.
