{"id":382,"date":"2024-04-28T20:25:33","date_gmt":"2024-04-28T11:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/?p=382"},"modified":"2024-05-02T11:58:27","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T02:58:27","slug":"my-strategy-for-english-writing-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/2024\/04\/28\/my-strategy-for-english-writing-tests\/","title":{"rendered":"My Strategy for English Writing Tests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In this blog post, I&#8217;d like to <strong><em>propose<\/em><\/strong> (suggest) a strategy you can use in English writing tests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This will be based on the requirements of the Japanese Eiken pre-1 test. That&#8217;s <strong><em>equivalent to<\/em><\/strong> (similar to) CEFR B2 or TOEIC 730+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Requirements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Write an essay on the given <strong>topic<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use <strong>two<\/strong> of the four <strong>points<\/strong> provided to support your answer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Structure: introduction, main body, conclusion<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Length: 120 ~ 150 words<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Example Topic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>TOPIC: <\/strong>Agree or disagree: Social media improves our understanding of different cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>POINTS<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Online learning<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>False information<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ease of communication <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cultural exchange<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Choosing Two Points<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The first challenge is to choose which of the two points you want to write about. Let&#8217;s do a brainstorm. It will help us decide whether to answer the question with &#8220;agree&#8221; or &#8220;disagree&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I recommend trying to think of two keywords for each point, which might be difficult, especially if you don&#8217;t have much time. Maybe your keywords look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Online learning: <strong>resources<\/strong>, <strong>work together<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>False information: <strong>fake news<\/strong>, ???<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ease of communication: <strong>speed<\/strong>, <strong>translations<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cultural exchange: ???, ???<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s fine! Now you know you should write about <strong><em>online learning<\/em><\/strong> and <strong><em>ease of communication<\/em><\/strong>. Because all the keywords are positive, we can answer the question with &#8220;<strong>I agree<\/strong>&#8220;. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I agree that social media can help us understand different cultures. There are two reasons why I think so.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notice how I changed the wording a little so it&#8217;s not copying the question exactly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Let&#8217;s Talk About Scoring<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Essays are given points based on: Content, Structure, Vocabulary and Grammar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you look at example answers in a textbook, they usually show you <em>perfect <\/em>answers. That can be quite <strong><em>intimidating <\/em><\/strong>(scary). I prefer to focus on writing an essay that isn&#8217;t perfect, but good enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why? Well, if you force high-level vocabulary and grammar into your essay, you are more likely to make mistakes and lose points. Even if you don&#8217;t make mistakes, your word and grammar choices might not sound natural in the context of the essay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, let&#8217;s <strong>keep it simple<\/strong> and get a score that&#8217;s good enough to pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/essay_writing.png?resize=960%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/essay_writing.png?w=960&amp;ssl=1 960w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/essay_writing.png?resize=300%2C94&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/essay_writing.png?resize=768%2C240&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Main Body<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We need to give two reasons, so we&#8217;ll do that in two separate paragraphs and use <strong>Statement<\/strong>, <strong>Reason<\/strong>, and<strong> Example<\/strong> to give each one some structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. Online learning: <strong>resources<\/strong>, <strong>work together<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Statement: <\/strong><em>Firstly, we can understand other cultures better through educational content and opportunities to <strong>collaborate<\/strong> (work together).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reason:<\/strong> <em>Online platforms offer videos and articles about different countries, as well as forums for discussions with people worldwide.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Example:<\/strong> <em>For instance, someone could watch a Japanese tea ceremony tutorial on YouTube and then discuss the experience with viewers from Japan and other countries in the video comments.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. Ease of communication: <strong>speed<\/strong>, <strong>translations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Statement:<\/strong> <em>Secondly, social media helps us communicate across different cultures by allowing fast conversations and removing language barriers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reason:<\/strong> <em>These platforms have instant messaging and comments, along with automatic translation to make <strong>interactions<\/strong> (communication) more accessible and meaningful.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Example:<\/strong> <em>For example, a British student learning Spanish can instantly chat with a native speaker in Argentina using real-time translation on platforms like WhatsApp<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>For these reasons, I think social media helps people learn about different cultures.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that&#8217;s the whole essay! Below is the complete, final answer, which is <strong>exactly 150 words<\/strong>! \ud83d\ude04<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/essay_success.png?resize=960%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/essay_success.png?w=960&amp;ssl=1 960w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/essay_success.png?resize=300%2C94&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/essay_success.png?resize=768%2C240&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Final Answer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I agree that social media can help us understand different cultures. There are two reasons why I think so.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Firstly, we can understand other cultures better through educational content and opportunities to collaborate.<\/em> <em>Online platforms offer videos and articles about different countries, as well as forums for discussions with people worldwide.<\/em> <em>For instance, someone could watch a Japanese tea ceremony tutorial on YouTube and then discuss the experience with viewers from Japan and other countries in the video comments.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Secondly, social media helps us communicate across different cultures by allowing fast conversations and removing language barriers.<\/em> <em><em>These platforms have instant messaging and comments, along with automatic translation to make interactions more accessible and meaningful.<\/em><\/em> <em>For example, a British student learning Spanish can instantly chat with a native speaker in Argentina using real-time translation on platforms like WhatsApp<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>For these reasons, I think social media helps people learn about different cultures.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wrap-up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope this has been helpful. For me, the <strong><em>Statement &#8211; Reason &#8211; Example<\/em><\/strong> approach is my favorite way to structure an answer, whether written or in a speech. Keep it in mind and practise it when you can!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re enjoying my blog and would like to get new posts in your email, please <a href=\"#subscribe-blog\">subscribe<\/a>. If you have friends who might like these posts, please share <a href=\"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\">this link<\/a> with them. I really appreciate it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All the best,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this blog post, I&#8217;d like to propose (suggest) a strategy you can use in English writing tests. This will be based on the requirements of the Japanese Eiken pre-1 test. That&#8217;s equivalent to (similar to) CEFR B2 or TOEIC 730+. Requirements Example Topic TOPIC: Agree or disagree: Social media improves our understanding of different [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[46,45],"class_list":["post-382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-writing-tests","tag-social-media","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/writing_pic-1.png?fit=960%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":392,"href":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382\/revisions\/392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicksenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}