To improve on the 2026 TOEFL Writing section, practice the three tasks separately, and don't skip Build a Sentence. It looks easy, but many learners lose points there. For the email and the academic discussion, use a simple shape, write against a timer, and keep about two minutes to check for errors. After every practice set, spend more time on your mistakes than on new questions.
This guide turns what learners keep sharing in community discussions into concrete drills, with a weekly plan you can follow.
What the writing section asks you to do
The new writing section has three task types:
- Build a Sentence: you put given words and phrases in the right order to make a correct sentence that fits a short context. Some options may not belong in the sentence.
- Write an Email: you read a situation and write an email for a clear purpose, such as asking for help or explaining a problem. You have about 7 minutes.
- Academic Discussion: you read a professor's question and two classmates' posts, then add your own post with an opinion and support. You have about 10 minutes.
ETS publishes general descriptions of these tasks. Build your practice around those descriptions, and be careful with anyone who claims to know an exact scoring formula.
Build a Sentence
Where learners get stuck
- Skipping it in practice. Learners in community discussions often say they spent weeks on the essays and almost no time on sentence building. Then it pulled their writing score down. Treat it as its own skill.
- Looking for complex sentences. The task checks if you can build a correct sentence, not a fancy one. Learners who took the test often say the real items felt more direct than they expected.
- Word-by-word guessing. If you try every word in every position, you run out of time and get confused.
- Small grammar words. Question word order, helping verbs (do, did, have), and prepositions cause most errors.
How to practice
1. Find the verb first. Before you move anything, find the main verb and its subject. Most of the sentence forms around them.
2. Build chunks, not single words. Join pieces that clearly belong together: "the library" + "on campus", "would like" + "to know". Three or four chunks are much easier to order than ten words.
3. Check the sentence type. Is it a statement or a question? Is it a direct question ("When does the lab close?") or an indirect one ("Do you know when the lab closes?")? Indirect questions use statement word order. This one rule fixes many wrong answers.
4. Read the finished sentence out loud (or in your head). If it sounds strange, it probably is. Check the end of the sentence and the punctuation too.
5. Keep an error list. Each time you get an item wrong, write the correct sentence and one short note, for example "indirect question → no 'does'". Learners in community discussions often say this list helped more than doing more items.
6. Practice until it feels boring. A common piece of advice is to repeat sentence-building drills until they feel easy. Speed comes from seeing the same patterns again and again.
Write an Email
Where learners get stuck
- No clear purpose. The reader should know why you are writing in the first sentence or two.
- Missing a point from the task. The prompt often lists several things to include. Missing one makes the email incomplete.
- Running out of time because the first paragraph was too long.
How to practice
1. Use a simple shape. Learners in community discussions often use a basic template, and that's fine if it's a shape and not a memorized text:
- Greeting
- One or two sentences: who you are and why you are writing
- One short paragraph for each point the task asks for
- A polite closing with a clear next step
- Sign-off
2. Underline every task point first. Before you write, count the things the email must cover. When you finish, check that each one is there.
3. Match the tone to the reader. A message to a professor or a manager is more polite and formal than a message to a friend. Short, clear sentences work for both.
Academic Discussion
Where learners get stuck
- Repeating the classmates. Your post should add something new, not repeat what the classmates already said.
- Too many ideas. Three weak reasons are worse than one reason with a clear example.
- No time to check. Small grammar and spelling errors are easy to fix, but only if you leave time for them.
How to practice
1. Opinion first. Your first sentence should answer the professor's question directly: "I think online classes are better for working students, because…"
2. One reason, one specific example. Give one main reason and support it with a concrete example from your life, your studies, or something you have read.
3. Respond to a classmate. Add one sentence that agrees or disagrees with a classmate and says why. It shows you are part of the discussion.
4. End with a short takeaway. One sentence is enough.
5. Read sample answers, then write your own. Learners in community discussions often read good example answers to learn the shape, then close them and write their own answer to a similar question. Don't copy sentences. Notice how the writer opens, supports, and closes.
Time your writing and keep two minutes to check
Almost every community tip about writing comes back to time. Write each task with a timer from the first week. When about two minutes are left, stop adding ideas and start checking:
- Subject–verb agreement (he goes, the students are)
- Articles (a, an, the) and plural endings
- Verb tense, especially past tense in examples
- Spelling of words you typed fast
Many learners say these two minutes help their score more than one extra sentence.
Using AI to practice writing
Learners in community discussions often use AI chatbots in two ways:
- To create new prompts. Give the chatbot one of the public ETS sample tasks and ask for new questions in the same style. That way you never run out of practice prompts.
- To get feedback on your answer. Some learners paste the public ETS writing rubric into the chat and ask for comments based on it.
This can help, but use it carefully. A chatbot's score is only a rough estimate, and it can be too strict or too generous. Ask it to list your errors and explain them, not just to give a number. Then rewrite the answer yourself. Don't ask the AI to write the answer for you. You learn by fixing your own text.
Review mistakes instead of taking more tests
A point that comes up again and again in community discussions: doing test after test without reviewing them doesn't help much. After each practice set:
- Look at every wrong Build a Sentence item and add it to your error list.
- Reread your email and discussion post. Mark the errors you made more than once.
- Pick one pattern to fix this week, for example articles or indirect questions.
- Do a short drill on just that pattern before your next full set.
In the last week before your test, include some official ETS practice material too. It helps you get used to the real format and screens.
A weekly writing routine (about 30–40 minutes a day)
| Day | Practice |
|---|---|
| Mon | Build a Sentence: about 15 minutes of drills, then update your error list |
| Tue | One timed email + check with your error list |
| Wed | One timed academic discussion + read one sample answer |
| Thu | Build a Sentence drills on your weakest pattern + one timed email |
| Fri | One timed academic discussion + AI feedback, then rewrite it |
| Sat | Full timed writing section |
| Sun | Review only: go through the week's mistakes, no new tests |
If you want timed TOEFL writing practice in the 2026 format, TOEFLScorer has Build a Sentence, email, and academic discussion tasks, and Test 1 is free. Your writing gets an estimated score with feedback. Treat it as a practice estimate, not a prediction of your test-day score. For the full picture, you can also take a complete TOEFL practice test once a week instead of the Saturday section.
FAQ
How important is Build a Sentence for the TOEFL writing score? It is one of the three writing tasks, so it counts. ETS has not published an exact weight for each task. Learners in community discussions often say ignoring it was their biggest writing mistake, so practice it every week.
Should I use templates for the email and the academic discussion? Use a shape (purpose, points, closing for the email; opinion, reason, example, takeaway for the discussion), not a memorized text. Fill the shape with new content every time so your answer fits the question.
How long should my academic discussion post be? Aim for a focused paragraph that gives an opinion, one clear reason, and one example, and leave time to check it. A well-supported post with few errors is better than a long post with many errors.
Can I use ChatGPT or other AI tools to practice TOEFL writing? Yes, for new prompts and for a list of errors to fix. Any score an AI tool gives you is an estimate. Always rewrite the answer yourself.
How can I improve my writing quickly before the test? Take fewer new tests and review more. Fix your most common error pattern, practice Build a Sentence daily, and always keep about two minutes to check your writing.