TOEFL iBT Speaking Independent Topics(Ques # 1)

1. Who would you like to go on a trip abroad with? Describe this person and say why he/she would be a good travel companion for you.
2. What is your favorite place to visit on weekends? Describe it and explain why it is your favorite place to go.
3. What is your happiest childhood memory? Describe it and give reasons to explain why it is your happiest memory.
4. What is your most important possession? Describe it and say why it is so important.
5. Talk about a person who has inspired you. Describe the person and explain why you found him/her inspirational.

6. Where do most like to go to eat out? Describe this place and say why you like it most.
7. Talk about an important national holiday in your home country. Describe it and explain why it is important.
8. What is your favorite book or movie? Describe it and say why it is your favorite.
9. Who do you feel close to in your family (or extended family)? Describe this person and say why you feel close to him/her.
10. Where is a good place to have fun in your city or town? Describe this place and explain why it is fun.


11. Talk about an experience in your life that made you feel embarrassed. Describe it and say why it was embarrassing.
12. What was your favorite subject at school? Describe it and explain why this subject was your favorite one.
13. Who is an important person in your country? Describe this person and explain why he/she is important.
14. Talk about an interesting tourist attraction you have been to. Describe it and say why it was interesting.
15. Talk about a time when you experienced success. Describe the experience and say why it was a success for you.

16. What is your favorite style of clothing? Describe it and explain why it is your favorite.
17. Name a person whom you truly admire. Describe the person and say why you admire him/her.
18. Think of a place that makes you feel relaxed and peaceful. Describe it and explain why it is relaxing and peaceful for you.
19. Talk about a difficulty you have overcome in your life. Describe the experience and say why it was difficult to overcome.
20. What is your most useful study aid? Describe it and explain why it is useful in helping you to study.

How to write TOEFL essay conclusion?

The conclusion is the essay's last paragraph. It restates the thesis and summarizes the main points. The conclusion of your TOEFL essay is probably the easiest part to write. Before we begin, here is what you should know about the conclusion:

• It's the last paragraph of the essay.
• It's usually 3 or four sentences long.
• It restates the essay's thesis.
• It summarizes the essay's main points.

The conclusion must restate your thesis statement and summarize the essay's main points. If it doesn't do this, then it's a bad conclusion.

In order to write the conclusion, we have to look at three important sentences in our essay. We look at our thesis statement and we look at our two topic sentences.

First we have to look at our thesis statement:

I strongly believe that no police officer should ever carry a gun.

Next we look at our two topic sentences:

First of all, guns cause more harm than good.

In addition to the previous point, in most cases police officers don't need guns.

Now we simply put them all into one paragraph, beginning with the thesis statement:

In conclusion, police officers should not carry guns. Guns usually cause harm to people. Moreover, police officers often don't need them to do their jobs.

Maybe you have noticed that we made small changes to the thesis statement and topic sentences. This is because it's not good to copy the sentences exactly--it's boring for the reader. These changes give our writing more variety.

We also added two transitional phrases to our conclusion: in conclusion and moreover.

How to write essay body?

The body of the essay is everything that comes between your introduction and the conclusion. Here's what you need to know:

• It's usually 2-3 paragraphs long.
• Each paragraph has 1 topic sentence.
• Each paragraph has 3 to 5 supporting ideas.
• Its goal is to support thesis statement.

Topic Sentence (first sentence)

• supporting idea #1
• supporting idea #2
• supporting idea #3
• supporting idea #4

The topic sentence

The topic sentence is the first sentence of the paragraph. This sentence should do 2 things:

• Give 1 reason to support your thesis statement.
• Tell the reader what the rest of the paragraph is about.

Supporting ideas

Everything that comes after the topic sentence is called a supporting idea. This is because it "supports" your topic sentence.

A supporting idea could be almost anything: a story from your life, a philosophical argument, a personal experience, or some statistical information. The important thing is that it explains why you believe that the topic sentence is true.

How to write Essay Introduction?

Beginning the introduction

The best way to begin the introduction is with a general statement about the essay topic. This explains what the essay is going to be about and mentally prepares the reader for the arguments that will follow. Do not give your opinion in this sentence--this is only a general statement about the topic. Lets say we are given a topic for an essay like: Should police officers carry gun or not?

Here's an example of what a typical first sentence looks like:

Many communities have been debating whether or not police officers should carry guns.

Developing the introduction

After we have written our first sentence, it is time to develop the introduction. We do this by adding a few more general statements about the topic. One strategy you can use is to explain both sides of the argument. Here's an example:

In some situations, guns protect the police officer as well as the public. However, guns often result in injuries and death.

By explaining both sides of the argument (this is called contrasting), you show the reader that you have thought carefully about the issue.

You should also know that when you contrast both sides of the argument, it is better to begin with the side of the argument that you do not agree with. This is more natural in English, and your essay introduction will develop logically toward the thesis statement.

Writing the thesis statement

Now it is time to write our thesis statement. This is the last sentence of the first paragraph. It is also the most important sentence in the essay. The thesis statement does two things:

• It directly answers the essay question.
• It tells the reader what your opinion is.

For our introduction, here's what the thesis statement could look like:

No police officer should ever carry a gun.

In this example, we have a strong thesis statement. It is simple and direct: it answers the essay question and tells the reader exactly what our opinion is.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the thesis statement is the most important sentence in the essay. In fact, if the reader has difficulty understanding the essay, he will often return to the thesis statement to be reminded what the essay is about. A bad thesis statement results in a bad essay.

Putting it all together

We've finally completed our introduction. Here it is:

Many communities have been debating whether or not police officers should carry guns. In some situations, guns protect the police officer as well as the public. However, guns often result in injuries and death. I strongly believe that no police officer should ever carry a gun.

In the first sentence we began the introduction with a general statement about the essay topic. Then, in the second and third sentences, we contrasted both sides of the argument. Our last sentence was the thesis statement this is where we answered the essay question and gave our opinion.