TOEFL, iBT, Independent Writing, It is truly enjoyable to play a game only if you win. / Is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past? - rewrite -

Writing Topic

A: Consider the following statement. It is truly enjoyable to play a game only if you win. Do you agree or disagree with this idea? Support your response by including specific reasons and examples.

☆Let’s think

Points in questions:

1) "It is ..."→An objective opinion is required.

2) "truly enjoyable" →It is asking whether you can enjoy a game from the bottom of your heart. 

3) "only if you win" →There are no exceptions. You can never enjoy a game unless you win.

- What is a game? For what purpose do you play a game?

    To kill time, to have fun with others, to release stress, to be inspired, to try your luck

--You play a game　for many reasons other than to win.

- What is truly enjoyable?

     attaining a goal (e.g. winning, having fun)

     gaining something expected (e.g. closer relationship, feeling refreshed)

     gaining something unexpected (e.g. kindness, learning something, seeing someone extraordinary)

     --Many things other than winning are truly enjoyable.

- Is there anything that makes you say to yourself, “Well, I had a really good time!” after a game you lost?

     Your best friend won. / The winner won in an amazing way. / The atmosphere was great, everyone smiling and being considerate to others. / You have got something important during the game like a new friend or information. / You were not concerned about winning or losing from the beginning.

     -- A game can be really enjoyable even if you lose.

- Conclusion: Disagree. Playing a game can be enjoyable even if you do not win because a game is an entertainment, whose purposes are not just to win.

☆Sample Essay Structure

【Main Idea = Outline】Disagree　

Reasons: 1) for fun    2) joy of improvement     3) more enjoyable things than winning

【Point 1】Games are for fun.   e.g.to kill time, to spend time with family or friends

【Point 2】Playing a game involves joy of improvement   e.g. gamers

【Point 3 or Counterargument treatment】It is true that winning is usually more enjoyable than just having fun or learning something, but more enjoyable things than winning can happen during a game. 　e.g. a great performance

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】Many other factors to make us truly enjoy ourselves than winning. It cannot be said that it is truly enjoyable to play a game only if you win

Your one paragraph essay

【Main Idea = Outline】

【Point 1】

【Point 2】

【Point 3 or Counterargument treatment】

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】

☆Essay for Ideas and Expressions

Humans have had many kinds of games since ancient times and there seem to be many reasons for our fascination with this activity. I disagree with the statement that it is truly enjoyable to play a game only if you win. I think gams are for fun, development and more, not just for winning.

First of all, we play games to have fun. We play games to kill time, to release stress, or to spend time with others. When you feel empty or stressed out, you take out a game machine, play it for a while, and feel good whether you lose or win. Games are also used to promote good companionship. At a party, for example, a game helps people laugh and talk, both winners and losers enjoying themselves. Probably it is precisely because games are not to win but for fun that people enjoy them.

Also, playing a game involves joy of improvement. Humans, like other animals, have desire for learning something new and fulfilling this desire is a great joy of life. A game makes you lose more often than it lets you win, and you will be absorbed in gaining new skills and improving yourself by trial and error. What makes games enjoyable is not only reaching the top but the process.

Last but not least, more enjoyable things than winning can happen during a game. There could be a moment of delight comparable to nothing in a game. There could be a great player or an incredible play. Olympians often express joy of witnessing superb performances of the medalists. A miracle goal at the last moment in an amateur soccer game would make all the participants excited and have them talk about it even years later. A mindset of not being able to truly enjoy a game without winning is one that has lost the essence of enjoying games.

It is true that winning a game can give us a greater joy than just having fun or learning new skills. However, difference in degrees does not deny the authenticity of the less in degree. Winning is an extra delight in playing a game. There are many factors to make us truly enjoy ourselves than winning in games. Therefore, it cannot be said that it is truly enjoyable to play a game only if you win. A mindset that does not allow one to truly enjoy games other than winning them is one that has lost sight of the essence of enjoying games.

 (417 words)

Writing Topic B: Is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past? Why or why not? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

 ☆Hints for Points

Agree:

1.    Literacy and wealth are related. 

The higher the literacy rate is, the wealthier the country is.

              past → now,  developing →developed

2.    Development of technology allows/requires you to be involved in more intellectual tasks than physical ones.

       entrance examinations - more essay examinations

       business – automatization and robotization, more need for  research and presentation skills

3.    Information age

       getting information through the Internet (not from people)

       exchanging information through scripts (e-mails/text messages)

       extra information in writing (scripts on TV screens)

- Conclusion: Yes. The ability to read and write is more important today than in the past for us to get the most out of our lives in this age of information.

Disagree:

1.    More people can spell less than before and they relate this decline to the new technology prevalent in today’s society, while the same people find few problems in dealing with things that commonly happen every day. “I write only when I sign for my credit card.”

2.    Human culture has evolved along with technological development. Just as the ability to make fire is unnecessary anymore with all kinds of lighters around us, so is the ability to read and write now that we have developed technology for it. We can think and communicate more freely while machines read and write for us.

3.    Thought is always the most important and the ability to read and write is just a ramification of it. Steven Hawkins, the most famous scholar of universe, has been barely able to read and write over the past decades, yet he has made greater accomplishment than any other human. The ever more important today is the ability to think and feel.

- Conclusion: No. Reading and writing is just a part of human intellectual activity like calculation. Our lives have been filled with many more important things than literal things. The ability to read and write has just a marginal importance now as it has always been.

☆Essay Structure

♦Your Sample Essay Structure

【Introduction = Outline】

【Point 1】

【Point 2】

【Point 3 / Counterargument-treatment】

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】