TOEFL iBT Independent Writing 1) What invention in the last 100 years has been most beneficial for people in your country? 2) It is more important for students to study history and literature than it is for them to study science and mathematics. - revised -

Writing Topic１

What invention in the last 100 years has been most beneficial for people in your country?

 

 

☆Let’s Think

Read the following and ask each other the following question.

The questions of the same type as today’s topic are as follows:

●The twentieth century saw great change. In your opinion, what is one change that should be remembered about the twentieth century? Use specific reasons and details to explain your choice.

●What discovery in the last 100 years has been most beneficial for people in your country? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice.

 

Question 1  What is the difference between discovery and invention?

 

$Note: Discovery differs from invention in that you discover something that has existed all the time but you did not know it was there till then, while you invent something that did not exist before. For example, Newton discovered gravity while Bell invented a telephone.

 

Question2  It is rather easy to think of the answer for this type of question. For today’s question, you can easily come up with inventions like computers, cell-phones, or jet planes. What is the difficult part of today’s question? How would you deal with it?

 

$Note: Probably the difficult part is to explain why, but remember, the hints are in the questions. In this case, the hints are the words “change” and “most beneficial.” They are related to great moments in history: the story of before and after the invention/change/discovery. What is expected in your essay is probably the description of how great the influence of something has been, in other words, in what way and how much it has affected society, human life, or the environment.

 

 

☆Hints for Points

- the computer: speed, huge memory, accuracy, versatility (calculation, word processing, internet search, etc.), ubiquity, online business, social media, changed our lifestyle – We cannot go back to life before computers. / Many things have become outdated (typewriters, CDs, stationery, paper dictionary, encyclopedia, going out for shopping, writing letters, etc)

- the cell-phone: handy, has many functions, changed our way of communication – We talk to people in person less often. / We can bond with large numbers of people easily.

- the commercial airplane: accelerated our life, made the world smaller, boosted globalization, changed our life plans – People are ready to move to places far away from home. / People spend more time abroad on vacations.

 

 

☆Sample Short Response

I think that the invention of the Internet has been most beneficial for people in my country in the last 100 years. Before the invention of the Internet, the information was something that was provided by authorities in limited amounts. However, after the advent of the Internet, most information has become available to anyone. Also, it has become possible for anyone to send out information that others should know quite easily. In conclusion, the Internet has been most beneficial to our society in that it has decentralized information management. Its impact on our society was so great that no one now lives absolutely independent from the Internet.

 

Note: let’s not forget that the superlative, “most beneficial,” requires you to show why you think people have benefitted from a particular invention more than they have from the other inventions, why you chose not the microwave, which has benefited many of us, oven but the computer. One way to do this might be to point out the phenomenon it has caused that the others have not.

 

Your Short Response:

I think that the invention of ……………………………… has been most beneficial for people in my country in the last 100 years.

Before the invention of ………………………………,

 

 

However, after the advent of …,

 

 

 

Also,

 

 

 

In conclusion, ……………………………… has been the most beneficial to our society in that

 

 

Its impact on our society was so great that

 

 

 

Show each other your short responses.

 

 

 

Writing Topic　2

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It is more important for students to study history and literature than it is for them to study science and mathematics.

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.       If a statement says that A is more than B, and if you disagree with this statement, how would you demonstrate it?

 

$Note: You are to prove either A equals B or A is less than B:【A > B】⇔【A = B】or【A < B】.  If you disagree with the statement that it is more important for students to study history and literature than it is for them to study science and mathematics, you are to prove either both are equally important or the latter is more important than the former.

 

2.       Is studying science and mathematics equally important to or more important than studying history and literature? What if school taught neither science nor mathematics? Would there be any problems?

 

☆Hints for Points

Agree

1.       The humanities are related to all people while science is only for experts. A discovery of a 1-meter-long Cambrian shrimp fossil cannot be a common conversation topic while a Pyramid excavation can.

2.       An office worker without scientific knowledge is just boring but a scientist without knowledge of human nature and historical lessons is dangerous.

 

Disagree

1.       Without basic knowledge of math and science, you could not lead a daily life with confidence. You would have no idea about how to use spreadsheet and neither would you understand the importance of vaccination or seat belts.

2.       Science and mathematics answer important such questions as what is life or what is universe.

3.       To have a good perception of current social problems, we need to have some basic knowledge of science and math. e.g. global warming, atomic energy, virus variants, etc.

 

 

☆Essay for Ideas and Expressions

I do not think it is less important for students to study science and mathematics than for them to study history and literature. Without having some basic knowledge of science and mathematics, we cannot lead our daily lives, have better perception of ourselves and the universe, and face our future problems with determination.

Today’s world heavily depends on science. It is now difficult to survive or function well without knowing the meaning of basic scientific terms such as virus or electricity. Ignorance of these words will cause problems or even death. For an office worker, the fundamental idea of calculus is necessary to use the most prevalent computer programs such as Excel. Science and math are now so finely woven into our lives that we do not even realize that we use them all the time. Even deniers of science send the message using their phones.

It might be generally believed that history and literature deal with humans while science and mathematics deal with matters, the physical world. However, science and math help develop the study of humanity in significant ways. Geology and chemistry help researches of human history, and astronomy, physics, and mathematics attempt to know the origin and the shape of the universe and life. Biology has made clear that all life is related (DNA, the theory of evolution, etc.), and zoology has questioned the conventional idea about the difference between man and animals (animals with behaviors that had been thought to be distinctively human). All these studies provide deeper understanding of who we are, where we are, and what will happen to us in the future, and these are the fundamental questions humans have always asked probably since primordial times. To understand the answers to these inquiry, we need at least the intermediate level of knowledge in science and mathematics.

Science now plays the central role in predicting and saving our future. For example, global warming cannot be handled without initiatives of governments and general consensus, and to understand how serious the problem is, scientific knowledge is necessary. Another example is that, although we are in a hopeless situation where politics is preventing politicians who are conscious of this problem from making decisions, there is a silver lining that perceptive business leaders have already started tackling the issue and many ordinary people have long been trying to help reduce CO2 emissions. This has been possible because of science and math education, because most people can read graphs, know what CO2 is, and understand the significance of greenhouse effect.

Science and mathematics cover not only materials but also humans. It is as important for students to study them as for them to study history and literature for a better life.

 

☆Your short response:

I agree/disagree with the statement that it is more important for students to study history and literature than it is for them to study science and mathematics because …