英語基本功
託福寫作是一個逐步積累的過程，包括詞彙和語法，有時候是欲速而不達的，機械地記憶往往適得其反。詞彙運用不當，句中動詞使用混亂，句與句之間散亂不堪，邏輯性不好。
建議大家有計劃地、合理地增加詞彙量。多讀範文，如果考試時間臨近，可以選用背誦範文的方法，雖然辛苦一點，但是還是有效的。
中文式的翻譯
有的句子恐怕只有中國人才能理解是什麼意思，究其原因就是生硬地翻譯了漢語表達方式。受漢語文化影響，我們博大精深的語言在我們的頭腦中已經根深蒂固，人的邏輯思維很奇怪，一旦我們每天的思維習慣已經養成，你很難在短時間內進行改變。
建議大家多聽。當然是聽英文，這裏做個廣告，重點推薦friends系列。學語言的順序一定是聽說讀寫，聽就是對語境和語感的最好提高，考生可以儘可能地找一些英文的短片來欣賞，學到英語的同時也娛樂了自己，一舉兩得。
套路化痕跡明顯
這裏的套路，就是templates。很多老師授課過程中刻意突出的託福寫作套路，學生也千方百計背誦寫作套路，導致展現在閱卷官面前的作文框架甚至很多語句千篇一律、如出一轍，從而極大地損害了得分。模板固然有用，但是針對first draft的觀念，文章的亮點就看不到了。
建議考生可以暫時拋開託福寫作考試，從blog或者日記開始，每天用英文進行寫作練習，盡情地把你對社會的情緒和對學校的不滿寫出來，發泄出來。這個練習會讓你的文章逐漸符合first draft的要求。
通篇框架散亂
這個需要在練習中逐步提高。我們在寫作之前，尤其是針對task2，最重要的工作就是構思。一般來說，在3-4分鐘時間之內，我們需要一個相對合理的構思和一個絕對穩定的結構，如果兩者都做到了，整個文章的框架就自然很清晰了。
託福寫作考試其實需要瞬間的靈感，合理的構思，當然最重要的就是堅持下去的決心。遺憾的是託福寫作考試的時候這些是不適用的，在短短的30分鐘時間內，恐怕只有幾分鐘的時間來思考。
優秀作文的三大標準
1.統一性
一個段落內的各個句子必須從屬於一箇中心，任何遊離於中心思想之外的句子都是不可取的。請看下例：
Joe and I decided to take the long trip we‘d always wanted across the country. We were like young kids buying our camper and stocking it with all the necessities of life. Bella bakes the best rhubarb pie. We started out in early spring from Minneapolis and headed west across the northern part of the country. We both enjoyed those people we met at the trailer park. Joe received a watch at his retirement dinner. To our surprise, we found that we liked the warm southern regions very much, and so we decided to stay here in New Mexico。
本段的主題句是段首句，controlling idea(中心思想)是take the long trip across the country。文中出現兩個irrelevant sentences，一個是Bella bakes the best rhubarb pie，這一段是講的是Joe and I ，中間出現一個Bella是不合適的。
還有，Joe received a watch at his retirement dinner這一句更是與主題句不相關。考生在四級統考的作文捲上常常因爲造出irrelevant sentences(不相關語句)而丟分，值得引起注意。再看一個例子：
My name is Roseanna, and I like to keep physically fit. I used to weigh two hundred pounds, but I joined the YMCA for an exercise class and diet program. In one year I lost eighty pounds. I feel much better and never want to have that much weight on my five-feet frame again. I bought two new suitcases last week. Everyday I practice jogging three miles, swimming fifteen laps, lifting twenty-pound weights and playing tennis for one hour. My mother was a premature baby。
本段的controlling idea 是like to deep physically fit，但段中有兩個irrelevant sentences，一個是I bought two new suitcases last week，另一個是My mother was a premature baby。
從上面兩個例子可以看出，native speakers同樣會造出來irrelevant sentences。卷面上如果這種句子多了，造成偏題或離題，那問題就更嚴重了。
2.完整性
正象我們前面說得那樣，一個段落的主題思想靠推展句來實現，如果只有主題句而沒有推展句來進一步交待和充實，就不能構成一個完整的段落。同樣，雖然有推展句，但主題思想沒有得到相對圓滿的交待，給讀者一種意猶未盡的感覺。這樣的段落也不能完成其交際功能。例如：
Physical work can be a useful form of therapy for a mind in turmoil. Work concentrates your thoughts on a concrete task. Besides, it is more useful to workyou produce something rather than more anxiety or depression。
本段的主題句是段首句。本段的兩個推展句均不能回答主題句中提出的問題。什麼是 "a mind in turmoil"(心境不平靜)Physical work又如何能改變這種情況?爲什麼它能起therapy的作用?讀者得不到明確的答案。
由於四級統考的作文部分只要求寫一篇100～120個詞的三段式短文，每一段只有大約40個詞左右，因此，要達到完整就必須儘可能地簡明。例如：
It is not always true that a good picture is worth a thousand words. Often writing is much clearer than a picture. It is sometimes difficult to figure out what a picture means, but a careful writer can almost always explain it。
段首句所表達的主題思想是一種看法，必須有具體事例加以驗證。上述兩個推展句只是在文字上對主題作些解釋，整個段落內容空洞，簡而不明。如果用一兩個具體的例子的話，就可以把主題解釋清楚了。比如下段：
It is not always true that a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes, pictures are pretty useless things. If you can‘t swim and fall in the river and start gulping water, will you be better off to hold up a picture of yourself drowning, or start screaming "Help"?
3.連貫性(coherence)
連貫性包括意連和形連兩個方面，前者指的是內在的邏輯性，後者指的是使用轉換詞語。當然這兩者常常是不可分割的。只有形連而沒有意連，句子之間就沒有內在的有機的聯繫;反之，只有意連而沒有形連，有時行文就不夠流暢。
1) 意連
段落中句子的排列應遵循一定的次序，不能想到什麼就寫什麼。如果在下筆之前沒有構思，邊寫邊想，寫寫停停，那就寫不出一氣呵成的好文章來。下面介紹幾種常見的排列方式。
A。按時間先後排列(chronological arrangement)
We had a number of close calls that day. When we rose, it was obviously late and we had to hurry so as not to miss breakfast; we knew the dining room staff was strict about closing at nine o‘clock. Then, when we had been driving in the desert for nearly two hours - it must have been close to noonthe heat nearly hid us in; the radiator boiled over and we had to use most of our drinking water to cool it down. By the time we reached the mountain, it was four o‘clock and we were exhausted. Here, judgement ran out of us and we started the tough climb to the summit, not realizing that darkness came suddenly in the desert. Sure enough, by six we were struggling and Andrew very nearly went down a steep cliff, dragging Mohammed and me along with him. By nine, when the wind howled across the flat ledge of the summit, we knew as we shivered together for warmth that it had not been our lucky day。
本段從 "rose"(起牀)寫起，然後是吃早餐("not to miss breakfast", "closing at nine o‘clock")，然後是 "close to noon"，一直寫到這一天結束("By nine")。
B. 按位置遠近排列(spatial arrangement)。例如：
From a distance, it looked like a skinny tube, but as we got closer, we could see it flesh out before our eyes. It was tubular, all right, but fatter than we could see from far away. Furthermore, we were also astonished to notice that the building was really in two parts: a pagoda sitting on top of a tubular one-story structure. Standing ten feet away, we could marvel at how much of the pagoda was made up of glass windows. Almost everything under the wonderful Chinese roof was made of glass, unlike the tube that it was sitting on, which only had four. Inside, the tube was gloomy, because of the lack of light. Then a steep, narrow staircase took us up inside the pagoda and the light changed dramatically. All those windows let in a flood of sunshine and we could see out for miles across the flat land。
本段的寫法是由遠及近，從遠處("from a distance")寫起，然後"get closer"，再到("ten feet away")，最後是 "inside the pagoda"……當然，按位置遠近來寫不等於都是由遠及近。根據需要，也可以由近及遠，由表及裏等等。