Do you know about how the Toefl® essay is rated?

[germangirl]

Hello!
I have to take the TOEFL in about 2 weeks from now. The only section I am a little concerned about is the essay question. Could you give me any suggestions as to how I can improve my writing skills quickly enough or do you know about how the essay is rated or any so called "do"s and "don't"s which might help me?
Thank you!

germangirl

PS: One of the reasons I'm asking is my best friend's test score: She got a 235-295 rating, but only 40 points for her essay (=275), although she was pretty much perfect in english (made no mistakes, used formal expressions and all that) - one of our best students.

[Beijing_MOB]

just took TOEFL today, score: 233-290, dont know my essay rating yet ^^

i think the most important thing is to get familiar with the topics, you can download the official TOEFl essay topics from ets.org and read through the topics (about 190) make sure you know what to say when you get the topics on the test day.

i think that's pretty much all you need to do if your english is near perfect.

btw read topics carefully...

do u agree or disagree...state your viewpoint, and back it up...

"compare"...make sure you write about both the positive side AND negative side.