TOEFL Integrated Writing Task
Directions:
In this section, you will write a response to a question based on reading passage and a listening
passage. You have to consider the contents of both passages in order to write a good answer.
After reading and listening, you have 20 minutes to plan and write your response. Your response
will be judged on the basis of the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents
the points in the lecture and their relationship to the reading passage. Typically, an effective
response will be 150 to 225 words.
(A lot of vocabulary can be understood from the context. The bold words indicate difficult
vocabulary words, but in most cases the meaning of these words can be guessed from the context. In
some cases, the text explains the meaning of the new terms introduced.)
Part 1 Reading Passage
Altruism is a type of behavior in which an animal sacrifices its own interest for that of
another animal or group of animals. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness; individuals performing
altruistic acts gain nothing for themselves.
Examples of altruism abound, both among humans and among other mammals. Unselfish
acts among humans range from the sharing of food with strangers to the donation of body organs to
family members, and even to strangers. Such acts are altruistic in that they benefit another, yet
provide little reward to the one performing the act.
In fact, many species of animals appear willing to sacrifice food, or even their life, to assist
other members of their group. The meerkat, which is a mammal that dwells in burrows in grassland
areas of Africa, is often cited as an example. In groups of meerkats, an individual acts as a sentinel,
standing guard and looking out for predators while the others hunt for food or eat food they have
obtained. If the sentinel meerkat sees a predator such as a hawk approaching the group, it gives an
alarm cry alerting the other meerkats to run and seek shelter. By standing guard, the sentinel
meerkat gains nothing—it goes without food while the others eat, and it places itself in grave
danger. After it issues an alarm it has to flee alone, which might make it more at risk to a predator,
since animals in groups are often able to work together to fend off a predator. So the altruistic
sentinel behavior helps ensure the survival of other members of the meerkat’s group.
Now listen to the lecture and take notes.
After the lecture, read the question below and write your answer to it.
Question:
Summarize the points made in the lecture you just heard (Part 2), explaining how they cast
doubt on points made in the reading (Part 1).
Both author and lecturer discuss whether the behavior of meerkat and humans is altruistic. The former argues in favor using three reasons whereas, the latter contradicts each of these points.
First of all, the reading claims the behavior of one meerkat who guards the group is purely altruistic, as others hunt for food and eat while he stays guarding them against predators. However, the listening rebuts as the standing guard is the one who gets to eat first before starting to guard. In addition, the standing guard is always full irrespective of other group members as they might or mightn't catch prey to feed on.
Second of all, the author asserts when the standing guard sees the predator then it signals other group members by putting itself at risk, as it might be the last one to flee. On the other hand, the lecturer counters the standing guard is always near the burrow and has a higher chance to escape upon seeing the predators. Furthermore, the alarm can cause other group members to gather or move about, eventually, risking their lives.
Finally, the text mentions humans donating their kidneys to their relatives or stranger is altruistic as they gain nothing in return. In contrast, the lecture argues the kidney donor receives appreciation and approval from society which increases the person's worth in society which cannot be compared with anything and is likely worth more than almost everything.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 396, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: mightn't
...of other group members as they might or mightnt catch prey to feed on. Second of all...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, finally, first, furthermore, however, second, so, then, whereas, while, in addition, in contrast, first of all, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 9.0 10.4613686534 86% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 4.0 5.04856512141 79% => OK
Conjunction : 9.0 7.30242825607 123% => OK
Relative clauses : 5.0 12.0772626932 41% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 11.0 22.412803532 49% => OK
Preposition: 29.0 30.3222958057 96% => OK
Nominalization: 2.0 5.01324503311 40% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1193.0 1373.03311258 87% => OK
No of words: 237.0 270.72406181 88% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.03375527426 5.08290768461 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.92362132708 4.04702891845 97% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.41116259689 2.5805825403 93% => OK
Unique words: 145.0 145.348785872 100% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.611814345992 0.540411800872 113% => OK
syllable_count: 342.9 419.366225166 82% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.4 1.55342163355 90% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 0.0 3.25607064018 0% => OK
Article: 10.0 8.23620309051 121% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 1.25165562914 160% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 2.5761589404 116% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 10.0 13.0662251656 77% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 23.0 21.2450331126 108% => OK
Sentence length SD: 41.3236010048 49.2860985944 84% => OK
Chars per sentence: 119.3 110.228320801 108% => OK
Words per sentence: 23.7 21.698381199 109% => OK
Discourse Markers: 13.4 7.06452816374 190% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 4.19205298013 24% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 4.33554083885 69% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 4.45695364238 67% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.27373068433 94% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.0172953370656 0.272083759551 6% => The similarity between the topic and the content is low.
Sentence topic coherence: 0.00756492002384 0.0996497079465 8% => Sentence topic similarity is low.
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0117938862978 0.0662205650399 18% => Sentences are similar to each other.
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0103480347087 0.162205337803 6% => Maybe some paragraphs are off the topic.
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0107510367925 0.0443174109184 24% => Paragraphs are similar to each other. Some content may get duplicated or it is not exactly right on the topic.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.1 13.3589403974 106% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 65.05 53.8541721854 121% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.9 11.0289183223 90% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.19 12.2367328918 100% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.64 8.42419426049 103% => OK
difficult_words: 58.0 63.6247240618 91% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 9.0 10.7273730684 84% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.2 10.498013245 107% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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It is not exactly right on the topic in the view of e-grader. Maybe there is a wrong essay topic.
Rates: 3.33333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 1.0 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.