Personal Experience (Task 1)

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Intermediate

The first task of the TOEFL iBT Speaking test is about a personal experience. You will be asked to speak about a person, place, object, or event that is familiar to you. You will have 15 seconds to prepare, and 45 seconds to speak.

Exercise 1

Sample iBT Question

Study the question and the sample answer.

Question

What is an activity that you enjoy doing with your friends and why? Please include specific examples and details in your explanation.

Preparation Time: 15 seconds
Response Time: 45 seconds

Answer

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Sample Answer

There are many activities that I enjoy doing with my friends, but I’d have to say that I really love playing sports with them. We play all kinds of sports together, including football, basketball, and baseball. Playing sports with my friends helps me exercise while creating stronger bonds of friendship between us. It is great to exercise with them. I don't really like exercising alone. However, exercising is important, so, by playing sports with my friends, I can both exercise and have a good time.

Opinion: I really love playing sports with them.

Reason: Playing sports with my friends helps me exercise while creating stronger bonds of friendship between us.

Details: I don’t really like exercising alone. However, exercising is important, so, by playing sports with my friends, I can both exercise and have a good time.

How to Practice

This section contains an example question and the step by step guide to constructing your answer. Read and study them with your teacher.

Question

Describe your future dream, and explain why it is your future dream. Please include details in your explanation.

Opinion

State your opinion.

My future dream is to become a doctor and help cure sick people.

Reasons

Give reasons to support your opinion.

I think doctors provide a great service to people by helping them get better.
Too many people die from strange diseases, so doctors can help discover cures for diseases like cancer.

Practice Answer

Make your response using the above information.

My future dream is to become a doctor. I think doctors are great because they help sick people get better. And doctors can help discover cures for diseases like cancer. So I think I want to become a doctor.

Exercise 2

Practice

Answer the same question on your own.

Describe your future dream, and explain why it is your future dream. Please include details in your explanation.

Exercise 3

Useful Expressions

These expressions can help you structure your answer by including the following points: Opinion, Reasons and Supporting Details. Your teacher will read the expressions and example sentences. Repeat the examples after your teacher, and then make your own sentences with the expressions.

Stating Your Opinion

I think/believe/feel (that) ...
Based on my experience, ...
As far as I am concerned, ...
When it comes to ...

I think the most important quality of a good friend is trustworthiness.

Giving Reasons

What I like about ... is that ...
There are several reasons why ...
One reason why ... is that ...
Another reason is that ...

What I like about my math teacher is that he has a great sense of humor.

Giving Supporting Details

Clarifying

In other words, ...

Giving Examples

For example/instance, ...

My teacher is a very organized person. For example, his desk is always neat and clean.