Writing Section
Directions: These sample tasks in the Writing section measure your ability
to write in English in an academic environment. There will be 2 writing
tasks.
For the first task in this sampler, you will read a passage and part of a
lecture about an academic topic. Then you will write a response to a question
that asks you about the relationship between the lecture and the reading
passage. Try to answer the question as completely as possible using information
from the reading passage and the lecture. The question does not ask you to
express your personal opinion. Your response will be judged on the quality of
your writing and on how well your response presents the points in the lecture
and their relationship to the reading passage.
For the second task, you will demonstrate your ability to write an essay in
response to a question that asks you to express and support your opinion about a
topic or issue. Your essay will be scored on the quality of your writing. This
includes the development of your ideas, the organization of your essay, and the
quality and accuracy of the language you use to express your ideas.
At the end of the writing section, in this sampler you will find two sample
essays for each question, the score they received, and an explanation of how
they were scored.
In an actual test, you will be able to take notes while you listen and use
your notes to help you answer the questions.
1. Read the following passage and the lecture which follows. In an actual
test, you will
have 3 minutes to read the passage. Then, answer the question. In the test,
you will
have 20 minutes to plan and write your response. Typically, an effective
response will
be 150 to 225 words. Candidates with disabilities may request additional
time to read
the passage and write the response.
READING PASSAGE
Critics say that current voting systems used in the United States are
inefficient and often lead to the inaccurate counting of votes. Miscounts can be
especially damaging if an election is closely contested. Those critics would
like the traditional systems to be replaced with far more efficient and
trustworthy computerized voting systems.
In traditional voting, one major source of inaccuracy is that people
accidentally vote for the wrong candidate. Voters usually have to find the name
of their candidate on a large sheet of paper containing many names—the
ballot—and make a small mark next to that name. People with poor eyesight can
easily mark the wrong name. The computerized voting machines have an easy-to-use
touch-screen technology: to cast a vote, a voter needs only to touch the
candidate’s name on the screen to record a vote for that candidate; voters can
even have the computer magnify the name for easier viewing.
Another major problem with old voting systems is that they rely heavily on
people to count the votes. Officials must often count up the votes one by one,
going through every ballot and recording the vote. Since they have to deal with
thousands of ballots, it is almost inevitable that they will make mistakes. If
an error is detected, a long and expensive recount has to take place. In
contrast, computerized systems remove the possibility of human error, since all
the vote counting is done quickly and automatically by the computers.
Finally some people say it is too risky to implement complicated voting
technology nationwide. But without giving it a thought, governments and
individuals alike trust other complex computer technology every day to be
perfectly accurate in banking transactions as well as in the communication of
highly sensitive information.
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