TOEFL Essay: Sydney Opera House

Rudi123 · October 24, 2009, 2:15pm

Hey,

I found this forum via google and it really helps me to practice for my TOEFL ibt. This is one of my first essays:

The Sidney Opera House is a modern building in the harbor of Sidney and created by a Danish architect who won the competition in 1956. It took 17 years to finish because of multiple problems like high cost and political debates. The Opera House looks similar to a huge sailing ship and that’s why the organic structure of the building fits perfectly in the environment. The roof is the most exciting part because it was very difficult for the engineers to built.

The professor classifies the building a masterwork because it unique. The Opera House can be described as a modern building but it doesn’t really fit in any category of architecture. The first argument for it’s uniqueness is that the plan is a result of the new computer age. For the structure and the special roof the Danish architect needed a computer to calculate. The second argument is that the building fits in the environment of an harbor because it has similarities to a ship. Thirdly it has a structure but the design is different from a skyscraper because it wasn’t influenced by the function of the building. But the most important thing to mention is that the Opera House is more a sculpture because the appearance changes depending the point of view.

All in all I can agree with the author because I’ve never seen before such a nice building.

What do you say? How can I improve my writing part?

Thanks! rudi

TOEFL listening discussions: A stereotypical toy means?

Rudi123 · October 24, 2009, 2:49pm

And here is my second one:

This essay is about the collage years which are the best time in a person’s life because you are young, independent and nearly free of responsibility.
First of all students at a college mostly don’t need much money. There are a lot of special offers like a cheap meal in the college or a free visit in a cinema. This is why you don’t have to work much. You can use your time to do sports or what ever you like.
In addition to that you can easily live together in a community with some of your friends and save money. That’s very comfortable because you can learn with them for college, talk to them about sports or television and ask them for help if you need. In my point of view this is really important for your personal behavior because you learn to be social and friendly.
My third argument is that you meet nice and young people every day at college. They are all in a similar situation: looking for friends and for having fun. In the evening and especially at the weekend there are lot’s of parties you can visit. This is a thing you should always enjoy because you will never have so much nice evenings after having finished college.
But the most important argument for me is that you don’t have much responsibility if you don’t want to. You don’t have to think about loosing your job, earning money or spending time with your family. You can even change your college if you want because you can always find new friends and a new flat in another city.

All in all the time at college is really a nice time and at the end of it everybody is looking for new responsibilities like an own family or a good job.