托福、雅思、GRE、GMAT及SAT写作题型对比

   开门见山，笔者此次想同各位读者探讨的，是托福、雅思、GRE、GMAT及SAT考试的写作题型的对比与分析。

其一是托福。托福写作部分意在考察学生在学术领域中的英语写作能力，考生需要完成两道写作题目，一篇综合写作，一篇独立写作，时长50分钟，分数在0~30分之间。

综合写作只要考察听力阅读和写作的综合能力，考生需要根据听力和阅读材料中获取的信息整理归纳成一篇文章，不需要发表个人观点，字数在150-200词之间。

下面是托福官网既有的例题，从中可知，考生需在三分钟内阅读给定的材料，并听清楚1分半的lecture, 随后完成一篇总结材料信息观点的文章，限时20分钟。

所以综合写作部分对于阅读和听力能力的要求较高。

Directions: Give yourself 3 minutes to read the passage.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

In an effort to encourage ecologically sustainable forestry practices, aninternational organization started issuing certifications to wood companies that meet high ecological standards by conserving resources and recycling materials. Companies that receive this certification can attract customers by advertising their products as “ecocertified.” Around the world, many wood companies have adopted new, ecologically friendly practices in order to receive ecocertification. However, it is unlikely that wood companies in the United States will do the same, for several reasons.

First, American consumers are exposed to so much advertising that they would not value or even pay attention to the ecocertification label. Because so many mediocre products are labeled “new” or “improved,” American consumers do not place much trust in advertising claims in general.

Second, ecocertified wood will be more expensive than uncertified wood because in order to earn ecocertification, a wood company must pay to have its business examined by a certification agency. This additional cost gets passed on to consumers. American consumers tend to be strongly motivated by price, and therefore they are likely to choose cheaper uncertified wood products. Accordingly, American wood companies will prefer to keep their prices low rather than obtain ecocertification.

Third, although some people claim that it always makes good business sense for American companies to keep up with the developments in the rest of the world, this argument is not convincing. Pursuing certification would make sense for American wood companies only if they marketed most of their products abroad. But that is not the case—American wood businesses sell most of their products in the United States, catering to a very large customer base that is satisfied with the merchandise.

Directions: Read the transcript （听力原文）

Narrator    Now listen to part of a lecture on the topic you just read about.

Professor：Well, despite what many people say, there’s good reason to think that many American wood companies will eventually seek ecocertification for their wood products. First off, consumers in the United States don’t treat all advertising the same. They distinguish between advertising claims that companies make about their own products and claims made by independent certification agencies. Americans have a lot of confidence in independent consumer agencies. Thus, ecologically minded Americans are likely to react very favorably to wood products ecologically certified by an independent organization with an international reputation for trustworthiness.

Second point—of course it’s true that American consumers care a lot about price—who doesn’t? But studies of how consumers make decisions show that price alone determines consumers’ decisions only when the price of one competing product is much higher or lower than another. When the price difference between two products is small—say, less than five percent, as is the case with certified wood— Americans often do choose on factors other than price. And Americans are becoming increasingly convinced of the value of preserving and protecting the environment.

And third, U.S. wood companies should definitely pay attention to what’s going on in the wood business internationally, not because of foreign consumers, but because of foreign competition. As I just told you, there’s a good chance that many American consumers will be interested in ecocertified products. And guess what, if American companies are slow capturing those customers, you can be sure that foreign companies will soon start crowding into the American market, offering ecocertified wood that domestic companies don’t.

Directions: Give yourself 20 minutes to plan and write your response. Your response is judged on the quality of the writing and on how well it presents the points in the lecture and their relationship to the reading passage. Typically, an effective response will be 150 to 225 words. You may view the reading passage while you respond.

Response time: 20 minutes

Question: Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they cast doubt on specific points made in the reading passage

独立写作是考生根据既定话题进行自由阐述，写作结构相对固定，字数需多于300字。更多强调考生的逻辑能力，当然啦，如果选择了机考，对打字速度也有一定要求的。

其二是雅思。雅思写作也分为小作文和大作文两部分。小作文主要是对各类图表的分析，像是柱状图、线图、饼图、表格图之类，要求考生描述图表反映的内容和问题，字数在150字以上。像是下图所示。

大作文则是写一篇议论文，主要有四种题型，双边讨论（discussion）、观点（opinion）、问题及解决措施（problem and solution）、多个问题（Two-part question），不同的题型对应不同的写作模板，这里笔者就不过多赘述，如果读者对此感兴趣，笔者随后会重新整理一篇总结写作模板。

大作文与小作文的结构思路都比较简单，重点在于内容的论点与论据，论点详实，论据清晰，且语句通顺流畅，分就不会太低。

雅思写作题型较托福而言更为多样，对于词汇多样性、句型多样性和语言的凝练度要求更高，对笔者而言，雅思写作难度要高于托福。

其三是GRE。GRE是以英语为载体的逻辑分析考试，考察重点是逻辑水平和学术能力，托福与雅思是为了判断是否考生具备在英语语言国家学习过程中正常而流畅的沟通，而GRE对于美国本科生而言，更像我们的考研。

如下所示，GRE考试中作文分为两部分，一篇为Issue,另一篇为Argument, 各自30分钟。Issue是对某件事情发表自己的观点，而Argument 是对别人的看法进行分析，寻找其中的漏洞。

The analytical writing measure consists of two separately timed analytical writing tasks:

1. A 30-minute “analyze an Issue” task

2. A 30-minute “Analyze an Argument”task

根据官网上的分数等级划分可知，得分在5.5-6的作文，需观点深刻，逻辑自洽，结构严谨，语句多样，词汇准确，且语法基本没有错误。

Scores 6 and 5.5

Sustains insightful, in-depth analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with logically compelling reasons and/or highly persuasive examples;is well focused and well organized;skillfully uses sentence variety and precise vocabulary to convey meaning effectively;demonstrates superior facility with sentence structure and language usage, but may have minor errors that do not interfere with meaning.

这其实也是废话，凡是做到上述几点，无论考的是GRE还是雅思托福，都必定斩获高分，考生能做的，也只是根据题型，整理模板，兵来将挡，水来土掩。

其四是GMAT。GMAT主要面向的是申请商科、管理类学科硕士及MB的考生。GMAT写作不计入总分，但是成绩也会显示，满分六分，计时30分钟，主要是考察辩证分析能力，为驳论文，主要在于驳斥题目中的论述观点，笔者认为，网上盛传的“七宗罪”法就是对付写作的不二法门。

**宗罪：无因果联系；

第二宗罪：样本不足；

第三宗罪：错误类比（横向）；

第四宗罪：时地全等（没有用发展的观点看待问题）；

第五宗罪：二者择一（非此即彼）；

第六宗罪：可疑调查；

第七宗罪：结论无据（无根据假设）。

GMAT作文批改是机改与人工的结合，再加上并不会计入总分，所以更看重文章的简洁明了，而不是一味地硬凹复杂句式和高级词汇，一目了然反而是最重要的，比起雅思对词汇和语句多样性的高要求，GMAT更注重观点之间逻辑关联和清晰明了，当然啦，这也不代表GMAT完全不重视词汇，要是词汇重复率过高，自然也是不行的。

最后是SAT。SAT针对的是美国的本科入学考试，作文可选可不选，时长50分钟，作文题目可以说是文中所提的所有考试中最长的，一般700词左右，SAT独特处在于，它不是托福的独立写作，雅思的大作文，或者GRE的ISSUE, 需要考生根据已有的知识和经验对话题进行论证，不同于GRE的Argument 和GMAT 这类驳论文，需要考生驳斥题目中的观点，挑出错处，它所考察的，是要求考生从“论据”，“逻辑”，“修辞”三个方面对题目进行分析。原文论点是否可靠？修辞带来了什么作用？逻辑是否自洽？论点是否成立？等等。

综上所述，托福的综合写作和SAT的作文，更像是程度不同的分析型文章，注重的是题目观点的阐明；雅思大作文、托福独立写作、GRE的Issue,是提出自己的观点，属于议论文；GMAT和GRE的Argument，则是“挑错”的驳论文，因为运用语言是英语，看上去显得陌生，令人胆怯，但内核都是一致的，行文逻辑，论点论据，语句运用，都是写作中的重点。