TOEFL Write an Email practice scored on the 0-5 rubric

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Five email scenarios, each with a model reply

Almost every Write an Email prompt is one of five jobs: make a request, report a problem, ask for advice, invite someone, or disagree politely. Each scenario below gives you the situation, the three points the prompt asks you to cover, and a reply that covers them.

1. Make a requestA course professor · Formal

   Your project needs the microscopy lab outside its posted hours, and only staff can grant access.

   Cover these three points

   • Say which lab you need and what the project is
   • Ask for access outside the posted hours and give your availability
   • Ask what approval or training the department requires first

   Model reply

   Dear Dr. Okonkwo,

   I am working on the sediment imaging project for BIO 240 and I would like to ask about using the microscopy lab in Whitmore Hall. The samples need about two hours of continuous imaging, which does not fit inside the posted afternoon slots. Would it be possible to book the lab on a weekday evening, or on Saturday morning? I am free after 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and all day Saturday. Could you also tell me whether the department requires a safety briefing or written approval before I book the room?

   Thank you for your time.

   Best regards, Nadia

   104 words — inside the Reach120 pacing target of 80–120, which is our practice guidance and not an ETS rule.

   The request is specific enough to act on — one lab, one duration, two concrete windows — and the third point is asked as its own question instead of buried in the paragraph. Nothing is over-explained, which is what leaves room for all three points inside the practice target.

2. Report a problemThe campus facilities office · Semi-formal

   The locker you were assigned at the gym does not lock, and your assigned replacement has not arrived.

   Cover these three points

   • Describe the problem and when you first reported it
   • Explain the effect it is having on you
   • Ask for a specific fix and a date

   Model reply

   Hello,

   I am writing about locker 212 in the west changing room, which does not lock — the latch turns but never catches. I reported this at the front desk on 14 March and was told a replacement would be assigned within a week, but I have not heard anything since. In the meantime I am carrying a laptop around the gym floor, which is not really workable. Could you either repair the latch or move me to another locker this week? If a repair takes longer, please let me know a date so I can plan around it.

   Thanks very much, Sam Adeyemi

   104 words — inside the Reach120 pacing target of 80–120, which is our practice guidance and not an ETS rule.

   A complaint scores on precision, not on temperature. The locker is named, the first report is dated, the consequence is one clause long, and the ask offers the reader two workable outcomes rather than demanding one.

3. Ask for adviceYour academic advisor · Formal

   Two electives fit your schedule, and you cannot tell which one serves your degree plan better.

   Cover these three points

   • Name the two courses and what you are deciding between
   • Say what matters to you in the decision
   • Ask for a recommendation and how to enrol once you decide

   Model reply

   Dear Ms. Halvorsen,

   I am choosing between STAT 210, Applied Regression, and GEOG 265, Spatial Data Methods, for the autumn term. Both fit my timetable, so I would rather decide on the basis of what helps most. My plan is to apply for the environmental analytics master’s next year, and I am weaker at statistics than at mapping. Given that, which of the two would you recommend I take first? If I switch, could you also tell me whether I enrol through the portal myself or whether your office has to approve the change?

   Thank you for your help.

   Kind regards, Tomas Ilves

   103 words — inside the Reach120 pacing target of 80–120, which is our practice guidance and not an ETS rule.

   Advice questions collapse when the writer never says what they want. This one gives the reader the criterion — a specific next degree and a named weakness — so the recommendation asked for is actually answerable.

4. Invite someoneA classmate you do not know well · Informal

   You are starting a weekly study group before the statistics final and you want them to join.

   Cover these three points

   • Invite them and say what the group is
   • Give the practical details: when, where, how often
   • Make it easy to say yes or no

   Model reply

   Hi Priya,

   A few of us from STAT 210 are starting a study group before the final, and I thought of you straight away — your question about residual plots last week was the first time that topic made sense to me. We are meeting Wednesdays at 5 in the library group room on level two, for about an hour and a half, starting next week. Each session we work through one past paper and compare answers. No pressure at all if your week is already full — just let me know either way so I can book the right room size.

   Cheers, Leo

   104 words — inside the Reach120 pacing target of 80–120, which is our practice guidance and not an ETS rule.

   An invitation needs a reason the person was asked, the logistics in one block, and a genuine exit. The closing line does two jobs at once: it removes the pressure and it asks for the reply the writer needs.

5. Disagree politelyA group project teammate · Semi-formal

   Your team wants to split the presentation into four separate parts, and you think it will not hold together.

   Cover these three points

   • Acknowledge the proposal fairly
   • Say what concerns you and why
   • Offer a specific alternative and invite a decision

   Model reply

   Hi Marta,

   Thanks for putting the plan together — splitting the work four ways does make the preparation manageable, and I can see why you suggested it. My worry is the handovers. When we tried this in the last module the four parts each made sense and the talk as a whole did not, and we lost marks for exactly that. Could we instead keep the four topics but have two people present, so each of them carries two sections? Everyone still writes their own material. If the group prefers the original split, I am happy to go with it — shall we decide at Thursday’s meeting?

   Best, Hugo

   109 words — inside the Reach120 pacing target of 80–120, which is our practice guidance and not an ETS rule.

   Disagreement scores on register as much as on content. The proposal is credited first, the objection is evidenced rather than asserted, the alternative is concrete, and the writer explicitly accepts the group’s right to overrule them.

These scenarios and replies were written by Reach120 to show how the task behaves. None is an ETS prompt, and none reproduces official test material. The word target beside each reply is a Reach120 pacing target, not an ETS requirement or limit — ETS publishes no word-count requirement for this task.