TOEFL independent writing section tests the candidate’s writing skills through an essay. TOEFL independent writing essays consist of a wide range of topics. This TOEFL independent writing sample talks about free time and how people enjoy it. These essays can be practiced from TOEFL writing practice papers as well.

Topic: These days, people enjoy a lot of time away from their work and school obligations. Many people use this time to visit new places and learn about them. What do you think is the best way to learn about a place you are visiting for the first time?

• Going to a museum
• Joining a guided tour of popular attractions
• Visiting a popular shopping area
• Talking to a local resident
• Watching a local television station

Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. Do not use memorized examples.

Sample answer:

Visiting a new place is always worth learning and I love visiting new places every year. I think that visiting a museum is a great way to know a city or country or a place in the best possible way while visiting it for the first time because of two reasons, which I am going to describe in the following essay.

Check:

First of all, museums are many exciting and accessible places in a city. It means these museums are a great way to know new things about the place. At present, museums are made to invite people of general interest. Previously, the museum authority often had stuffy, uninteresting exhibitions that fail to attract visitors. I have experienced the same in a museum in my hometown. It is not that the museum is actually boring – it has a number of interesting artifacts and important documents. But, the promotion of the museum, as extremely boring and it deliberately fails to attract teenagers like me. Museums store all sorts of important documents related to the place and ordinary people can't know. I later enjoyed the place a lot.

Secondly, the museums generally don’t aim at making a profit – they have unbiased perspectives. These days, guided tours are available for tourists. Previously, the tour operators intentionally ignore the museum to include it in the tour to keep the customers happy by ignoring the negative aspects of that particular city or country. For me the negative parts do not matter, rather, these are relaxing and I do enjoy the guided tours to a local museum to know the things properly. Ten years ago, I visited the Sokovia museum with a local guide. He had intense knowledge of everything in the museum and his way of speaking about the civil war, amused me a lot.

In conclusion, I do believe that people need to visit museums on their holiday and without any second thought, I think museums are the greatest way to know a new place. I will always prefer visiting a museum on my vacation very much and I will recommend the same to my friends as well.