TOEFL Write an Email: how it works and how to do well
Write an Email gives you a short situation and three things your email must do, and you have 7 minutes to write it. It’s the second of three Writing tasks on the TOEFL iBT since January 2026, and it checks how clearly and politely you can write for a real purpose.
- To write your email
- 7 min
- Things your email must do
- 3
- Word count to hit
- No
- Points on ETS’s scoring guide
- 0–5
How Write an Email works
You read a short situation, set at school or in everyday life: for example, a problem with a booking, an event you’d like someone to come to, or an idea you want to suggest. The email has a specific job, like making a recommendation, sending an invitation or proposing a solution.
The prompt lists three things your email must do, and the To and Subject lines are already filled in. You write the email itself, from the greeting to the sign-off.
There’s no word count to hit. The instructions say only to write as much as you can, in complete sentences.
It’s the second task in the Writing section, after Build a Sentence and before Write for an Academic Discussion. The whole section takes about 23 minutes.
How it’s scored
Your email gets a score from 0 to 5 on ETS’s scoring guide for this task. An email at the top of the scale is effective and clearly expressed, with a sure command of English throughout. It typically has:
- enough detail to do its job well
- a variety of sentence structures, with precise, natural word choice
- the right tone throughout: polite, suited to the reader, with requests and other actions phrased the way that person would expect
- almost no grammar or vocabulary errors, apart from the odd typo any good writer makes against the clock
Lower scores go to emails with less detail, a narrower range of language, and errors in grammar, word forms or tone that start to get in the way. An email that mostly copies the prompt scores very low.
Nothing in the guide asks for a set length or rare vocabulary. It rewards an email that does all three things, clearly and politely.
Worked example
This situation was written for this guide in the same format as the real task. Give yourself 7 minutes to write your own email before you open ours.
You recently joined a running group that meets every Sunday morning. You enjoy it, but you’ve just started a weekend job, and you have an idea that could help you and some other members.
Write an email to the organizer of the running group. In your email, do the following:
- Tell the organizer what you enjoy about the group.
- Explain why Sunday mornings are now difficult for you.
- Suggest a change that could help you and other members.
Write as much as you can and in complete sentences.
- To:
- organizer@riversiderunners.example.org
- Subject:
- An idea for our running schedule
Show a strong sample emailHide
Dear Ms. Ortiz, I joined Riverside Runners last month, and I’ve really enjoyed it. The routes along the river are beautiful, and I love how the faster runners always wait for the rest of us at the end. Unfortunately, I’ve just started a part-time job at a bakery, and my shifts begin at 7 a.m. on Sundays. That means I’ll miss every group run from now on, which is disappointing. Would you consider adding a second run on a weekday evening, perhaps Wednesday at 6:30? I’ve spoken to two other members who work on weekends, and they said they would come too. I’d be happy to help plan the route or lead the group if that would make things easier. Thank you for considering it. Best wishes, Jordan
What makes it strong
- It does all three things, in order. What the writer enjoys, why Sundays no longer work, and a specific suggestion each get a paragraph of their own.
- Its details support the purpose. The bakery shift explains the problem, and the two other members show the idea would help more than one person.
- Its tone suits the reader. It’s friendly but polite to an organizer: the request is a question (“Would you consider…?”), and it offers help rather than making a demand.
- Its language is varied and precise. It mixes short and long sentences and uses natural, exact phrases like “just started a part-time job” and “if that would make things easier”.
How to do well
Use the three tasks as your plan. Give each one a short paragraph, in the order they’re listed. It’s the quickest way to make sure nothing is left out.
Add a detail to each. One specific reason, time or example for each point turns a list of answers into an email that does its job.
Match your tone to the reader. Open and close the way you would with that person, like “Dear Ms. Ortiz” and “Best wishes”, and make requests gently: “Would you consider…?” or “Could you let me know…?”.
Keep a minute to check. Read your email once for missing words and verb forms. The odd typo is forgiven; errors that make your message unclear aren’t.
Try Write an Email in a real-format test
Writing Practice Test 1 has all three Writing tasks, timed and scored on the 1.0–6.0 band scale, with feedback on your email and your discussion post. Free, with no account needed.
Start Writing Practice Test 1