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TOEFL Write an Email task: a sample email that covers all three points

TOEFL Write an Email Practice: Free Question with a Top-Scoring Sample Email, Scoring Tips, & Helpful Insights from 9.981 Emails Scored by our Tutors

Welcome to our free TOEFL Write an Email practice guide, where you can write a real TOEFL iBT email under the 7-minute timer, compare it with a sample email that scored at the top level, and learn exactly what the raters check. You can also learn helpful insights from 9.981 TOEFL emails scored by our tutors, including the mistakes that cost our learners the most points.

Write an Email is new in the 2026 TOEFL, and it rewards a clear plan more than advanced English. Cover the three points in the prompt, in a tone that fits the reader, and the score follows.

If you’re looking for a free TOEFL email practice question, then click the button below to write one now and get a free AI score.

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Table Of Contents

What Is the TOEFL Write an Email Task?

In the TOEFL Write an Email task, you read a short situation from everyday or university life and write an email about it. The prompt tells you who you are writing to and gives you three points your email must cover, for example to explain a problem, describe what you’ve tried, and ask for help. You have 7 minutes, and there is one email in each test.

TOEFL Write an Email task screen: the prompt with three points to cover and the email response box

The reader can be a professor, a manager, a neighbor, or a friend, so part of the task is choosing the right tone. Write an Email comes after Build a Sentence and before the Academic Discussion task, and its score counts toward your Writing band from 1 to 6.

TOEFL Write an Email Sample Question and Answer

Here’s a TOEFL Write an Email sample question from our practice bank, with a sample email that scored at the top level. Read the three points in the prompt first, then see how the email gives each point its own paragraph, in the same order.

Write an Email TOEFL Writing Sample Question
You recently visited a neighborhood cafe and had a very positive experience with both service and atmosphere. You would like to thank the owner, Ms. Flores, and suggest one new menu option that could help students who study there in the evening.

Write an email to Ms. Flores. In your email, do the following:

- Describe what you enjoyed about your visit.
- Suggest one new menu option and briefly describe it.
- Explain why you think this option would benefit customers.

Write as much as you can and complete the sentences.

Sample Email

Dear Ms. Flores,

I recently visited your cafe with my family, and I wanted to share how much we enjoyed the visit. The drinks were excellent, and the staff were welcoming and patient even during a busy time.

I would like to suggest one additional menu option: a small "study combo" that includes a drink and a light snack at a discounted price during evening hours. This could be especially useful for students who stay late to read or prepare assignments.

I believe this would be a good addition because it supports regular customers, encourages longer visits, and makes your cafe even more attractive for study groups.

Thank you for creating such a pleasant environment.

Best regards,
Jordan Kim
Feedback

The writing could be considered 6/6 because it addresses all required parts of the email task clearly and fully. The message uses an appropriate email format, maintains a polite tone, and develops each required point with specific supporting detail rather than simply listing ideas. Its organization is smooth from opening to closing, and the language is varied and accurate throughout. Because the response is complete, coherent, and well controlled, it fits a top-band answer.

Task Fulfillment — Email

Learn how to answer this question in a step-by-step interactive exercise

Notice three things. The greeting and the closing fit a business owner the writer doesn’t know well. Each required point gets a clear paragraph with a detail, not just one short line. And the email ends politely without adding anything the task didn’t ask for.

How the TOEFL Email Is Scored

Your email gets a score from 0 to 5 from a combination of AI scoring and certified human raters. The key question is whether you accomplished all three goals in the prompt, in language the reader can follow. A 5 covers every goal with clear detail, varied sentences, and almost no errors. A 3 addresses all the goals, but a detail is missing or unclear and errors are noticeable. An email that skips a goal can’t reach the top levels, however good its English is.

TOEFL Write an Email score report with an AI score for each writing criterion

Tone matters too. The raters check that your language fits the reader: polite and formal for a professor or a manager, friendly for a friend. For every level of the rubric in plain words, see our TOEFL writing rubric.

Helpful Insights from 9.981 Scored TOEFL Emails

In 9.981 emails scored by our tutors, grammar was the lowest score most often, in 92% of them. Our learners’ emails average band 3.8: 57% reach band 4 or higher, and 14% reach band 5. A typical email is 117 words long, and 78% of the emails our AI reviewed had at least one misspelled word. The fixes our reviews make most often are i to I, for to to and in to on.

Bar chart of the average length in words of TOEFL emails by BestMyTest learners at each AI score from 1 to 5

So the first gain for most learners is simple: cover all three points, then read the email back once for spelling and grammar before time runs out.

TOEFL Write an Email Tips

These six tips come from the method our tutors teach for the email task. Each one protects points the rubric gives for completeness, tone, or accuracy.

  • Count the points before you write. The prompt lists three things to do. Note them, because the email is scored first on whether each one is there.
  • Match the greeting to the reader. Use “Dear Professor Ahmad,” for a professor, “Dear Ms. Flores,” for someone you don’t know well, and “Hi Maya,” for a friend. Close the same way: “Sincerely,” or “Best regards,” for formal emails and “Best,” or “Thanks,” for a friend.
  • Give each point its own paragraph. One short paragraph per point, in the order the prompt gives them, makes it easy for the rater to see that every goal is covered.
  • Add one detail to every point. “I missed three classes because of the flu” is stronger than “I was sick.” The detail is what moves an email from a 3 to a 4 or a 5.
  • Make requests politely. Use “Would it be possible to…?”, “Could you…?”, or “I would appreciate it if…”. A direct order sounds rude to the reader and costs tone points.
  • Keep the last minute for checking. Read the email back for spelling, verb endings, and missing words. These small mistakes are the most common corrections in our learners’ emails.

Want a ready-made structure with sentence starters? Our TOEFL email template walks you through the plan, the greeting, one sentence per point, and the closing.

How to Use the 7 Minutes

Seven minutes goes fast, so give each part a budget:

  • About 1 minute to plan: read the situation, note the reader and the three points, and choose a greeting.
  • About 5 minutes to write: an opening line that says why you are writing, one paragraph per point, and a polite closing.
  • About 1 minute to check: confirm all three points are there, then fix spelling and grammar.

The timer doesn’t stop at a word count, so a complete, correct email of a reasonable length beats a long one that misses a point or ends mid-sentence.

Free TOEFL Write an Email Practice

All of our TOEFL email practice is built for the current task, so it matches what you’ll see on test day.

Write an Email: Frequently Asked Questions

How long should a TOEFL email be?

There is no required word count. Aim for an email that covers all three points with a detail each, which usually takes about 100 to 150 words in 7 minutes. A typical email from our learners is 117 words.

How much time do you get for the TOEFL email?

You have 7 minutes to read the situation and write the email.

Is the TOEFL email formal or informal?

It depends on the reader in the prompt. Write formally to a professor, a manager, or a stranger, and in a friendly, informal style to a friend or a classmate.

How is the TOEFL email scored?

It gets a score from 0 to 5, based mainly on whether you cover all three points clearly, with the right tone and few errors. The score counts toward your Writing band from 1 to 6.

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The figures on this page come from the BestMyTest TOEFL learner performance data, our records of TOEFL practice on BestMyTest up to October 2026. That page explains how we measure each figure. Last updated 15 October 2026.