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TOEFL (task II): compare / contrast " learning from book or experience" ?


ReshaidNasser 1 / -  
Sep 18, 2013   #1
Hi, I am having an exam after two weeks, and I am working hard to achieve 24 in the writing. I will be waiting for every ones feed back. Thanks.

(It has been said, "Not everything that is learned is contained in books." Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books. In your opinion, which source is more important? Why? )

Learning is very important for our life. By learning, we improve our selves as well as our community. We gain information either from books or from experiences we live. Both ways carry common features, but they are different in others. Before giving my opinion, I will compare and contrast both sides.

First, similar to experience, books can tell us about history. Any event happened in the past, like the Second World War or the Titanic sink, was made by people experienced these old events. Also, these events are documented in books. So, we can learn about historical events either by listening to those people or by reading history books. For example, I remember many years back, I read an amazing book talking about the Titanic ship. This book was describing how the ship was built and about the hard time people faced before the ship went under the Pacific Ocean. During my read, I was able to live the exact experience. Similarly to what I learned from the book, I also learned about the Titanic mystery from an old lady how survived the sad event. She was telling her experience through a documentary show on TV. She was giving almost the same details of what was in the book read previously. As we can see, history can be taught from both, books and self-experience.

Second, In contrast to experience, we can learn from books in a shorter time. Books can tell us plenty of information, in science, medicine, computer etc., in a relatively short time. On the other hand, to gain information from an experience, we need a long time and multiple trials to reach a conclusion that can be shared with others. For instance, in the medical field, there are a lot of new drugs coming to the market every day. These drugs underwent many trails and experiments until authorities, such as the FDA, approve them. In contrast, the doctors read the recommendations about these new medications and start to give them to his patients. Doctors, of course, will not waste their time repeating these lengthy experiments. As we can lean from this example, people will gain information in a shorter time when they read books.

In conclusion, with the advantages and disadvantages of both sides, I believe that gaining knowledge by reading books is better then gaining them by living an experience. Despite both will tell us about history, but reading a book will save peoples' time and effort.
holylua 5 / 15 2  
Sep 18, 2013   #2
your writing is good. But I suggest that you should rewrite your essay. The prompt asks you about which source is more important. So, in the body paragraph, you should tell 2 reasons to support your source of your choice, instead of writing about the similarity and difference between 2 sources. I think you are out of topic. The comparison and contrast should be written briefly in the introduction.
Pahan 1 / 1,906 553  
Sep 19, 2013   #3
Learning is very important for our life. By learning, we improve our selves as well as our community. We gain information either from books or from experiences we live.

.... Up to this point your intro flows very beautifully.

Both ways carry common features, but they are different in others.

Both ways have many common features, but there are some differences too.

Before giving my opinion, I will compare and contrast both sides.

... It is always good to state your opinion clearly rather than making vague statements like this. It's easier for you to decide which you think is the better way and state it here. If you feel both are equally important, then express your moderate stance clearly. For example;

In my view, I believe both learning through books and experiences are equally important and effective for one's personal progress.
Be firm in saying whatever stance you take :)
Nora_Toxic 1 / 4 2  
Oct 6, 2013   #4
I think you'd bettefr just jump to the main part of the question quickly.

Using one para to say that you think you can acquire knowledge through both ways and then at the end of the para you can choose your position.

Then use two examples or explanations to support your idea.

But at the end of the whole essay, you can say a little drawback of the side you chose, or a little good part of the other side to let show that you are kind of thoughtful.

Then finish the essay,


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