A few repeated mistakes can hold a Writing or Speaking band down. The good news: they are a short list, and each one is easy to fix once you can see it.
The ten most common mistakes
- 01Subject-verb agreement: "The list of rules is long", not "are".
- 02Missing articles: "I go to the library every day".
- 03Uncountable nouns: "advice", "information" and "research" have no plural.
- 04Tense shifts: telling a past story but switching to the present.
- 05Verbs not used in -ing form: "I want", not "I am wanting".
- 06Word order in indirect questions: "I do not know where it is".
- 07Comma splices: two full sentences joined only by a comma.
- 08Wrong prepositions after verbs: depend on, interested in, good at.
- 09Missing plural -s after numbers and words like many or several.
- 10Run-on sentences that lose control of meaning.
Find your own top three
Everyone has a few personal habits. Collect your corrected mistakes in one list and look for the ones that keep coming back. Fixing three repeated errors helps more than learning ten new words.
In Speaking, too
The same mistakes appear when you speak, often more often because there is no time to check. Record yourself and listen only for your top three.
Get your writing checked and see your repeated mistakes highlighted.
Start freeQuvo is an independent practice platform and is not affiliated with ETS. Check ets.org/toefl for official test information.
