Day 11 — Write an Email

Phase I · Writing · Day 11 (Writing Day 2 of 3) · ⏱ ~2 hours

📍 You are here: Day 10 – Orientation + Build a Sentence → Day 11 – Write an Email → Day 12 – Academic Discussion

Today is Task 2 – Write an Email (7 minutes): a scenario, three required points, and a polite-professional tone. The graders use those three points as a checklist — miss one and your band drops.

🎯 Today's goal: Learn the email formula and write one under real time pressure, then get feedback.

✅ You're done when: you've written one email in a strict 7 minutes and run it through ChatGPT feedback.

⏰ Step 1 — Daily Warm-Up: Email Tone & Register

You're emailing a professor. Pick the version with the right polite-professional tone.

👉 Open the Warm-Up Exercise
4 items · auto-graded

🎥 Step 2 — Learn the strategy

🎥 Write an Email — strategy video
📄 Write an Email — Challenges, Tips & Checklist PDF

The non-negotiables:

All 3 points. After each paragraph, physically check the prompt: did I cover requirement 1, 2, 3?
Polite-professional tone. Formal greeting (Dear Professor Smith,), soft requests (Would it be possible…), full forms (I am, not I'm), professional close (Best regards,). No slang.
100–150 words, 2–3 short paragraphs — precise, not long.
One-minute outline: 60 seconds mapping one sentence to each point, then type immediately.
Spelling traps: sincerely, apologize, received, professor, definitely, separate.

🎯 Step 3 — Timed drill

Target: 1 email · strict 7 minutes

🎮 mytoefl.io — Email prompts bank

Set a timer, pick a prompt, write. Leave the last 30 seconds to reread for typos.

🔎 Step 4 — Get feedback

🎥 How to check your Email with ChatGPT

Paste your email into ChatGPT with this prompt:

Please check my TOEFL email writing. Give clear feedback on grammar, vocabulary, word choice, sentence structure, coherence, tone, task completion, spelling, and punctuation. Estimate my TOEFL score out of 6. Explain the score briefly. Rewrite my response to a higher-band version, keeping my ideas.

➕ Extra (optional): run the same email through Cambridge Write & Improve for a second, band-style opinion, and Grammarly to catch spelling/punctuation slips.

💡 Pro Tips

Length sweet spot: 100–130 words. Top scorers write more precisely, not more.
A single spelling error can drop your band — reread before you submit.
Use "soft" modals for requests: "Would it be possible…" beats "I want…".

📁 Portfolio Entry — log Day 11

📅 Date · ✅ Steps completed (Y/N) · ⏱️ Time spent
📊 Warm-up score: ___ / 4
🎯 Email ChatGPT score: ___ / 6
🎯 Did I cover all 3 points? (Y/N)
🎯 Confidence today (1.0–6.0)
🏆 One Win + 🤔 One Challenge

➡️ Next: Day 12 — Academic Discussion