General
- Write multiple practice essays under test-like conditions for the Analyze an Issue essay and Analyze an Argument essay
- Just like you would during the exam, follow the 30-minute guideline, avoid pausing your timer, and write in an area similar to the area you will take the exam
- Try to only use official practice prompts as these prompts are the most similar to the exam prompts you will receive on test day
- Write your essay prompts as part of full-length practice tests to ensure that you’re preparing for the full test
- Avoid writing in first person
- Statements such as “I believe” and “In my opinion” lessen the strength of the writing
- Pay careful attention to the instructions
- These instructions include questions that you need to answer in your essay
- Although most instructions will start out in a similar manner, different questions will be asked further on in the instructions
- Create an outline for your time before you enter the exam. A useful outline could be:
- 2 minutes to read through the instructions and prompt
- 3 minutes to select a thesis statement and brainstorm an outline for the essay
- 20 minutes to write the essay, beginning with the body paragraphs and ending with an introduction or conclusion with the remaining time
- 2 minutes to fix small mistakes, such as spelling and grammatical errors
- 3 minutes to make any last-minute changes as necessary
- Ensure that you write a sufficient amount
- Essays can lose points when not enough information is included
- Focus on writing the main body paragraphs of your essay first
- Write an introduction and conclusion after you have developed your body paragraphs
- Your body paragraphs factor more into your scoring than the introduction and conclusion
- If you run out of time, cut out your conclusion paragraph or include a 1-3 sentence conclusion. The conclusion does not include new information and, as such, is the least important part of the essay
- Remember that the GRE does not require you to have previous knowledge of a topic
- Your analytical thinking and logical reasoning is being assessed, not your knowledge base
- Ensure that your essay is structured well and follows a clear logical progression
- Adhere to traditional essay writing conventions, such as a strong thesis statement, clear evidence, and transition sentences
- Make strong, declarative statements in your writing
- The clarity in which you convey your argument will be evaluated
- Attempt to leave at least a small amount of time to edit and revise your work
- Final adjustments to tone and clarity will ensure that your essay is well-written
Analyze an Issue essay
- Ensure that your thesis statement is clear and strong
- Your thesis statement will be the backbone of your essay. The rest of your paragraphs, arguments, and evidence will be used to support your thesis
- Graders will not be able to evaluate how well you defended your position if they cannot identify your thesis statement
- Review effective responses to GRE prompts from other applicants to learn the type of writing that receives high scores
- Focus on creating and effectively defending an argument about the topic
- The strength in which you defend your argument is the main purpose of the essay
- Avoid changing your argument or position as you write
- Ensure that you effectively choose a position, instead of taking the middle-of-the-road approach
- The manner in which you defend your position matters
- When you’re attempting to select your position, create a pon/con list
- Consider the multiple perspectives that can be taken on the issue
- Write down support for a position and arguments against the position to help you pick the side with the best support
- You can use one of the arguments from the side you didn’t select as a counterargument that you refute in your essay
- Preplan your opinions on common topics that are included in the essay prompts, such as opinions on the role of government and education
- By developing ideas on these common essay topics, you’ll be able to develop your opinion on the issue more quickly
- Ensure that your examples are relevant to your topic and position
- All of your examples should be related back to your thesis statement
- Refute the opposing argument
- This will reinforce your argument and strengthen your position
- Include specific, real-world examples to defend your position
- Hypothetical situations can easily be refuted by stating that those situations would never happen
Analyze an Argument essay
- Since your task is to critically analyze the argument in the prompt, ensure that you read this argument carefully
- Read the argument multiple times and take notes about areas of the argument you want to address in your writing
- When reading the argument, pay close attention to:
- The evidence, support, and reasoning used to support the position
- The claims and conclusions that are explicitly stated
- The claims or conclusions that are assumed without any justification
- The claims that are implied
- The structure of the argument
- The manner in which the argument forms a line of reasoning
- The connections the author is attempting to make
- Look for transition words, such as “however,” “thus,” and “hence”
- Avoid simply agreeing with the argument
- The purpose of this essay task is to evaluate the argument and you can best evaluate the argument by refuting the logic in the argument
- Avoid expressing your own views on whether you support the position or believe the statements are accurate
- Focus on analyzing the logic of the argument, not discussing your opinions about the argument
- Remember the argument will always contain flaws that you can address
- No flaw is too “obvious” to point out and the more obvious flaws are often easier to analyze within the time limit
- Common flaws in arguments include:
- Weak evidence
- Lack of evidence to support an assumption or argument
- A weak analogy between ideas
- Assuming the characteristics of one group applies to other people or groups
- Vague language
- Using biased or limited statistics and data
- Assuming that a certain condition is necessary for a certain outcome
- Anticipate counterarguments to your position and address these counterarguments in your essay
- Focus on a few of the major points about the argument
- Since you only have 30 minutes to complete the task, you don’t need to evaluate every part of the argument
- Avoid making assumptions about the argument that are not stated or implied
- Use specific examples in your argument
- Ensure that each of these examples is relevant to the topic
- These examples can be from the prompt and real-life examples
