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The GRE ® General Test

One test for graduate, business and law school

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Overview of the Analytical Writing Measure

Analytical writing measure (beginning september 22, 2023).

The Analytical Writing measure of the GRE General Test administered beginning September 22, 2023, assesses your critical thinking and analytical writing skills by assessing your ability to:

• articulate and support complex ideas
• construct arguments
• sustain a focused and coherent discussion

It doesn’t assess specific content knowledge.

The Analytical Writing measure consists of a 30-minute “Analyze an Issue”  task. This task presents an opinion on an issue and instructions on how to respond. You’re required to evaluate the issue, consider its complexities and develop an argument with reasons and examples to support your views.

You’ll use a basic word processor developed by ETS to type your essay responses. The word processor contains the following functionalities: insert text, delete text, cut-and-paste and undo the previous action. Tools such as a spellchecker and grammar checker are not available.

Analytical Writing Measure before September 22, 2023

The Analytical Writing measure of the GRE General Test administered before September 22, 2023, assesses your critical thinking and analytical writing skills by assessing your ability to:

• construct and evaluate arguments

The Analytical Writing measure consists of two separately timed analytical writing tasks:

• The "Analyze an Issue" task presents an opinion on an issue and instructions on how to respond. You’re required to evaluate the issue, consider its complexities and develop an argument with reasons and examples to support your views.
• The "Analyze an Argument" task requires you to evaluate an argument according to specific instructions. You’ll need to consider the logical soundness of the argument rather than agree or disagree with the position it presents.

The two 30-minute tasks are complementary. The Issue task requires you to construct your own argument, while the Argument task requires you to evaluate someone else's argument.

Preparing for the Analytical Writing measure

Everyone — even the most practiced and confident of writers — should spend time preparing for the Analytical Writing measure to understand the skills measured and how the tasks are scored. It may also be useful to review the scoring guides, sample topics, scored sample essay responses and rater commentary for each task.

The tasks in the Analytical Writing measure relate to a broad range of subjects — from the fine arts and humanities to the social and physical sciences — but don’t require specific content knowledge. Each task has been tested by actual GRE test takers to ensure that it possesses several important characteristics, including the following:

• GRE test takers, regardless of their field of study or special interests, understood the task and could easily respond to it.
• The task elicited the kinds of complex thinking and persuasive writing that university faculty consider important for success in graduate school.
• The responses were varied in content and in the way the writers developed their ideas.

Published topic pools for the Analytical Writing measure

To help you prepare for the Analytical Writing measure, the GRE Program has published the entire pool of tasks from which your test tasks will be selected. You might find it helpful to review the Issue and Argument pools:

• Issue Topic Pool (PDF)
• Argument Topic Pool (PDF)  (the Argument task was removed from the General Test beginning September 22, 2023)

Test-taking strategies for the Analytical Writing measure (in the General Test beginning September 22, 2023)

• Before taking the GRE General Test, review the strategies, sample topics, sample essay responses with rater commentary, and scoring guide for the task. This will give you a deeper understanding of how raters evaluate essays and the elements they're looking for in an essay.
• It is important to budget your time. Within the 30-minute time limit, allow sufficient time to consider the issue and the specific instructions, plan a response, and compose your essay. You want your essay response to be the best possible example of your writing that you can produce under the testing conditions.
• Save a few minutes at the end of the timed task to check for obvious errors. An occasional spelling or grammatical error won’t affect your score, but serious and persistent errors detract from the overall effectiveness of your writing and lower your score accordingly.

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7 Tips for a Perfect GRE Issue Essay

If you get a perfect score on the GRE’s Issue Essay (a 6), it can really boost your graduate school admissions chances! The best schools want good Verbal and Quantitative scores, but also students who are clear, competent writers. Lots of students have excellent transcripts and are good at taking tests – but not everyone can demonstrate impressive writing skills! Here are 7 tips to take your Issue essay to that perfect 6.

[ RELATED: What is a good GRE score?   ]

Write at least three practice essays.

Practice makes perfect! You can study for the GRE online by looking up the AWA prompts and practicing writing several of them within the 30-minute guideline. The only way to get comfortable with the time constraints is to practice them, so set up test-like conditions and get to work. If you’re a good writer, you might be tempted to take the GRE essay portion without practicing. That’s not a great idea–the issue essay is a different kind of essay than you’ve probably had to write in school, and you might miss the mark if you don’t practice. On the issue essay you’re not writing literary criticism or rhetorical analysis, but rather something more akin to a very direct, concise email to a very busy boss or professor. Get used to the idea that the issue essay isn’t about how well you make things flow or how pretty it sounds; it’s about how clearly you can get information across.

Don’t waffle.

You don’t have time to argue both sides of an issue on the GRE issue essay . Even if you don’t believe in the side you choose, you’ll only have time to argue one side effectively. If you take a middle-of-the-road approach you won’t sound as confident or clear. Remember, according to ETS, the “readers are evaluating the skill with which you address the specific instructions and articulate and develop an argument to support your evaluation of the issue.” Which side you choose to defend is less important than how you defend it!

Choose very specific real-world examples.

Don’t be general! Hypothetical arguments are easily refuted. The easy counter to any “what-if” argument is to challenge that the hypothetical scenario would ever actually happen. Instead, use specific examples: Mitt Romney, the War of 1812, Keynesian economic theory, an anecdote about your Uncle Ralph the compulsive gambler, etc. are all concrete examples you can use to drive home a point. 

BUT, make sure your examples are relevant to the topic.

You can choose examples from a wide range of subjects, including personal experience, pop culture, history, sports, literature, current events, politics, etc. But, don’t let your examples take over the essay. For instance, if you’re using a historical example, be careful that you don’t let the bulk of your essay become a summary of that event or a history paper equivalent. Your whole goal on the issue essay is to prove a point, so only use an example if it’s going to back up your argument.

Avoid first-person and self-reference.

In general, you should avoid writing in first person on the issue essay. Saying things like “I believe” or “in my opinion” adds unnecessary words since the reader already knows that the issue essay is written from your perspective. First-person pronouns should ONLY appear in a body paragraph if you are using personal experience as an example. Never use “I” in your introductory or concluding paragraphs.

Make strong, declarative statements.

Being direct doesn’t leave any room for miscommunication or misinterpretation. Part of the reason this is so important is because while one of your graders is human, the other is a computer. If you’ve ever talked to your GPS or Siri, you’ve probably experienced some miscommunication from time to time. Avoid this on the GRE issue essay by making strong, declarative statements.

Refute the opposing view in your conclusion.

Many GRE students wonder what to do in their conclusion. Try introducing the opposing viewpoint, showing that you recognize that in fact some people do not support your position. Then refute their argument in 1-2 sentences, and reinforce the validity of  your own thesis.

BONUS: Know how the GRE Analytical Writing Essays are scored

The GRE testmaker, Educational Testing Service (ETS) reports a single score rounded up to the nearest half-point. This score makes up the essay portion of your overall GRE score .

You can read more from ETS on  specific  score level breakdowns  here .

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PrepScholar GRE Prep

Gre prep online guides and tips, 328 official gre essay topics to practice with.

ETS has published the complete pool of 328 GRE essay topics which will ever appear on the Analytical Writing section of the test. While these collections of prompts provide unparalleled Analytical Writing practice, some test takers may find the sheer number of possible essay topics to be a bit overwhelming.

In this article, we’ve assembled over 60 official GRE essay topics for both the Issue and Argument tasks and used them to illustrate the 14 different kinds of GRE writing prompts you could see on test day. With this expert analysis, you’ll know how to tackle any GRE essay prompt that comes your way.

feature image credit: Female Typing /used under CC BY 2.0 /Resized and cropped from original.

GRE Essay Topics Pool: How It Works

ETS has publicly listed all the essay topics that will ever appear on the GRE for both the Analyze an Issue and the Analyze an Argument Analytical Writing tasks.

There are 152 different possible GRE essay topics in the GRE Issue pool and 176 different GRE essay topics in the GRE Argument pool , which means it’s unlikely you’ll run out of official prompts to practice with. And while there’s only a 1/328 chance that one of the GRE writing prompts you practice with ends up being on the test, that’s still better odds than if you practiced with non-official prompts, especially if you end up using a lot of practice prompts.

Each set of GRE essay topics can further be broken down by the specific task you’re asked to complete in your answer . We’ll start by looking at the six different possible GRE Issue essay topics.

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GRE Issue Pool

Each Analyze an Issue essay topic “consists of an issue statement or statements followed by specific task instructions that tell you how to respond to the issue” (source: ETS ). The specific words used for the topics might be a little different on the test, but in general what you see in the GRE issue pool is what you’ll get.

ETS also warns test takers that there might be some mix-and-matching of different issues with different task instructions among the prompts , so don’t skip over the prompt if you recognize the issue; it’s possible that you’ll have written about the issue before in response to a different task.

The specifics of the task you’re asked to do differ depending on the prompt, but the core of all the Issue tasks is this one question: Do you agree or disagree with this (statement, view, claim, conclusion, recommendation, policy) and/or its basis?

There are 152 different pairings of issues and tasks in the GRE issue pool. Among these GRE essay topics, however, there are actually only six tasks you’ll be asked to perform , and not all tasks are equally common.

Below, we’ve analyzed these six GRE essay prompts. In addition to presenting each task as it will appear on the GRE , we’ve also determined the likelihood of the task showing up on the test and provided a sampling of the issues that you might see paired with the task.

Issue Task 1: Agree/Disagree With a Statement

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

What they’re really asking : Explain your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with a given statement .

Number of topics in the GRE issue pool on this task : 54/152 ( 35.5% )

Examples of the statements to be analyzed

• To understand the most important characteristics of a society, one must study its major cities.
• In any field of inquiry, the beginner is more likely than the expert to make important contributions.
• There is little justification for society to make extraordinary efforts – especially at a great cost in money and jobs – to save endangered animal or plant species.
• Unfortunately, in contemporary society, creating an appealing image has become more important than the reality or truth behind that image.
• Government officials should rely on their own judgment rather than unquestioningly carry out the will of the people whom they serve.
• The best test of an argument is the argument’s ability to convince someone with an opposing viewpoint.
• If a goal is worthy, then any means taken to attain it are justifiable.
• The primary goal of technological advancement should be to increase people’s efficiency so that they have more leisure time.
• We can learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose views contradict our own.
• Any leader who is quickly and easily influenced by shifts in popular opinion will accomplish little.
• True success can be measured primarily in terms of the goals one sets for oneself.

Issue Task 2: Agree/Disagree With a Recommendation

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.

What they’re really asking : Explain your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with a recommendation for a course of action .

Number of topics in the GRE issue pool on this task : 24/152 ( 15.8% )

Examples of the recommendations to be analyzed

• Governments should focus on solving the immediate problems of today rather than on trying to solve the anticipated problems of the future.
• College students should be encouraged to pursue subjects that interest them rather than the courses that seem most likely to lead to jobs.
• Scientists and other researchers should focus their research on areas that are likely to benefit the greatest number of people.
• Nations should suspend government funding for the arts when significant numbers of their citizens are hungry or unemployed.
• Educators should base their assessment of students’ learning not on students’ grasp of facts but on the ability to explain the ideas, trends, and concepts that those facts illustrate.

Issue Task 3: Agree/Disagree With a Claim

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.

What they’re really asking : Explain your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with a claim .

Number of topics in the GRE issue pool on this task : 25/152 ( 16.4% )

Examples of the claims to be analyzed

• Universities should require every student to take a variety of courses outside the student’s field of study.
• It is no longer possible for a society to regard any living man or woman as a hero.
• Critical judgment of work in any given field has little value unless it comes from someone who is an expert in that field.
• In most professions and academic fields, imagination is more important than knowledge.
• Nations should pass laws to preserve any remaining wilderness areas in their natural state.

Issue Task 4: Which view aligns with your own?

Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented.

What they’re really asking : Explain which two views you most agree with and back it up with reasoning.

Number of topics in the GRE issue pool on this task : 18/152 ( 11.8% )

Examples of the views to be analyzed

• Some people believe it is often necessary, even desirable, for political leaders to withhold information from the public. Others believe that the public has a right to be fully informed.
• Some people claim that you can tell whether a nation is great by looking at the achievements of its rulers, artists, or scientists. Others argue that the surest indicator of a great nation is, in fact, the general welfare of all its people.
• Some people believe that corporations have a responsibility to promote the well-being of the societies and environments in which they operate. Others believe that the only responsibility of corporations, provided they operate within the law, is to make as much money as possible.

Issue Task 5: Agree/Disagree With a Claim and Its Basis

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.

What they’re really asking : Analyze an issue by explaining your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with not just the claim, but the reason on which the claim is based .

Number of topics in the GRE issue pool on this task : 19/152 ( 12.5% )

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• Claim: When planning courses, educators should take into account the interests and suggestions of their students.Reason: Students are more motivated to learn when they are interested in what they are studying. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.
• Claim: Any piece of information referred to as a fact should be mistrusted, since it may well be proven false in the future.Reason: Much of the information that people assume is factual actually turns out to be inaccurate.
• Claim: Imagination is a more valuable asset than experience.Reason: People who lack experience are free to imagine what is possible without the constraints of established habits and attitudes.
• Claim: Knowing about the past cannot help people to make important decisions today.Reason: We are not able to make connections between current events and past events until we have some distance from both.

Issue Task 6: Explain Your Views on a Policy

Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider the possible consequences of implementing the policy and explain how these consequences shape your position.

What they’re really asking : Explain your stance on a policy .

Number of topics in the GRE issue pool on this task : 12/152 ( 7.9% )

Example of a policy to be analyzed

• In any field – business, politics, education, government – those in power should be required to step down after five years. Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider the possible consequences of implementing the policy and explain how these consequences shape your position.

GRE Argument Pool

For the Argument task on the GRE, you’ll be asked to read a short passage containing an argument and then analyze that argument according to instructions.

As with the Issue task, there might be some very slight variations in wording between the way the tasks are written on the test as compared to the way they are online , but for the most part what you see online is what will be on the GRE. Similarly, there may be some arguments that are repeated across prompts in the GRE Argument pool, but they’ll each be followed by a different task, so it’s important to read the entire essay prompt (including the task) before beginning your analysis .

There are some commonalities across all of the essay prompts on the GRE Argument pool page, even beyond the fact that every task asks you to look at some kind of argument and analyze it. Of the 176 possible Argument topics , there are just eight different tasks you’ll be asked to perform, and of those eight tasks, numbers 3, 4, 6, 8 below are all basically different ways of asking you to “evaluate this stance and explain why you’ve determined whether or not it has a reasonable basis.”

Below, we’ve presented each of the eight GRE writing prompts  as they will appear on the exam, figured out how likely the task is to show up , and given some examples of arguments you might be asked to analyze.

Argument Task 1: Evaluate an Argument and Evidence

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

What they’re really asking : Discuss how different, specific evidence could weaken or strengthen the argument.

Number of topics in the GRE argument pool on this task : 52/176 ( 29.5% )

Examples of the arguments to be analyzed

• The following appeared in a letter from a firm providing investment advice to a client. “Homes in the northeastern United States, where winters are typically cold, have traditionally used oil as their major fuel for heating. Last year that region experienced twenty days with below-average temperatures, and local weather forecasters throughout the region predict that this weather pattern will continue for several more years. Furthermore, many new homes have been built in this region during the past year. Because of these developments, we predict an increased demand for heating oil and recommend investment in Consolidated Industries, one of whose major business operations is the retail sale of home heating oil.”
• The following appeared in a memorandum from the manager of WWAC radio station. “To reverse a decline in listener numbers, our owners have decided that WWAC must change from its current rock-music format. The decline has occurred despite population growth in our listening area, but that growth has resulted mainly from people moving here after their retirement. We must make listeners of these new residents. We could switch to a music format tailored to their tastes, but a continuing decline in local sales of recorded music suggests limited interest in music. Instead we should change to a news and talk format, a form of radio that is increasingly popular in our area.”
• Three years ago, because of flooding at the Western Palean Wildlife Preserve, 100 lions and 100 western gazelles were moved to the East Palean Preserve, an area that is home to most of the same species that are found in the western preserve, though in larger numbers, and to the eastern gazelle, a close relative of the western gazelle. The only difference in climate is that the eastern preserve typically has slightly less rainfall. Unfortunately, after three years in the eastern preserve, the imported western gazelle population has been virtually eliminated. Since the slight reduction in rainfall cannot be the cause of the virtual elimination of western gazelle, their disappearance must have been caused by the larger number of predators in the eastern preserve.
• The following appeared in a recommendation from the president of Amburg’s Chamber of Commerce. “Last October the city of Belleville installed high-intensity lighting in its central business district, and vandalism there declined within a month. The city of Amburg has recently begun police patrols on bicycles in its business district, but the rate of vandalism there remains constant. We should install high-intensity lighting throughout Amburg, then, because doing so is a more effective way to combat crime. By reducing crime in this way, we can revitalize the declining neighborhoods in our city.”
• The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of Butler Manufacturing. “During the past year, workers at Butler Manufacturing reported 30 percent more on-the-job accidents than workers at nearby Panoply Industries, where the work shifts are one hour shorter than ours. A recent government study reports that fatigue and sleep deprivation among workers are significant contributing factors in many on-the-job accidents. If we shorten each of our work shifts by one hour, we can improve Butler Manufacturing’s safety record by ensuring that our employees are adequately rested.”
• The following appeared in a letter to the editor of Parson City’s local newspaper. “In our region of Trillura, the majority of money spent on the schools that most students attend – the city-run public schools – comes from taxes that each city government collects. The region’s cities differ, however, in the budgetary priority they give to public education. For example, both as a proportion of its overall tax revenues and in absolute terms, Parson City has recently spent almost twice as much per year as Blue City has for its public schools – even though both cities have about the same number of residents. Clearly, Parson City residents place a higher value on providing a good education in public schools than Blue City residents do.”
• Milk and dairy products are rich in vitamin D and calcium – substances essential for building and maintaining bones. Many people therefore say that a diet rich in dairy products can help prevent osteoporosis, a disease that is linked to both environmental and genetic factors and that causes the bones to weaken significantly with age. But a long-term study of a large number of people found that those who consistently consumed dairy products throughout the years of the study have a higher rate of bone fractures than any other participants in the study. Since bone fractures are symptomatic of osteoporosis, this study result shows that a diet rich in dairy products may actually increase, rather than decrease, the risk of osteoporosis.
• The following appeared in a memo at XYZ company. “When XYZ lays off employees, it pays Delany Personnel Firm to offer those employees assistance in creating resumes and developing interviewing skills, if they so desire. Laid-off employees have benefited greatly from Delany’s services: last year those who used Delany found jobs much more quickly than did those who did not. Recently, it has been proposed that we use the less expensive Walsh Personnel Firm in place of Delany. This would be a mistake because eight years ago, when XYZ was using Walsh, only half of the workers we laid off at that time found jobs within a year. Moreover, Delany is clearly superior, as evidenced by its bigger staff and larger number of branch offices. After all, last year Delany’s clients took an average of six months to find jobs, whereas Walsh’s clients took nine.”
• An ancient, traditional remedy for insomnia – the scent of lavender flowers – has now been proved effective. In a recent study, 30 volunteers with chronic insomnia slept each night for three weeks on lavender-scented pillows in a controlled room where their sleep was monitored electronically. During the first week, volunteers continued to take their usual sleeping medication. They slept soundly but wakened feeling tired. At the beginning of the second week, the volunteers discontinued their sleeping medication. During that week, they slept less soundly than the previous week and felt even more tired. During the third week, the volunteers slept longer and more soundly than in the previous two weeks. Therefore, the study proves that lavender cures insomnia within a short period of time.

Argument Task 2: Examine Assumptions and Implications

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions, and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

What they’re really asking : Discuss assumptions made in the argument and how the argument would be strengthened or weakened if the assumptions are wrong .

Number of topics in the GRE argument pool on this task : 50/176 ( 28.4% )

• Nature’s Way, a chain of stores selling health food and other health-related products, is opening its next franchise in the town of Plainsville. The store should prove to be very successful: Nature’s Way franchises tend to be most profitable in areas where residents lead healthy lives, and clearly Plainsville is such an area. Plainsville merchants report that sales of running shoes and exercise clothing are at all-time highs. The local health club has more members than ever, and the weight training and aerobics classes are always full. Finally, Plainsville’s schoolchildren represent a new generation of potential customers: these schoolchildren are required to participate in a fitness-for-life program, which emphasizes the benefits of regular exercise at an early age.
• The following was written as a part of an application for a small-business loan by a group of developers in the city of Monroe. “Jazz music is extremely popular in the city of Monroe: over 100,000 people attended Monroe’s annual jazz festival last summer, and the highest-rated radio program in Monroe is ‘Jazz Nightly,’ which airs every weeknight. Also, a number of well-known jazz musicians own homes in Monroe. Nevertheless, the nearest jazz club is over an hour away. Given the popularity of jazz in Monroe and a recent nationwide study indicating that the typical jazz fan spends close to $1,000 per year on jazz entertainment, a jazz music club in Monroe would be tremendously profitable.”
• The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a journal on environmental issues. “Over the past year, the Crust Copper Company (CCC) has purchased over 10,000 square miles of land in the tropical nation of West Fredonia. Mining copper on this land will inevitably result in pollution and, since West Fredonia is the home of several endangered animal species, in environmental disaster. But such disasters can be prevented if consumers simply refuse to purchase products that are made with CCC’s copper unless the company abandons its mining plans.”
• Humans arrived in the Kaliko Islands about 7,000 years ago, and within 3,000 years most of the large mammal species that had lived in the forests of the Kaliko Islands had become extinct. Yet humans cannot have been a factor in the species’ extinctions, because there is no evidence that the humans had any significant contact with the mammals. Further, archaeologists have discovered numerous sites where the bones of fish had been discarded, but they found no such areas containing the bones of large mammals, so the humans cannot have hunted the mammals. Therefore, some climate change or other environmental factor must have caused the species’ extinctions.
• The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of marketing at Dura-Sock, Inc. “A recent study of our customers suggests that our company is wasting the money it spends on its patented Endure manufacturing process, which ensures that our socks are strong enough to last for two years. We have always advertised our use of the Endure process, but the new study shows that despite our socks’ durability, our average customer actually purchases new Dura-Socks every three months. Furthermore, our customers surveyed in our largest market, northeastern United States cities, say that they most value Dura-Socks’ stylish appearance and availability in many colors. These findings suggest that we can increase our profits by discontinuing use of the Endure manufacturing process.”
• When Stanley Park first opened, it was the largest, most heavily used public park in town. It is still the largest park, but it is no longer heavily used. Video cameras mounted in the park’s parking lots last month revealed the park’s drop in popularity: the recordings showed an average of only 50 cars per day. In contrast, tiny Carlton Park in the heart of the business district is visited by more than 150 people on a typical weekday. An obvious difference is that Carlton Park, unlike Stanley Park, provides ample seating. Thus, if Stanley Park is ever to be as popular with our citizens as Carlton Park, the town will obviously need to provide more benches, thereby converting some of the unused open areas into spaces suitable for socializing.
• While the Department of Education in the state of Attra recommends that high school students be assigned homework every day, the data from a recent statewide survey of high school math and science teachers give us reason to question the usefulness of daily homework. In the district of Sanlee, 86 percent of the teachers reported assigning homework three to five times a week, whereas in the district of Marlee, less than 25 percent of the teachers reported assigning homework three to five times a week. Yet the students in Marlee earn better grades overall and are less likely to be required to repeat a year of school than are the students in Sanlee. Therefore, all teachers in our high schools should assign homework no more than twice a week.
• The following appeared in a memo to the board of directors of Bargain Brand Cereals. “One year ago we introduced our first product, Bargain Brand breakfast cereal. Our very low prices quickly drew many customers away from the top-selling cereal companies. Although the companies producing the top brands have since tried to compete with us by lowering their prices and although several plan to introduce their own budget brands, not once have we needed to raise our prices to continue making a profit. Given our success in selling cereal, we recommend that Bargain Brand now expand its business and begin marketing other low-priced food products as quickly as possible.”
• The following is a recommendation from the personnel director to the president of Acme Publishing Company. “Many other companies have recently stated that having their employees take the Easy Read Speed-Reading Course has greatly improved productivity. One graduate of the course was able to read a 500-page report in only two hours; another graduate rose from an assistant manager to vice president of the company in under a year. Obviously, the faster you can read, the more information you can absorb in a single workday. Moreover, Easy Read would cost Acme only $500 per employee — a small price to pay when you consider the benefits. Included in this fee is a three-week seminar in Spruce City and a lifelong subscription to the Easy Read newsletter. Clearly, Acme would benefit greatly by requiring all of our employees to take the Easy Read course.”

Argument Task 3: Evaluate a Recommendation and Its Basis

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

What they’re really asking : Discuss the different, specific questions that would need to be answered to determine how reasonable the recommendation is.

Number of topics in the GRE argument pool on this task : 24/176 ( 13.6% )

• The following appeared in a memo from a vice president of Alta Manufacturing. “During the past year, Alta Manufacturing had thirty percent more on-the-job accidents than nearby Panoply Industries, where the work shifts are one hour shorter than ours. Experts believe that a significant contributing factor in many accidents is fatigue caused by sleep deprivation among workers. Therefore, to reduce the number of on-the-job accidents at Alta, we recommend shortening each of our three work shifts by one hour. If we do this, our employees will get adequate amounts of sleep.” Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
• Since those issues of Newsbeat magazine that featured political news on their front cover were the poorest-selling issues over the past three years, the publisher of Newsbeat has recommended that the magazine curtail its emphasis on politics to focus more exclusively on economics and personal finance. She points to a recent survey of readers of general interest magazines that indicates greater reader interest in economic issues than in political ones. Newsbeat ‘s editor, however, opposes the proposed shift in editorial policy, pointing out that very few magazines offer extensive political coverage anymore. Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
• The following appeared in an article in the Grandview Beacon . “For many years the city of Grandview has provided annual funding for the Grandview Symphony. Last year, however, private contributions to the symphony increased by 200 percent and attendance at the symphony’s concerts-in-the-park series doubled. The symphony has also announced an increase in ticket prices for next year. Given such developments, some city commissioners argue that the symphony can now be fully self-supporting, and they recommend that funding for the symphony be eliminated from next year’s budget.” Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
• Twenty years ago, Dr. Field, a noted anthropologist, visited the island of Tertia. Using an observation-centered approach to studying Tertian culture, he concluded from his observations that children in Tertia were reared by an entire village rather than by their own biological parents. Recently another anthropologist, Dr. Karp, visited the group of islands that includes Tertia and used the interview-centered method to study child-rearing practices. In the interviews that Dr. Karp conducted with children living in this group of islands, the children spent much more time talking about their biological parents than about other adults in the village. Dr. Karp decided that Dr. Field’s conclusion about Tertian village culture must be invalid. Some anthropologists recommend that to obtain accurate information on Tertian child-rearing practices, future research on the subject should be conducted via the interview-centered method.

Argument Task 4: Evaluate Advice and Questions

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the advice and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the advice.

What they’re really asking : Discuss the different, specific questions needed to determine if the advice and the argument it’s based on are reasonable .

This task is pretty much the same as task 3; the main difference is in the way the prompt is worded (as advice vs. a recommendation being given).

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Number of topics in the GRE argument pool on this task : 2/176 ( 1.1% )

Examples of the advice to be analyzed

• The following appeared in a newsletter offering advice to investors. “Over 80 percent of the respondents to a recent survey indicated a desire to reduce their intake of foods containing fats and cholesterol, and today low-fat products abound in many food stores. Since many of the food products currently marketed by Old Dairy Industries are high in fat and cholesterol, the company’s sales are likely to diminish greatly and company profits will no doubt decrease. We therefore advise Old Dairy stockholders to sell their shares, and other investors not to purchase stock in this company.”

Argument Task 5: Evaluate a Recommendation’s Likely Results

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

What they’re really asking : Discuss specific questions and information that would be needed to show the recommendation would have the expected outcome .

Number of topics in the GRE argument pool on this task : 21/176 ( 11.9% )

• The following appeared in a letter from the owner of the Sunnyside Towers apartment building to its manager. “One month ago, all the showerheads on the first five floors of Sunnyside Towers were modified to restrict the water flow to approximately one-third of its original flow. Although actual readings of water usage before and after the adjustment are not yet available, the change will obviously result in a considerable savings for Sunnyside Corporation, since the corporation must pay for water each month. Except for a few complaints about low water pressure, no problems with showers have been reported since the adjustment. Clearly, restricting water flow throughout all the twenty floors of Sunnyside Towers will increase our profits further.”
• The following memorandum is from the business manager of Happy Pancake House restaurants. “Butter has now been replaced by margarine in Happy Pancake House restaurants throughout the southwestern United States. Only about 2 percent of customers have complained, indicating that 98 people out of 100 are happy with the change. Furthermore, many servers have reported that a number of customers who ask for butter do not complain when they are given margarine instead. Clearly, either these customers cannot distinguish butter from margarine or they use the term ‘butter’ to refer to either butter or margarine. Thus, to avoid the expense of purchasing butter and to increase profitability, the Happy Pancake House should extend this cost-saving change to its restaurants in the southeast and northeast as well.”
• The following memo appeared in the newsletter of the West Meria Public Health Council. “An innovative treatment has come to our attention that promises to significantly reduce absenteeism in our schools and workplaces. A study reports that in nearby East Meria, where consumption of the plant beneficia is very high, people visit the doctor only once or twice per year for the treatment of colds. Clearly, eating a substantial amount of beneficia can prevent colds. Since colds are the reason most frequently given for absences from school and work, we recommend the daily use of nutritional supplements derived from beneficia. We predict this will dramatically reduce absenteeism in our schools and workplaces.”
• The following appeared in an e-mail sent by the marketing director of the Classical Shakespeare Theatre of Bardville. “Over the past ten years, there has been a 20 percent decline in the size of the average audience at Classical Shakespeare Theatre productions. In spite of increased advertising, we are attracting fewer and fewer people to our shows, causing our profits to decrease significantly. We must take action to attract new audience members. The best way to do so is by instituting a ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ program this summer. Two years ago the nearby Avon Repertory Company started a ‘Free Plays in the Park’ program, and its profits have increased 10 percent since then. If we start a ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ program, we can predict that our profits will increase, too.”

Argument Task 6: Evaluate a Prediction and Its Basis

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the prediction and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the prediction.

What they’re really asking : Discuss the specific questions that need to be answered to determine how reasonable the prediction and its basis are .

Number of topics in the GRE argument pool on this task : 14/176 ( 8.0% )

Examples of the predictions to be analyzed

• The following appeared in a memorandum from the manager of KNOW radio station. “Several factors indicate that KNOW radio can no longer succeed as a rock-and-roll music station. Consider, for example, that the number of people in our listening area over fifty years of age has increased dramatically, while our total number of listeners has declined. Also, music stores in our area report decreased sales of rock-and-roll music. Finally, continuous news stations in neighboring cities have been very successful. We predict that switching KNOW radio from rock-and-roll music to 24-hour news will allow the station to attract older listeners and make KNOW radio more profitable than ever.”
• The council of Maple County, concerned about the county’s becoming overdeveloped, is debating a proposed measure that would prevent the development of existing farmland in the county. But the council is also concerned that such a restriction, by limiting the supply of new housing, could lead to significant increases in the price of housing in the county. Proponents of the measure note that Chestnut County established a similar measure ten years ago, and its housing prices have increased only modestly since. However, opponents of the measure note that Pine County adopted restrictions on the development of new residential housing fifteen years ago, and its housing prices have since more than doubled. The council currently predicts that the proposed measure, if passed, will result in a significant increase in housing prices in Maple County.

Argument Task 7: Discuss Alternative Explanations

Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can plausibly account for the facts presented in the argument.

What they’re really asking : Discuss alternative explanations that would reasonably explain the evidence discussed in the argument.

Number of topics in the GRE argument pool on this task : 11/176 ( 6.3% )

Examples of the explanation and argument to be analyzed

• The following appeared in a memo from the director of a large group of hospitals. “In a controlled laboratory study of liquid hand soaps, a concentrated solution of extra strength UltraClean hand soap produced a 40 percent greater reduction in harmful bacteria than did the liquid hand soaps currently used in our hospitals. During our recent test of regular-strength UltraClean with doctors, nurses, and visitors at our hospital in Worktown, the hospital reported significantly fewer cases of patient infection (a 20 percent reduction) than did any of the other hospitals in our group. The explanation for the 20 percent reduction in patient infections is the use of UltraClean soap.”
• There is now evidence that the relaxed pace of life in small towns promotes better health and greater longevity than does the hectic pace of life in big cities. Businesses in the small town of Leeville report fewer days of sick leave taken by individual workers than do businesses in the nearby large city of Masonton. Furthermore, Leeville has only one physician for its one thousand residents, but in Masonton the proportion of physicians to residents is five times as high. Finally, the average age of Leeville residents is significantly higher than that of Masonton residents. These findings suggest that the relaxed pace of life in Leeville allows residents to live longer, healthier lives.

Argument Task 8: Evaluate a Conclusion and Its Basis

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be addressed in order to decide whether the conclusion and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to the questions would help to evaluate the conclusion.

What they’re really asking : Discuss the specific questions that need to be answered to determine if the conclusion and its basis are reasonable .

Examples of conclusions to be analyzed

• A recent sales study indicates that consumption of seafood dishes in Bay City restaurants has increased by 30 percent during the past five years. Yet there are no currently operating city restaurants whose specialty is seafood. Moreover, the majority of families in Bay City are two-income families, and a nationwide study has shown that such families eat significantly fewer home-cooked meals than they did a decade ago but at the same time express more concern about healthful eating. Therefore, the new Captain Seafood restaurant that specializes in seafood should be quite popular and profitable.

GRE Essay Prompts: 3 Terrific Tips

No matter which of the GRE essay topics you encounter on test day, the following tips will help you prepare.

#1: Keep Strict Timing

When you’re working on practice GRE writing prompts, make sure you stick to a strict 30-minute time limit for each Analytical Writing prompt.

If you need to build up to writing within this time limit, you can start out by giving yourself extra time and then working your way down to 30 minutes. However, try not to only practice with extra time , or you’ll be unprepared for the real GRE Analytical Writing essays.

#2: Type Your Essays

To get the best practice for the computer-based GRE, you should write all your practice essays on a computer .

If possible, use the simple word processor in the PowerPrep Test Preview Tool or practice tests to do every practice essay. You’ll need to get used to the lack of spellcheck and familiar shortcuts or features of your own word processor that you might not realize how often you use, like select all, copy, cut, paste, or undo; it’s surprising to find how much not being able to use CTL+A to select all or CTL+V to paste can affect your writing and editing speed.

Even if you’re not writing about the GRE essay prompts given in PowerPrep, you can still use the text box and timer in the test preview tool or one of the practice tests to write practice essays on other prompts . Just be sure to save your essay into a separate document on your computer so you can go back and read and score it afterwards.

#3: Grade Your Essays

Once you’ve written your practice Issue and Argument essays, score them by using the essay rubrics and by comparing your writing to the sample essays ETS provides at each score point .

The rubrics for the Issue essay and the Argument essay are similar when it comes to the importance of clarity of writing and adherence to standard English grammar, spelling, and punctuation; they only really differ when it comes to assessing the specifics of the issue or argument analyses. You can try using the rubric yourself on your own essays and determine where on the rubric your essay fits; alternatively, you can see if you can find a GRE buddy who is willing to grade you and give you feedback based on the rubric, since it’s sometimes easier to be objective about someone else’s work.

While the rubrics are useful as guidelines for what to include in your essays, however, it can be difficult to envision what a perfect scoring essay might look like from the laundry list of qualities alone. That’s why the best way to learn what makes a difference between different essay scores is studying examples of high-scoring essays, analyzing what they do well, and finding the differences between them and lower-scoring essays on the same topic . We do this analysis for you in our articles on how to get a perfect 6 on the GRE Issue essay and Argument essay .

The object of grading your essays is not to feel bad that you didn’t live up to the ideals of a perfect essay score but instead to zero in on your weak spots so you can improve. Whether it’s disorganized writing, running out of time (and so not finishing your essay), insufficient analysis, or some other issue entirely, identify the main issues with your essay, then focus your practice on improving those areas.

What’s Next?

Looking for more great advice to increase your GRE AWA score? Read our article on GRE essay tips and strategies .

Want to find out more about what’s on the essay rubrics? We have a complete guide to how the GRE essays are scored here .

Learn more about what’s on the GRE and what a good GRE score is .

Ready to improve your GRE score by 7 points?

Author: Laura Staffaroni

Laura graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in Music and Psychology, and earned a Master's degree in Composition from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and GRE and loves advising students on how to excel and fulfill their college and grad school dreams. View all posts by Laura Staffaroni

How Much Does GRE Writing Score Matter?

Much attention is often given to the verbal and quantitative scores, but how much does the GRE writing score matter? This is a topic we need to discuss as it’s oft -overlooked, so let’s dive into the GRE Writing section and find out what it is all about and why it matters.

What’s the writing section all about?

At the time of writing this post, the GRE writing section consists of two tasks: the Issue task and the Argument task. In the Issue task, test-takers are presented with a broad statement and asked to develop an argument in response. In the Argument task, a given argument is analyzed for its logical flaws and structure. Each task is scored on a scale of 0 to 6, with 6 being the highest score.

The two task format will be offered for another month, but students who take the GRE after September 22, 2023 will not be required to write the Argument essay. These changes will make the test-taking experience less exhausting and anxiety inducing.

The value of a good writing score

• Stand Out From the Crowd : A strong writing score can set you apart from other applicants with similar verbal and quantitative scores. It’s one more way to demonstrate your seriousness and preparation for the challenges of graduate school.

Your writing score can matter, but it may not necessarily reflect all of your strengths as a writer. It is not the only opportunity in our application to highlight this aspect, or to put it in context–your academic record, letters of recommendation, statement of purpose, and relevant experiences will present a picture that’s bigger than any one score.

The limitations of a writing score

While a high GRE writing score can reflect positively on your admissions chances as a grad student, it’s important to understand its limitations. The score does not necessarily measure creativity, scientific writing ability, or your particular style. Furthermore, it doesn’t capture the diversity of writing skills that are required in different fields of study. Hence, while aiming for a good score, remember that your writing score is just one piece of your overall academic profile.

To gain clarity on the weightage assigned to the writing score by your desired programs, conducting thorough research on their specific requirements is essential. Some programs may have a minimum writing score threshold, while others might consider it as a secondary factor in the overall evaluation process. Understanding these nuances will help you approach the writing section strategically and make informed decisions to maximize your chances of success. Remember, your GRE score is just one aspect of your application, and showcasing your strengths in other areas can compensate for any writing challenges you may encounter. Stay focused, seek guidance if needed, and put your best foot forward in your pursuit of academic excellence.

Improving your GRE Writing score

• Edit, Edit, Edit : Review your essays for grammar, syntax, and clarity. A well-polished essay shows you mean business.

Your GRE writing score provides a context for showcasing communication skills, critical thinking abilities, and writing proficiency. However, it’s important to remember that this score represents just one aspect of your overall profile. Strive for a comprehensive application that highlights your strengths in all areas. Your test score is not the sole determinant of your potential as a student, but rather a reflection of your performance in this specific assessment. Emphasize your unique qualities, experiences, and aspirations to present yourself as a promising candidate for graduate school.

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20+ PROVEN ways to boost your GRE essay score (backed by data!)

Looking for ways to improve your GRE Analytical Writing scores? In this post, we’ll teach you some simple GRE essay tips to give you an edge over the competition – backed by real graded essay data.

There are a lot of opinions out there on what makes a good GRE essay, but we wanted to know for sure. Studying for the GRE is stressful enough, and you deserve to know exactly how to ace every section. So, we paid several GRE instructors to hand score 1,000+ GRE essay examples and determined empirically, without a doubt, the keys to writing the perfect GRE essay.

Using these GRE analytical writing examples, we trained a machine learning model capable of accurately predicting your score and letting you know exactly how you can improve. 

Here are the top 5 keys our model said have the biggest impact on getting a top analytical writing GRE score:

• Total word count
• Total noun count
• Prompt keyword usage
• Total adjectives count

Sentence variety

In this article, we’ll outline the process we took to build the machine learning-backed essay grader and answer the question of how to write a great GRE essay once and for all.

The GRE analytical writing section

The gre essay grader, analyzing the ets gre resources, nlp and key entity extraction, machine learning, gre essay score analysis results, beeswarm plot, waterfall plot, top findings, prompt keywords, adjectives count, spelling error rate, average sentence count, thesis word count, thesis sentence average word count, thesis people count, body paragraph word count, body paragraph quotation count, body paragraph exclamatory sentence count, conclusion word count, conclusion sentence word count, case study: a high-scoring gre issue essay example, case study: a medium-scoring gre argument essay, summary of results: gre essay tips for a great gre analytical writing score.

Essay writing can be a difficult skill to master , and to ace the GRE you’ll need to write two: the argument essay and the issue essay. These essays test your critical thinking and analytical writing skills, your ability to communicate complex ideas, develop logical arguments, and maintain a focused discussion. Although the GRE issue essay and the GRE argument essay follow different GRE essay prompts, the criteria they’re graded on and the way to write these essays are basically the same.

With only 30 minutes to complete each essay, you need to be efficient. But what if you had analytical writing GRE tips that could basically guarantee a high essay score, because they were reverse-engineered using machine learning? It would make getting that perfect 6.0 GRE analytical writing score Achievable 😉

Each GRE analytical writing section consists of a topic of discussion and specific instructions on how to respond. In the allotted 30 minutes, GRE takers must be able to analyze the prompt, plan a relevant response, and write an organized and coherent issue essay or argument essay supported by evidence.

Needless to say, every second counts. To help set up Achievable’s GRE course customers for success, we’ve built a machine learning-based essay grading system trained on thousands of professionally graded GRE essays, using real GRE essay prompts. Let’s dig into how it works and how we learned the most important factors for getting that perfect 6.0 GRE essay score.

The Educational Testing Service (ETS), the creators of the GRE, provide some information on how to score a perfect 6.0 on the essay sections. They mention that writers should “articulate a clear and insightful position”, “develop the position fully”, give “compelling reasons and/or persuasive examples”, and “convey ideas fluently and precisely”. It’s great that ETS is trying to give students some direction on how to get a good GRE essay score, but none of these tips are quantifiable. How do you know if an argument position is “clear and insightful,” or if an example of an issue is persuasive?

We don’t like leaving things to chance or rule-of-thumbs, and in building our GRE essay grader we dug into the details to figure out what issue essay and argument essay characteristics are empirically, data-backed, and without a doubt, the keys to getting the best score on the GRE essay sections.

We hired professional GRE instructors from different firms to hand score our essays, and analyzed the results to determine the key features leading to a high GRE essay score. Using a variety of different technologies, we built a best-in-class GRE essay grading tool that can help take your GRE essay writing skills from a 0 to a 6. We want to share the details of our process so that you can feel confident in using the Achievable platform to pass your exam without breaking a sweat.  

Let’s take a look under the hood.

The first step in building our GRE essay grader was to comb through every resource the ETS had on GRE analytical writing. Since our GRE essay grader is tailor made to help you score high on the GRE writing sections, the information provided by the creator of the test is by far the most valuable. 

We poured through ETS GRE resources, looking for the characteristics that make up a great GRE essay. We did the boring work so you don’t have to, reading through every single line of their GRE issue essay examples, their GRE argument essay examples, and the result was a document almost twenty pages long detailing our findings.  

We looked at everything from the obvious characteristics (also called traits or features ) like word count, to details like the number of adjectives used. Of course, at this point we were making intelligent guesses about what was important. The real judge of what to focus on when writing a GRE essay response would be our machine learning model.

Having twenty pages of notes was a great start but the next step would be the major challenge. We needed a reliable way of extracting these traits from a piece of English writing. Unfortunately for us, computers don’t understand English, which meant we needed to dive into the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP). 

NLP is a subfield of linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence that is helping to bridge the gap between the language used by humans, and the way computers process information. 

Luckily, we love to learn here at Achievable, and after a whole lot more research we were ready to build software that could take an essay and dissect it into a list of features. This process, called key entity extraction , was fundamental to building our GRE essay grader. Now that we could reliably process GRE essays and get our feature data out the other end, we were almost ready to train our model.

The last step before training was to prepare the extracted data. Machine learning is very good at one thing, and that’s discovering relationships between sets of data – otherwise it’s not as smart as you’d think. Outliers in the dataset can skew the results, especially when the outliers are very large or very small compared to the average. This meant that the data provided to the ML algorithm had to be pre-processed, or normalized .  

Data normalization usually involves rescaling the data such that all values are between 0 and 1. Using the results of our previous analysis, we determined lists of trait values that could be used to normalize the data.  

For example, most GRE issue essay templates and GRE argument essay templates follow  the conventional essay writing advice of using a 5 paragraph essay structure. This GRE essay template format includes a thesis, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Normalizing the paragraph count by 5 would create a trait that the ML algorithm could use to work its magic. If we provided more traits to the model, such as the paragraph count normalized by 3, and also by 10, the model could give us more information, and a high degree of confidence, whether 5 paragraphs is the way to go to get a high score. Following this approach, we normalized our dataset of GRE essays and provided hundreds of traits for the machine learning model to analyze.  

With our key entity extraction software ready to go, and our sample GRE essay data normalized, we were ready to train a machine learning model using the thousands of hand scored, real-world GRE issue essay examples and GRE argument essay examples. 

We built our machine learning model using TensorFlow, and in the training stage, passed huge amounts of data through neural networks resulting in a model that could reliably predict the score of a GRE essay. Using a variety of data science tools we generated charts to help describe the results.  These charts help illustrate how each trait affects the predicted score of an GRE essay. We can see which traits have the most significant effect, and by how much, making it very clear how to write a GRE essay.

The chart shown below is called a beeswarm plot and it represents the combined results of the thousands of GRE essays graded by the machine learning model.  Here’s how to read it:

• Each row in the plot corresponds to a specific feature
• The rows are ordered from top to bottom starting with the feature that had the biggest impact
• Each colored dot in the row represents a single instance of the feature, i.e. the value of the feature for a specific GRE essay
• The dots are colored according to the size of their value, where the lowest values are blue and the highest values are red
• The gray line down the middle is the zero-impact-line, with values falling to the right having a positive impact on the predicted result and the values falling to the left having a negative impact

Now with that explained, here is the beeswarm plot results from our GRE essay research:

For example, we can see from the plot that the total number of words used in the essay had the biggest impact on the score. Because the impact of a feature increases as the distance of the dots from the zero-impact-line increases, the blue dots extending far to the left indicate that low essay word counts have a large negative impact on score. On the other hand, the red dots tend to cluster slightly to the right of the zero-impact-line, indicating that writing a longer essay can help, but the impact is much smaller. The takeaway here is that you should avoid writing too short an essay, rather than trying to write a very long one. 

The chart below is called a force plot and it gives a general idea of how each feature affects the machine learning model’s predicted result for a specific GRE essay.

• The base value (4.339) is the average predicted score across all graded GRE essay examples
• The actual prediction for this essay is shown at f(x) (5.00)
• Each feature has a positive contribution (red) or negative contribution (blue) to the final score

Examining the force plot quickly tells us about the rough impact of each feature and if any stand out. We can see that the weight distribution is fairly gradual, with no single feature having an extraordinary impact. The force plot gives us a good summary of a specific GRE essay scored feature results, but isn’t very actionable. Our next chart, the waterfall plot, gives us a much more detailed explanation.

The chart below is called a waterfall plot and it gives us a more detailed view of how each feature affects the predicted score for a specific GRE essay.

• The starting value E[f(x)] (4.339) is the average predicted score across all graded GRE essay samples
• The features are ordered from top to bottom by the magnitude of their impact, which can be either positive (red) or negative (blue)
• The final value f(x) (4.999) is the predicted score

For this GRE essay, we can see that a low spelling error rate, i.e. having a low number of spelling mistakes, had a significant positive impact on the score (+0.11). On the other hand, a low word count (-0.11) essentially neutralized the positive contribution of the low spelling error rate. Similarly, a good usage of nouns throughout the essay positively contributed (+0.07) to the score, while a low word count for the body paragraphs (-0.07) basically negated this impact.

Our top findings for what you can to do impact your GRE essay score, listed in priority order:

• Higher values for word count have a positive effect on the predicted score while low values have a significant negative effect. 
• Low word counts were more significant in their negative effect on score, so rather than trying to write a long essay, focus on not writing one that is too short. In fact, we can see that high values also had a negative effect for some essays, likely when the essay was long but low in quality. In other words, a short essay will tend to bring down your score .
• A higher value for noun count contributes positively while low values contribute negatively.  
• Since nouns identify a person, place or thing, an essay lacking in nouns would be unfocused and imprecise. It’s hard to score a 6.0 on a GRE essay if no one knows what you’re talking about! So, a low number of nouns contributes significantly to a lower score .  
• Measuring the presence of keywords found in the GRE essay prompt throughout the essay it was clear that an absence of prompt keywords contributed to a lower score .  
• This was especially true for the thesis paragraph, where the goal is to clearly specify your main position on the issue or argument topic. Using keywords from the GRE essay prompt guarantees that your response is focused on the given topic.  
• For the adjectives count we saw only a minor and somewhat ambiguous negative contribution by low values while higher values strongly contributed to a higher score.
• A higher number of adjectives indicates a more descriptive essay. Since being descriptive helps to develop and clarify your response, be sure to use lots of adjectives alongside your nouns.
• Looking at the number of short, long, and very long sentences, and the ratios between these values, we found that long sentences (16 to 49 words) were the optimal choice for sentence length. We also saw that a higher proportion of short sentences to long sentences contributed to a lower score .  
• This suggests that you should prefer more long sentences than short sentences in your writing . However, using solely long sentences can also lower your score, so be sure to include the odd short sentence to establish variety.
• A high spelling error rate contributed to a lower score.
• No surprises here, making spelling mistakes will bring your score down!
• Paragraphs with too few or too many sentences had a slight negative impact on the score.
• A GRE essay paragraph should strike a balance between accurately introducing and supporting a point, without rambling or going off topic. We found the sweet spot to be around 8 sentences per body paragraph and about 5 for the thesis and conclusion paragraphs.
• Thesis paragraphs under 100 words contributed to a lower score.
• The thesis paragraph should be long enough to describe the focus of your response and your main reasons for supporting it.
• Short sentences in the thesis paragraph showed a slight negative contribution.
• It is especially important that the thesis paragraph provides enough context to effectively introduce and focus the essay response.
• The GRE essay grader found a relationship between mentioning a person’s name in the thesis paragraph and a higher score.
• Whether you are repeating a name found in the GRE essay prompt, or trying to provide context, try to reference a person’s name in your thesis paragraph.
• Body paragraphs under 150 words contributed to a lower score.
• The body paragraph is the meat of your GRE essay and should be long enough to introduce a point, provide and analyze evidence, connect to the thesis statement, and transition to the next paragraph.
• Surprisingly, using quotations in body paragraphs contributed to a lower score.
• While quotations may help provide evidence in general essay writing, when writing a GRE essay, focus on concisely responding to the prompt.  
• The use of exclamatory sentences (those ending with an exclamation mark) contributed to a lower score.
• Exclamation marks are generally not used in academic writing. WHY??!?! They just don’t feel that professional!!!
• If you need to emphasize a point make sure you do so with your language.
• A concise conclusion (about 100 words) contributed to a higher GRE essay score.
• A conclusion should wrap up your GRE essay, and not introduce more information. Make sure to focus the conclusion on summarizing the GRE essay topic, the essay’s main points, and making the connection to your thesis clear.
• Conclusions composed of fewer but longer sentences contributed to a higher score.
• Sentence variety doesn’t play a big role when it comes to the conclusion paragraph. Focus on using long sentences to summarize your main points and tie everything together.

The following is an example of a high scoring GRE essay submitted by an Achievable user. Our human GRE instructors, as well as our machine-learning GRE essay grading system, score this as a perfect 6.0.

Here is the GRE issue essay prompt:

And the corresponding GRE essay example:

The names of the greatest rulers, artists, and scientists is what is taught in most history classes. Little attention is given to the common people. Despite the fact that the most prolific and talented members of a society have a profound effect on their nations, it is the common people that truly embody the nation and it is them who keep it running. From the plumber, to the lawyer, to the homeless person; they all contribute their grain of salt to the identity and strength of the nation. The purpose of a nation is to create a just society in which every individual can enjoy the wealth and resources of the nation. A nation without a solid base will never be able to allow artists and scientists to create their most innovative and creative master pieces. Without the combined effort of all its people, there will be no Albert Einstein or Mozart, because there will be no resources to encourage these geniuses to develop their talents to their highest potential. The only way a nation can have a solid base is by guaranteeing the well-being of all its citizens. With happy citizens, nations have the solid foundation needed to produce the greatest achievements humanity can accomplish. Thus, the greatest of all nations are those in which the general well-being of its population is at its highest because happy citizens are more productive, more generous to each other, and more knowledgeable. 

First, citizens living in a society that ensures their well being become much more productive than in a nation in which their well-being is not guaranteed. Dr. Friedman, in Berlin in the year 1975, conducted a controlled random experiment in which he tested the effects that well-being had in the production level of the subjects of the experiment. He created a control group and an experimental group, and assigned members to each group randomly. The experimental group was in a room that was very hot, whereas the control group was in a well ventilated room. Next, both groups were given simple tasks such as cutting squares out of circles and coloring an image. After 30 minutes had passes, Dr. Friedman evaluated who was able to complete most tasks in the 30 minute time window. He noticed that the experimental group completed only 80% of the tasks compared to the control group, which completed 100% of the tasks. As per Dr. Friedman: “the results of this experiment show how well-being has a negative effect on the productivity of individuals”. Less productive individuals are going to achieve less at work, meaning companies in general will be less productive and less competitive in the global market. In an increasingly competitive world, less productive companies will bring less resources to the nation, making it less likely to invest in the talent of its people. 

Second, well-being is directly related to generosity. The more generous citizens of a nation are to each other, the more likely they are to help those in need around them. This, in turn, leads to a collective effort to lift each other up, making the nation more productive and wealthy. Thomas Frank and Imelda Seo developed a randomized experiment in which they tested the relationship between well-being and generosity. The study was conducted in Seoul in 1994 in a public university. The subjects of the test were randomly selected from different levels of the class in an effort to eliminate as many confounding variables as possible. The experimental group was told the very bad news that they had just failed their most recent test. After receiving this news, they were given a limited amount of chocolate and they were told to pick as much as they needed but to think that someone else will come after them and pick what is left from the chocolate. The person that will come later will not know how much chocolate was in the box originally. In contrast, the control group was told the same regarding taking as much chocolate as needed and to be mindful of the person coming behind them, but they were not given the initial bad news that they had failed their test. The results of the experiment show that the experimental group was 70% more likely to take all of the chocolate in the box than the control group. As per Imelda Ser: “this is indicative that when a person’s well-being is jeopardized, they are less likely to be generous.” This study shows how well-being can have a positive impact on the citizens of a nation, and this generosity can lead to citizens helping each other out more and creating a more cohesive and productive society and nation. 

Third, citizens living in a nation in which their well-being is adequate are more knowledgeable. More knowledge can lead to greater discoveries. Great artists, scientists, and rulers all require proper education during their early years to achieve the success. If society as a whole is more educated, it is much more likely for a nation to be able to cultivate the talents of their next genius. For example, Amadeus Mozart was the son of a talented musical father that lived in Vienna, the classical music capital of the world at the time of this life. If Mozart would have been born in an empoverished family with no resources and no knowledge of music, who is to tell Austria would have produced such a notable musical expert. The father of Mozart lived a comfortable life that allowed him to develop his own talents, and later pass his new found knowledge to his son, who later took this knowledge to never before seen levels of musical prowess. To guarantee that the knowledge is passed on to the greatest individuals of a nation, it is necessary to ensure the general well-being of its citizens. Only then will a great nation be able to produce a Mozart, an Albert Einstein, or a Napoleon.

In conclusion, a nation can only be great if it can guarantee the well-being of all its citizenry. This is the only way a nation can ensure that the individual talents of certain prolific people can flourish. These individuals require a strong enough safety net that will allow them to pursue their dreams without having to worry about heating the house or finding the next meal. Also, citizens that are happy and living comfortable can produce more for the nation as a whole, and lift each other out of poverty, thus creating a great nation .

This GRE essay received a perfect score ( f(x) = 5.999 ) and the waterfall plot below describes what features had the biggest impact:

In this case, the feature with the biggest impact was the number of adjectives used . If you read the essay, you probably noticed how descriptive it was. The author provided plenty of detailed examples to support his thesis.  

At 1,083 words, the GRE issue essay was a good length, and this helped boost the score.

The author added excellent context to the thesis paragraph by including the names of two prominent creatives: Albert Einstein and Mozart . These names were relevant to the response and supported the idea that when a nation guards the well-being of its citizens it fosters creativity and innovation.

Using plenty of nouns relevant to the prompt, the author was able to keep the essay focused and coherent. We can also see a good use of long sentences, giving the author the space needed to elaborate on and support the thesis. An overall low spelling error rate contributed positively to the score. Interestingly, we can see that the use of places in the body paragraphs (e.g. Berlin ) helped to boost the score.

The author received a minor penalty for the overuse of verbs in the thesis paragraph as well as a few spelling mistakes throughout the GRE essay. These negative contributions were ultimately insignificant compared to everything else that the author did right, clearly illustrating how focusing on the right characteristics can guarantee you a high scoring GRE essay.

The following is an example of a medium-scoring GRE essay submitted by an Achievable user. Our human GRE instructors, as well as our machine-learning GRE essay grading system, score this as a 3.5 with room for improvement.

Here is the GRE argument essay prompt:

And the corresponding essay:

More information is needed to accurately determine if the recommendation from the regional manager of Hamburger House should be followed. Information detailing the reason for changing to canola oil, the cost of canola oil, the effect canola oil has on the taste of french fries and other foods, if the public was made aware of the switch to canola oil, public’s perception of canola oil, if the customer reviews over the past two months were about the taste of the fries, any operating changes made at the company that could have affected sales, other factors that could have increased sales, Hamburger house expanding their locations and customer base, the effects on net profits are needed. Additional evidence is necessary to evaluate Hamburger House’s internal memo to franchises.

The reason for why Hamburger House switched to canola oil is the first piece of missing information needed. If canola oil was chosen because it is cheaper than vegetable oil, it would be a sensical choice to reduce costs and choose the cheaper oil. If canola oil were the more expensive option, there must be non-cost-related reasons that justify the switch. In either of the aforementioned scenarios, one must examine if the canola oil makes the fries and other foods taste the same, better, or worse. If canola oil makes all foods taste better and has a net positive effect on profits, franchises should follow the recommendation. If canola oil makes some but not all foods taste better, franchises should only use canola oil in foods that taste better and if there will be a net positive effect on profits.

The second piece of information needed to evaluate Hamburger House’s recommendation is the public’s perception of canola oil and vegetable oil and whether the public was made aware of Hamburger House’s switch to canola oil. If canola oil is perceived to be a healthier option or vegetable oil is perceived as an unhealthier option, it can be expected that the public would react positively to Hamburger House’s use of canola oil and increase foot traffic to its locations. However, if the public was not made aware of the switch in oils, information regarding the content of the positive reviews that Hamburger House has received in the past two months and if those positive reviews were all for locations that switched to canola oil are needed. If the reviews mentioned that the foods that contained canola oil tasted better, it would be reasonable for franchises to switch to canola oil to make their food taste better and, thereby, increase sales.

The third piece of information needed is whether Hamburger House expanded its locations and customer base in the past two months. An increase in french fry sales and average unique customers would naturally increase french fry sales.

The most important aspect as a business is the impact that canola oil has on earnings. It is necessary for a business to be financially profitable to survive. Therefore, if the switch to canola oil allows franchises of Hamburger House to be financially viable, franchises should make the switch if doing so if there is a positive effect compared to keeping vegetable oil.

This essay received a low score ( f(x) = 3.503 ) and the waterfall plot below describes what features had the biggest impact:

The feature with the biggest impact for this GRE essay was the total word count (-0.29). At 526 words, this example illustrates how dramatically a short GRE essay can affect the predicted score. In fact, we can see that the argument essay is penalized for low word count in various ways by other features, such as the body paragraph average word counts, total sentence counts, etc. Writing a longer argument essay is a straightforward way to guarantee a higher score and gives you more space to elaborate on and support the position from your GRE essay topic.  

The second feature in the list measures the negative impact (-0.14) of the ratio of short to long sentences in the conclusion. In this case, the author used too many short sentences resulting in a lower score. The conclusion is meant to summarize the essay’s main points and tie them together with the thesis statement, a task that typically requires longer sentences. The conclusion of this argument essay could have been improved by using longer sentences to explain specifically how the thesis and supporting points are connected in addressing the issue laid out in the prompt.

The plot shows a high thesis noun count contributing to a lower score (-0.11). If we examine the thesis we can see the author uses an extremely long sentence that repeats many of the same nouns over and over again (e.g. canola oil). While using nouns is important to keep an essay focused on the topic, the nouns should be both relevant to the GRE essay topic and varied. Simply stuffing nouns into a paragraph will not have the desired effect. This thesis could have been improved by introducing fewer points while elaborating on how each point supports the thesis statement.

While the author did a few things right, it is clear that this GRE argument essay’s low score was majorly due to a low word count, weak use of nouns, poor sentence variety, and an overall lack of focus and specificity. Catching issues like these before the exam can help you improve your writing skills and boost your score by multiple points.

So if you want to improve your GRE analytical writing essay skills, what do you need to do?  

• Make sure your essay is long enough to avoid being penalized for a short essay
• Ensure your essay is focused by using plenty of nouns that relate to the topic
• Write a descriptive essay by using lots of adjectives to describe your position, evidence, and ideas
• Read the prompt carefully, highlight keywords, and use these keywords throughout your essay, most importantly in your thesis paragraph
• Vary your sentence length, but in general favor the use of longer sentences
• Avoid making spelling mistakes
• Aim for 8 sentences per body paragraph and 5 sentences for thesis and conclusion paragraphs
• Keep your thesis and conclusion paragraphs concise but use at least 100 words
• Reference a person’s name in your thesis paragraph if it’s relevant
• Keep your body paragraphs above 150 words
• Avoid the use of exclamation marks and quotations 

Our Achievable GRE course offers hundreds of GRE essay prompts and GRE essay topics for the GRE issue and argument essays, giving you the opportunity to practice your analytical writing skills until you are 100% confident in getting a top GRE essay score. Your work is automatically saved as you write and includes a timer to keep you on track. 

Achievable’s proprietary GRE essay grading system uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze your GRE essay writing and provides instant feedback on exactly what you can do to boost your score. Backed by our vast amount of data from real-world GRE issue essay examples and GRE argument essay examples, we’ve created the smartest GRE essay grader that exists, included with your purchase of Achievable GRE .

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GRE Essay Prompts

The GRE Analytical Writing section requires you to write two essays—one will be an analysis of an issue and the other will be an analysis of an argument. You will have 30 minutes for each essay. Try your hand at these GRE essay prompts, and read our explanations for what makes a great GRE essay. We pulled these sample questions from our book GRE Premium Prep and from our GRE prep course  materials.

The GRE Issue Essay

The Issue Essay of the GRE requires you to present your opinion on the provided topic.

Issue Topic

You will be given a brief quotation that states or implies an issue of general interest and specific instructions on how to respond to that issue. You will have 30 minutes to plan and compose a response in which you develop a position on the issue according the specific instructions. A response to any other issue will receive a score of zero.

A high-scoring Issue essay accomplishes four key tasks: (1) considers the complexities of the issue; (2) supports the position with relevant examples; (3) is clear and well organized; (4) demonstrates superior facility with the conventions of standard written English. Make sure that you respond to the specific instructions and support your position on the issue with reasons and examples drawn from such areas as your reading, experience, observations, and/or academic studies.

[+] See the Answer

The GRE Argument Essay

The Argument Essay of the GRE asks you to examine and critique the logic of an argument.

Argument Topic

You will be given a short passage that presents an argument, or an argument to be completed, and specific instructions on how to respond to that passage. You will have 30 minutes to plan and compose a response in which you analyze the passage according to specific instructions. A response to any other issue will receive a score of zero.

A high-scoring Argument essay accomplishes these tasks: (1) clearly identifies and insightfully analyzes important features of the argument; (2) develops ideas clearly and logically with smooth transitions; (3) effectively supports the main points of the critique; (4) demonstrates superior facility with the conventions of standard written English. Note that you are NOT being asked to present your own views on the subject. Make sure you that you respond to the specific instructions and support your analysis with relevant reasons and/or examples.

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How Long Should Your GRE Essay Be? [A Data Driven Answer]

By Jitta Raghavender Rao • GRE Writing

Every so often when I’m writing the GRE essays, I’ll think: Should I really be writing so much?

I tend to get carried away. And when that happens, it would be great to know if all this extra writing is actually helping me score better or hurting my AWA score. Of course, I want to impress the essay graders, but I want to do it the right way.

Students often ask me, how long their GRE essays should be because there is no concrete information out there about the “perfect” length of a GRE essay, and even if there is, much of that data is conflicting.

Some say essays aren’t graded mostly on length but the higher grades for a longer essay is a mere correlation between essay length and grades.

When it comes to the Analytical Writing section, essay length is very important, so if you are planning to get a perfect score, you might as well do it right.

But before we come down to the ideal length for an essay, let’s first crush this shocking myth that has been around for sometime:

[tweet “Ever wondered what the ideal length of a GRE essay is? Here’s the answer and much more..”]

Myth #1: Longer essays are the only way!

On the GRE, essay length is not only one of the factors taken into consideration. You have to check a host of other factors, if you are looking to get a perfect score. All the following factors affect your overall AWA score:

Clarity in Ideas – This is the most basic of all considerations. What are you trying to say? What’s your main point? This should be very clear by the time the grader finishes off reading the essay. Substance and content of your essay matters more than any other factor. Also, every logically supporting reason or example that you make use of should ultimately connect to this main idea. If it isn’t explicit, you are losing points!

Structure – The way an article is formatted, has a massive impact upon its readability. It’s important to break up your essay into paragraphs so the essay graders can easily scan it.

The general structure is to start with an introductory paragraph followed by 3-4 body paragraphs and finish off with a conclusion paragraph. So, make sure there are at least 5-6 paragraphs in your essay.

Sentence Variety – Consecutive sentences with the same structure and length can sound monotonous and lifeless. Instead of sounding repetitive and boring, use sentence style skillfully.

You should vary the sentence flow and the rhythm by switching between short and long sentences. You should also make use of transitional and signal words to vary sentence openings.

Vocabulary – Another myth about GRE essays is that the usage of GRE words in the essay has a correlation with the essay score. Not really! As long as you use proper grammar and defend your point intelligently and use precise vocabulary to convey meaning effectively, you should be alright. It is not needed that you use heavy vocabulary or GRE words.

Language and Grammar –  Though ETS says you may have minor errors in the essay copy that do not interfere with overall meaning and coherence, the time you make your first error, the grader will notice it and this can have a negative impact on your AWA score. So, make sure your essay is as spotless as possible, and eliminate all errors before submitting.

Reasoning – You should include as many logically compelling reasons as you can to support your stance.

One of the most important aspects about a compelling essay is its ability to convince the reader by means of sound logical reasoning. So, you should be able to connect your ideas properly to the central theme or idea of the essay, and convince the reader to agree to your point of view. If the essay doesn’t sound logical or reasonable, you will pay the penalty, no matter how long the essay is.

By no means am I saying that essay length isn’t important. I am only saying that essay length on the GRE isn’t the only thing you should be concerned about. I am also saying that essay length is just one of the factors out of many others that influence your AWA score.

Myth #2: ETS uses e-Rater software which grades essays on their content length

This is the most egregious of the myths, and it’s been around for a long time.

Recently, I read a post on Quora which asks “Do humans readers grade my GRE essays?” The top answer said, “They don’t.” His/her point was that a computer software called ‘e-rater’ scans your essay based on preset rules (natural language processing algorithms) and prints out a score, using a 6-point holistic scale.

That’s just not true.

In fact, E.T.S. claims this grading software is used today, along with human raters, to grade GRE and TOEFL examinations, and without human raters in various practice tests.

I want you to understand that if ETS were to use an automated essay grader to evaluate your essay then don’t you think gaming a software would be too easy? You must keep in mind that there is a human reader who will also grade your essay along with the e-rater, and both their scores are averaged to obtain the final AWA score. So, even if you try and game the software, the human reader will give you the actual score you deserve, which will bring down the average. So, there is no point in trying to game the e-rater. Instead, you should try other tactics, such as using impressive AWA quotes , or writing coherent paragraphs, which will naturally raise your score.

So to sum things up, both of these myths should be shunned in favor of a more strategic approach to essay length. Longer is not necessarily better. Shorter is not necessarily better. And human readers do actually read your essays.

So what’s the ideal length?

I see students wondering about this all the time and I am sure you are here to find out the same.

ETS has written about the ideal length nowhere, and still remains tight lipped on this. Also, there is no word limit as such. But there seems to be a pattern that appears on GRE sample essays that come along with the ETS official guide to the GRE.

When closely observed, there is a significant increase in the number of words from a 5.0 graded essay and a 6.0 graded essay.

Longer is usually better

To analyze further on this topic, we have done a bit of research, and found out an interesting relation between essay length and the final score. If you look at the statistics below, you will have to concur with me. Longer essays usually score better on every essay topic.

If you are a long-essay fan and insist to pen a high scoring AWA essay on the GRE, you should write anywhere between 500-600 words. Don’t ask me why. The research shows that’s how it is, and if it true for a sample of 500 students, it must be true on a larger scale as well.

A column chart with average word count for essays from 500 students

As you can see, the longer the essay, the higher the grades. Notice that a 5+ point essay has length exceeding 500 words. Another interesting fact is, it seems as if 600 is an upper limit for word count. If you go beyond 600 words, you can see how the scores go down. This isn’t surprising, though. Almost no student on this planet can write a perfect 800 word essay under pressure in 30 minutes. If someone is shooting for a high word count, they are surely sacrificing on quality. So, it’s safe to say that 500-600 is what you should be looking at.

Now It’s Your Turn

In the end, I warn you against getting stuck up on essay length. If you focus on word count only, then you would be scribbling gibberish and unnecessary sentences hoping to get a perfect 6.0 score. The essay substance and content matters more than the essay’s length.

There’s no magic number on word count that’s going to get you the perfect AWA score. At the same time, the statistics from the above analysis proves that longer essays tend to get higher scores.

If you’re still looking for word count, an essay that has around 500 – 600 words with around 5 paragraphs, and quality content, seems to be the ideal GRE essay length.

How long are your regular essays? What differences have you noticed between a long essay and short ones? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

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6 Comments to “How Long Should Your GRE Essay Be? [A Data Driven Answer]”

Thanks a lot!!! The article was very powerful, and interesting!!!

Hey Grisha, glad you found it helpful. 🙂

Thank you for the research you conducted and for the valuable as well as helpful information you provided.

I love this. Why isn’t this site more popular?

Truly speaking this research is well done, it covers all necessary points for passing the GRE test

This is awesome, thanks for sharing.

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• GRE/GMAT/etc

Rate my GRE ESSAY!

By kethsaxena December 13, 2012 in GRE/GMAT/etc

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We must take the learnings from our past ventures to shape the future!

An advice from a tree- “ Stand tall, stay grounded, and enjoy the view”.

It would extremely hard to hold any high rise erect without a solid support. And our past is in a way like a cemented foundation upon which we build the future. And it is crucial that our fundamentals are infallible because it is easier to mitigate any problems or like a building with a fragile foundation will be totally obliterated.

Additionally if we are so determined to shape the future then we ought to do so gracefully. We have to respect the past for the good that it brought, and we have to carry those learnings into our future ventures. Mahatma Gandhi took 200 years to liberate India with his firm belief in Satyagraha and non violence. If compared to the Independence movement led by George Washington, it wouldn’t be as decorous. However he established a philosophy which led us to believe that “pen is mightier than the sword” and was later improvised and implemented by Martin Luther King to champion the African American movement and later by Nelson Mendla to abolish apartheid in South Africa. Therefore it is crucial to make the best of what our history and ventures in the past teach us because much of what we are today is because of our mistakes in the past!

However, past is not the panacea to all the problems we face in the future. Steve Jobs’s iPad is a rage with people all over; but a decade ago nobody knew what tablet was and what its potential was! Nevertheless Mr. Jobs made sure that mankind got to experience this incredible piece of scientific innovation without referring to anything of such kind to take inspiration from!

Therefore it is very evident that our past ventures are immense value. A value that can aid us in discerning the right from the wrong, the good from the evil, the ordinary from the ordinary extraordinary. It is guide to refer when we are confused of what we are supposed to do next. And it is not only necessary preserve it and treasure it but often a take step back and ruminate on it.

I would be extremely grateful if somebody could score my essay and help improve upon it. please!

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Share on other sites, anthonygose.

http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/score_level_descriptions

Seems like a 1 or 1.5 to me.

• Cookie , spunky , HermoineG and 1 other

@AnthonyGose - Not sure if you're trolling, but I think you're being pretty harsh.

@OP Based on ETS's posted guidelines, I would imagine you'd get around a 3.

Scores 3 and 2.5 Displays some competence in analytical writing, although the writing is flawed in at least one of the following ways: limited analysis or development; weak organization; weak control of sentence structure or language usage, with errors that often result in vagueness or lack of clarity.

I assume that you are copy-and-pasting something you wrote on a practice test? I'm going to make some comments specific to this essay that hopefully will help you going forward as you study for the actual exam. Was the part in bold the prompt? Posting that would allow people to analyze more effectively whether or not you answered the question.

--First of all, I think the essay is too short. Everything I've read says that when it comes to GRE writing, more is more. On testing day, that is something you should focus on, hopefully without sacrificing quality. Profusion can come with practice.

-- The first paragraph is very important to setting the tone for any essay, and this is something you will need to work on. That opening quotation is very distracting. If you simply removed it, the intro would be much improved. You also need to state your thesis more clearly. A final sentence stating something very basic would be helpful, like "Accordingly, it is imperative that we use our knowledge of the past to shape the future", or something similar. Perhaps this is not the most artful rhetorical technique, but the GRE writing section is about making a clear, concise argument.

--I see that you're trying to follow a basic essay structure by bringing in a potential counterpoint, but I think the entire section on tablet PCs is pretty irrelevant. You go from talking about major historical/social/political movements on multiple continents, to talking about a consumer product. If you're going to make such a leap, you need to craft a clear transition. Like, "But an understanding of the past should not impede future innovation. This is especially true in the field of technology. Some of the greatest inventions in recent history would not have been possible if their creators had only focused on what had already been done in the past..."

-- I assume that English is a second language for you. Overall, your usage/grammar is pretty good, but you slightly misuse a few words: "decorous", "improvised", "panacea" (although this last one would be fine if you reworded that sentence, like "studying the past is not a panacea..."). Anyhow, I would try to keep the vocab you use as simple as possible. It's better to use a small word correctly than a big word incorrectly.

-- Finally! Do not use so many exclamation points! This is a punctuation mark that you should use sparingly! Especially in a serious piece of writing! Perhaps two throughout an entire essay! And even then, only if you are really trying to emphasize a point!

• geitost , VioletAyame , okProteus and 1 other

I didn't think I was being harsh. I thought the passage was too short in length and too shallow in content. I thought the awkward vocabulary lacked precision and that the grammatical errors made the passage generally unclear. Additionally, I didn't really see how any of the examples provided support for the conclusion. Pointing to a couple of historical examples of one person or idea influencing another may establish a descriptive fact about how the past can affect the future, but in no way does it establish the normative claim that the past ought to ground our future decisions. On this note, the author doesn't indicate any possible counterexamples or develop at all the matter of how we are actually supposed to apply our past "learnings." By what criteria do we choose to follow the example of Gandhi but not Hitler? What is stranger is that the author concludes the significance of Gandhi, King, and "Mendla" by saying that we must learn from our past mistakes. Also, as you observe, the Steve Jobs reference is irrelevant, and, along these lines I count no fewer than three sentences which add zero value to the passage but actually hurt it by reading as trite and obtuse.

So, I stand behind the 1/1.5 evaluation, since the passage contains not just the minimum of "at least one," but all of the following problems: (1) "content that is...mostly irrelevant to the assigned tasks"; (2) "serious lack of analysis or development"; and (3) "errors that obscure meaning."

• obrera , Norman G , dworkable and 3 others

@AnthonyGose - Your points are well-taken. When trying to come up with a rating, I was thinking about the sample essays I had read in a GRE study guide I used. (I think it might have been the Kaplan). The essay(s?) rated around a 1 were truly incoherent, suggesting that the writers lacked a basic grasp of English. While the OP's essay certainly stands to be improved upon, I think it is generally intelligible and attempts to answer the question, although it definitely does so inadequately. Perhaps with your comments in mind, I would downgrade my evaluation to a 2-2.5, but I wouldn't go lower than that.

• HermoineG and Dior99

It occurred to me - perhaps we just simulated the two-person grading system. Haha

• Applemiu and VioletAyame

Hi rated your essay using the free online tool available at gmatawa.com

Your score: 4.28 on a scale of 6.00

Explanation for the score

Coherence and connectivity: 2.5/5

Paragraph structure and formation: 3.5/5

Vocabulary and word exp ression: 4/5

You can yourself verify at gmatawa.com

• biisis , spunky , VioletAyame and 1 other
• 2 months later...

Can anyone rate my issue essay please

A nation should require all of its students to study the same national curriculum until they enter college.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position

Will it be fair if student A at B College of Radioactivity Engineering has prior knowledge of logarithmic and Student X at same college doesn’t know about it? For me answer is NO, as logs play a major role in radioactive calculations. So, whom to blame for it a student or a school where student B acquired her fundamental education.

If Student B’s school has logs a part of curriculum then she himself is blamed for it for not have prior knowledge.  Let’s rule out this possibility.

Now we are left with school for not including logs as a part of its curriculum which is solely responsible for student B’s ignorance of logarithmic concepts. So here is it right to say if nationwide common curriculum is being followed then it will be fair to all the students until starting of college. I’ll say it has its own pros and cons with it.

If common curriculum being followed is effective then it will be boon not only to student but to whole nation as whole.

For example, we could come with large number of artisans all over the country and their products could be exported which means contribution to economic development and also with exports cultural exchanges increases which is also a good sign of building healthy relation with different country of world. It is all possible because the common curriculum being followed is not only effective but it gives large number of students a broader scope of opportunities available to them.

With common quality curriculum gates of employment is open to our students (indirectly solving problem of brain drain) thus, unemployment rate is getting reduced which is a sign of progressive nation. With low unemployment rate there will be better standard of living which in turn could improve GDP percentage points which directly proportional to economic development.

Quality education to masses can give rise to entrepreneurs & innovators which is a need of the hour for every country around the world. With them there will be more job opportunities, more industrial development, more technological advancement and thus overall nation development.

Here, I would like to mention that all aforesaid is based on assumptions curriculum is qualitative, students are ready to learn and teachers are effective otherwise all can go in vain.

But we can’t rule the possibility that the common curriculum could be ineffective which could be anathema to our nation’s growth. Ineffective curriculum could result in narrower outlook of students and foils student growth. For example they could only see engineering and medical studies as only option after school thus they may feel fettered and may go for drop out the college studies. And whole could broach a vicious cycle of dropouts, unemployment, limited jobs availability, outsourcing jobs and thus overall downgrading economy.

With introduction of ineffective common curriculum we are zeroing the slight chances of coming up with outstanding students which could be possible if every school following their own curriculum and some of them could have more effective then others.  

Thus, all the points said earlier in favour of effective common curriculum could become counterproductive with ineffectiveness of the curriculum.

So, I’ll conclude with nationwide common curriculum is accompanied by pros and cons it’s not a solution but it’s a way to deal with our present problems and could be effective if regular monitoring of while process is done otherwise it could be another fruitless policy of government. 

You've got some decent points in your essay, but you have quite a few areas for improvement.

You need to have more structure within your paragraphs. You shouldn't have paragraph breaks around single sentences.

You use the word "it" far too much. Your usage of "it" makes your points hard to follow. (Contrast that sentence to this: "It makes it hard to follow." The first is more clear!)

Your thesis needs to be closer to the beginning of your essay and must be more clear.

Avoid informal language such as "I'll say" "So, I'll conclude."

I encourage you to find someone to go through the entire essay and highlight all of the grammar mistakes as well.

Keep on practicing, and good luck!

You need to start with some kind of introduction instead of jumping straight into a hypothetical example. You need a thesis to tell the reader your MAIN point - i.e. which side of the argument are you on? Unqualified support? Qualified?

Try to have more logical arguments. Sometimes you jump from one point to the next without linking the two logically, like one of the analysis prompts where you are supposed to point out the unwarranted assumptions.

For example, " For example, we could come with large number of artisans all over the country and their products could be exported which means contribution to economic development and also with exports cultural exchanges increases which is also a good sign of building healthy relation with different country of world. It is all possible because the common curriculum being followed is not only effective but it gives large number of students a broader scope of opportunities available to them." What do artisans' exports have to do with a common curriculum?

" With introduction of ineffective common curriculum we are zeroing the slight chances of coming up with outstanding students which could be possible if every school following their own curriculum and some of them could have more effective then others." Why would a bad curriculum automatically prevent students from excelling?

Nevertheless, if I were forced to write an examination in a different language, I'm sure my essay would be much worse than yours. So don't be discouraged! All the best.

So, this essay is bad, but would definitely not get anything as low as a 2. Take a look at the percentiles for analytical writing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduate_Record_Examinations#Analytical_writing_section

There is simply no way this essay is in the bottom 1% of the essay submitted. A score of 3-3.5 is much more likely. This isn't to say that the points that AnthonyGose rose are invalid, they're good, but the grade itself is not going to be a 1-1.5.

I have come up with new issue essay based on the feedback. Please help me analyzing my effort in it.

== Scandals ar7e useful because they focus our attention on problems in ways that no speaker or reformer ever could.

Reformers or leaders can be the guiding force to address the problems engulfing the society better then the scandals which discloses in public for the alleged wrongdoings. We saw the contribution of M.S. Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda and Nelson Mandela to the society who brought noticeable changes by eradicating the social – evils sprawling prodigiously in their respective countries. Reformers have the deep insight of the society as they are actually the part of it. They observe the prevalent activities within the society and then try to address the problems associated with it in more organized way then any scandals can ever do. M.S. Gandhi advocated for abolishment of untouchability in India. He observed that untouchables were deprived of basic necessities of life and forced to live a pathetic lives thus in order to exhort for equal rights for untouchables he spend time with them and lived with them and helped to eradicate one of the social discrimination practiced in India. In the similar way swami Vivekananda advocated against social evils like child marriages & sati practices which addresses the issues related to child development, education and women empowerment. The problems address by Gandhi and Vivekananda were hindrance not only to human development but to whole society as whole. Scandals are no way closer to turn the focus on these humanitarian issues then reformers can so. As we have seen in our previous example where Gandhi eradicated the untouchability we can say that reformers not only turn our focus on problems they could helps in providing solutions to it. The scandal can only surface the alleged wrongdoing in society irrespective of its authenticity. Investigation committees were built to delve into the scandals and if it comes out to be false it was merely the wastage of time, resources and money. If we go into past and analyse what actually true scandals contributed to society and we can only come up with disclosing of embezzlement of funds that is corruption propagating in the roots society. If we take an example of coal gate scam surfaced last year in India which involved millions of dollars of kickbacks to the beneficiaries which show how corrupt the government is but is it really provide any solution to the corruption problem and everybody knows the answer –No- here scandal shifting focus on one of the problem of society but problem without any solution is of no use. Where the solution of corruption lies? The answer is in effective policies introduced by government governing the society and in other words speaker of public contributing to root out the economic evil of the society. Though earlier example gives impression that scandal can help in disclosing the corruption cases in the society but here we need to understand with effective policing there would be no requirement of scandals to be out there. If we have reformers who vowed to change the system then scandals are the things with no importance at all. Sometimes scandals are the publicity stunts as we have seen the number of actors’ sex scandals which come daily into news with no productive use but just a fame garner or promotional stunt of upcoming venture. So, where these scandals shifting focus to, to water cooler talks, to gossips of daily life rather than addressing the problems of our society. Again, scandals are contributing to wastage valuable time of society. With scandals providing no solutions to problems and only shift focus on few problem of society and entails high risk of wastage of resources and time we can say that rela power of change lies in the hands of our reformers or speakers who with their profound knowledge and skill not only shift focus to problems of society but also spread about the ill effect of it within masses and provide effective solution to eradicate the same. ==

can some one rate mine?

As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate.

What about this website? gmatawa.com

I think it's difficult to get an accurate score from this website !

This is an argument essay

"A recent study rating 300 male and female Mentian advertising executives according to the average number of hours they sleep per night showed an association between the amount of sleep the executives need and the success of their firms. Of the advertising firms studied, those whose executives reported needing no more than 6 hours of sleep per night had higher profit margins and faster growth. These results suggest that if a business wants to prosper, it should hire only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night."

Here is my response.

300 is actually a very large sample size, and arguing that it is too small would not work well.

I won't write a full argument essay but I will tell you tell you my train of thought right after reading this prompt. 

1. Recap the paragraph and state my belief that the conclusion is wrong via a thesis.

2. Challenge the assumption that someone who reports needing 6 or less hours, actually does need 6 or less hours.  Keep in mind, you are asking people to personally report back their requirements, not actually what is required.  We must first ask, how do we interpret the participants responses.  Is there bias, are they grounded in reality, or, are perhaps the participants responding with what they think is the best answer choice.

I would also consider peak performance and how much sleep is required.  Yes the best employees might say they need at least 6 hours, in the same way me and you can agree, we need at least 6 hours, but that might mean, we need at least 6 to get out of bed and be alive, not that we need 6 for optimal performance.

3.  Is sleep the critical thing here, or is it something else?  Perhaps people who reported sleeping more, had something else going on.  Perhaps treatment of staff, allows staff to be more relaxed and less stressful, hence it is easier for them to sleep.  Any number of variables could be influencing their sleep pattern, and these variables are not guaranteed to switch over when the employee goes from company to company.  It might be more worthwhile to examine what constitutes for these employees quality sleep, rather than asking how much sleep they need. 

4. Practicality of results. Assuming the premise, employees who sleep less are more productive and have faster growth is true, is this sustainable?  Yes of course someone who works more and sleeps less, all else equal, will be more productive.  But will this person still be productive in a year?  In two?  In ten?  Are you risking losing employees over the span of time, due to less than stellar health conditions?  If you have exceedingly fast growth for a year at the expense of employees sleep, but than after that year the employees feel burned out, what do you do then?  Might you be starting back at ground zero, in which case much of that growth will now need to be picked up by new employees?

5. Conclusion, re-wrap of intro paragraph and conclusion, with final points.

CompSciForGrad

I have the GRE coming up June 8th so i'm trying to develop my writing skills for the GRE. First as you would expect I'm asking someone to rate my essay so thanks in advance if you do this for me. I do have a questions for the instructions. If our instructions don't mention anything about providing an opposing opinion and rebuttal then is it even necessary to write an opposing opinion? Would it help to do this? Could it potentially hurt us by not following instructions? I left my spelling errors and all and used a text editor that doesn't supply spelling corrections and i'm getting used to that along with being timed. 

I just realized this one does ask for us to write examples to challenge our position...So that's already missing but please rate as is still thanks.

• 5 months later...

sameersrinivas90

Please rate my essay.... 

• 1 month later...

My name is Rawan and i am requesting if anybody can help me by rating my GRE argument essay. This is my first essay. I appreciate any comment.

the topic is "The city council of Smithville has instituted changes to police procedures to improve the visibility of the police force. These changes require that the town hire more police officers, budget more funds for police overtime, and direct officers to patrol significantly more often on foot rather than from their patrol cars. These improvements in visibility will significantly lower the crime rate in Smithville and make its citizens feel safer

The city council of Smithville is increasing the police visibility in order to lower the crime rate in the area and make it feels safer. However, the memo includes some actions that could be done, without any evidences for their efficiency. Furthermore, it doesn’t consider other factors that could affect the safety aside with the low police profile. It includes some solutions for the problem without evidences to prove their efficiency in solving the low safety and high crime rate in Smithville area.

First, the memo suggests that the low police profile in the area is the reason that makes it dangerous, neglecting that other factors could affect the safety,  for instance, the efficiency of the current police system there. It doesn’t take into account that current regulation and arrangements of police in regards to this area could be inefficient. In such case, increasing the officers working will not solve the problem; on the other hand, it could make it more intense.

Second, the writer claims that the current police officers are less likely to work overtime without any evidence that this is true. Increasing overtime payment would increase police members’ tendency to work overtime, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t working enough before. Another solution the context suggests was directing officers to petrol more often on foot rather that in patrol cars. This action, most of the times, could lead to the complete opposite, whereas, people will be alarmed that the area is not safe instead of increasing the safety feeling. For instance, if I wake up and find an officer in front of my house, I would feel that some crime has happened in my neighborhood. This could distract anybody and kept him feeling less secured.

The Smithville city council memo stats the problem of the low safety and high crime rate in the area, suggesting that this is an effect of the low police profile. It includes some solutions for this problem without evidences on their efficiency. The memo needs to state how those suggested actions solve this dilemma.

katethekitcat

Your essay is making claims not supported by the memo.

Second, the writer claims that the current police officers are less likely to work overtime without any evidence that this is true. Increasing overtime payment would increase police members’ tendency to work overtime, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t working enough before.

The memo does not claim current police officers are less likely to work overtime. The memo directed a larger budget for overtime, but that simply means people are working more hours so they earn more pay.

The Smithville city council memo stats the problem of the low safety and high crime rate in the area, suggesting that this is an effect of the low police profile. It includes some solutions for this problem without evidences on their efficiency.

The memo never actually states that Smithvile has a high crime rate, only that increased visibility will lower the current crime rate. The reader may assume a high crime rate, but never, ever assume anything on the GRE.

 This action, most of the times, could lead to the complete opposite, whereas, people will be alarmed that the area is not safe instead of increasing the safety feeling. For instance, if I wake up and find an officer in front of my house, I would feel that some crime has happened in my neighborhood. This could distract anybody and kept him feeling less secured.

Personal anecdotes are not a strong form of argument. All I have to do in order to rebut this is say, "Well, I would personally feel safer if an officer were outside my house."

Use specific examples. I don't know what you mean by "it could make it more intense." You say the memo "neglects other factors" - what types of potential factors?

I would also suggest checking your grammar throughout.

In general (for everyone posting essays to be graded on this board): your best bet, rather than to post an essay and wait for people to argue over whether it's a 2, a 3, a 4...just WRITE . Sit down and write essay after essay. Read up common types of logical errors - circular reasonings, fallacies, false assumptions, etc - and be able to explain them backwards and forwards. Practice outlining an essay and coming up with specific, real-world examples. Learn to proof-read your own work. Grad school applicants aren't going to help you nearly as much as actual writing is - especially because there is a strong correlation between long essays and high scores.

• 6 months later...

Leaders are created by the demands that are placed on them

Leaders are found in every organisation and enterprise we see around in the world , whether it be school, college, business enterprise, government.For running all of before mentioned organisation and institutions successfully a leader with qualities of confidence, tolerance and good decision making power is required to lead the members of  organisation.a leader is thus like a guiding light to its group or organnisation member.Where he goes or what he thinks the whole group move along with him.Now the question raised here is that whether these leader are created by demands placed on them that is the cirmustances are responsible for creating leader or not.Well in my view circumstances are responsible for creating leaders, these circustances are difficult situations where a group is unable to make a particular decision as to go in which direction, at that point of time the person with good vision and judgement emerges out as a leader. Mahatma gandhi -also known as "father of nation" in INDIA ,was an ordinary man from a normal middle class brahman family in INDIA.He was just like every other citizen of india , got his primary education from a school in village.Then he studied Law as a major in his college.And then eventually he moved to south africa as a barrister for earning money.Just like everyone does to earn money. then how he turned out to be great leader in the racist struggle of people of south africa ?answer to this question is that circumstances there made him to stand before the government and made to fight for the cause of people.Its becaise people where sufferng a lot in S.Africa due to racism he got the opprtunity to use his barrister skill and stand before the wrong doers.qualties of good decision making , tolernace , fluecy , clarity of ideas was present in him earlier also but circumstance were responsible in deriving out the true leader out of him.Thhis is how his journey as a freedom fighter started in S africa and continued in india, rest story we all know now , why he is known a " father of nation ". There are other examples also -the presidential election of US .There were two parties -Democratic headed by Mr.Obama and repulicans headed by mitt romney. Now out of both why only Mr obama emerged out as a leader of US having population of around 314 million people.both Mr obama and Mr. mitt romney were having qualities of a good leader like confidence , fluency , line of idealogy.But Mr . obama only got the chance to become the leader because his line of idealogies and pilices were found more suitable to the growth and prosperity of the country.Thus the overall elction represent the demand of people ,and since OBAMA idealogies and way of working met those demands he was chosen as US president.thus here also demands became the basis for begeting the Leader. For those saying that leader are not created by demands could quote the example from history when dictatorial rule exist , king son used to be the ultimate heir chosen irrespective of the fact that the king's son do posess leadership qualties or not.There are many example where these kind of leaders chosen set an good exmple of leadership like  majesty AKBAR during whose region every culture flourished, people were happy and enjoying prosperity and few exmaples like king aurangzeb in whose reign people suffered in misery due to his orthodox and non liberal view toward other religion and sects. Thus in the end we can conclude from our above discussion that presence of leaders are world class visionary leaders like Obama, stevejobs , mahatma gandhi and amny more,  now adays a good leader are usually created by the demands of people .

I have seen people rating essays here so it would be a big help if you can pass your comments here.

Woven baskets characterized by a particular distinctive pattern have previously been found only in the immediate vicinity of the prehistoric village of Palea and therefore were believed to have been made only by the Palean people. Recently, however, archaeologists discovered such a "Palean" basket in Lithos, an ancient village across the Brim River from Palea. The Brim River is very deep and broad, and so the ancient Paleans could have crossed it only by boat, and no Palean boats have been found. Thus it follows that the so-called Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean.

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

The author states that the basket found in the area of Lithos couldn’t be of Palean people. He gave his argument by stating that they didn’t have any boats to travel to another side of river which was very deep and wide, so the basket couldn’t belong to Palean ‘s pre historic age. This argument of author lacks several considerations and can be weaken in many ways.

First the author says that the river is very broad and deep which can be crossed with the help of boat, but the author never states that the level of water in the river was the same in the ancient time of Palean people. The river might have not that much strong and they could have manged to cross it by swimming itself. The author provides no concrete evidence regarding the status if river in earlier times.

Secondly, the author points out that the distinct basket found in the Lithos which could be brought on the other side of river with the help of boats, but since there was no evidence reagrding the Palean people having boats, the author refutes the argument that the dinstinct basket can’t be of Palean people. It can be weaken by stating that, it might be the case that Palean didn’t travel to the another side of river to Lithos but he never says that Lithos might have travelled to Paleans. The basket might have brought by the Lithos themselves to their village rather than Paleans. And author gives no evidence of about the boats in Lithos whether they have it or not.

Thirdly, Author gives no discription of weather status of ancient times of Paean and Lithos. The basket which was found in Lithos might have brought by the flood. The area of Palean and Lithos might be flood prone area where the flood took place twice or once a year or two. The basket could have travelled to the Lithos by means of flood water which totally makes it the artifact of Palean people.

So in conclusion, these evidence truly weaken the author’s argument regarding the basket and point out serious flaws which weakens the argument overall.

Please evaluate my essay on the scale of 0-5

 Topic: The nation should require all of its students to study the same national curriculum untill thehyh enter college

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The best test of an argument is the argument’s ability to convince someone with an opposing viewpoint.

When two individuals argue about a topic, they are attempting to convince each other that their viewpoint is often superior. They will utilize different facts, evidence, statistics, and more to articulate what they believe in, and why they think it is correct over what the opposing person might be saying. In most cases, it’s difficult to change someone’s opinions about various subject matters due to the fact that many have such a parochial outlook which is why they're potentially debating in the first place. A good example is sports, since many viewers have varying opinions about who they think is the greatest player of all time. The age-old debate of “Is Micheal Jordan better than Lebron James” is a prime example as to why people would argue just boiling down to a difference of opinion. They will bring up statistics of who had more points, rebounds, and other relative facts during debates to get their point across. If your argument is well structured and thoughtful enough to be able to convince someone with an opposing viewpoint of what you believe and why, I would agree that what you are arguing has quality. You were able to present evidence that was able to change opposition’s mindset, meaning that what you are saying has validity.

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