What types of essays are on the GRE?

So are you applying to grad school and preparing for your GRE? Afraid that your essay writing skills are not that great? Well, worry not. Here’s what you need to know about what the different types of GRE essays are.

First things first, the GRE has three main sections: Verbal Reasoning (English), Quantitative Reasoning (Math), and Analytical Writing (Essay). Let’s dive in further detail about the Analytical Writing section and to give you some GRE Analytical Writing tips.

Analytical Writing section:

The Analytical Writing section is of one hour, which is divided into two separate 30-minute tasks, or essays, namely:

• Analyze an Issue

• Analyze an Argument

Analyze an Issue

This task requires you to critically think about an issue of general interest and express that thought coherently in writing. In this task, you will be given an issue statement, which you will have to look at from multiple perspectives and apply to various conditions and situations.

To clarify the prompt further, the issue statement will be followed by an instructional statement. Though there isn’t any one type of instructional statement, these can vary along the lines of:

1. Tell us about the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take.

2. Write a response in which you discuss what position more closely aligns with your own and explain your reasoning for it.

3. 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.

4. Discuss your views on the policy and give reasoning behind the position you take.

For example,

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

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.”

Analyze an Argument

This task requires you to understand, analyze, and evaluate arguments and express that evaluation coherently in writing. In this task, you will be given certain arguments which you will have to look at from multiple viewpoints and evaluate their credibility, logic, and cogency.

To clarify the prompt further, you will be given an instructional statement preceded by the author’s arguments, their interpretation and course of action. These instructional statements can look like one of the following:

1. Tell us about a specific evidence needed to evaluate the argument and how that evidence would weaken or strengthen the overall argument.

2. Examine the set of assumed and/or stated evidence. Tell us about how the strength of the argument rests on these assumptions and what are its implications.

3. 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.

4. Discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the author’s recommendation is likely to reach the predicted result.

5. 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.

For example,

“In surveys Mason City residents rank water sports (swimming, boating, and fishing) among their favorite recreational activities. The Mason River flowing through the city is rarely used for these pursuits, however, and the city park department devotes little of its budget to maintaining riverside recreational facilities. For years there have been complaints from residents about the quality of the river's water and the river's smell. In response, the state has recently announced plans to clean up the Mason River. Use of the river for water sports is, therefore, sure to increase. The city government should for that reason devote more money in this year's budget to riverside recreational facilities.

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 the assumptions and what the implications are if the assumptions prove unwarranted.”

Furthermore, many more sample prompts are available on the official ETS website, which you can find here: for Analyze an Issue and for Analyze an Argument.

GRE Analytical Writing Tips:

• You will be given 30 minutes each for the two tasks. For that, do not jump directly to writing after reading the prompt. Instead, take 5 minutes in the beginning to prepare an outline of your essay. Choose 2-3 arguments you will make and write your thesis statement. Only then begin writing after you have a clear outline of your essay.

• Remember that the GRE Essay Writing scorers understand the time constraint you wrote under, and so score your essay as a first draft. Hence, do not worry too much about perfectionism. Focus instead on completing the essay. You should ideally have around 600-750 words.

• Occasional typos are fine, but persistent grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors are a no-go. For that, make sure you have at least the last 5 minutes of your essay writing time for proofreading. During that, focus on correcting any grammar, spelling, and/or punctuation errors you see.

• The test scores assess your ability to think from various perspectives. Hence, it is a good idea not to argue in a binary, i.e. a complete yes, or a complete no. Choose a qualifying position, i.e. say that two things can be true, but in different situations and/or conditions. This helps you build as a person who realizes that there are multiple perspectives from which an argument or an issue could be looked at.