gre essay examples

The GRE ® General Test

One test for graduate, business and law school

Select a step to learn more about your GRE ® General Test journey.

Analyze an Issue Task

The "Analyze an Issue" task assesses your ability to think critically about a topic of general interest and to clearly express your thoughts about it in writing. Each Issue topic makes a claim that can be discussed from various perspectives and applied to many different situations or conditions. Your task is to present a compelling case for your own position on the issue.

• Before beginning your written response, read the issue and the instructions that follow the Issue statement.
• Think about the issue from several points of view, considering the complexity of ideas associated with those views.
• Make notes about the position you want to develop and list the main reasons and examples you could use to support that position.

Task instruction sets

It’s important that you address the central issue according to the specific instructions. Each task is accompanied by one of the following sets of instructions:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

The GRE raters scoring your response are not looking for a "right" answer — in fact, as far as they are concerned, there is no correct position to take. Instead, the raters are evaluating the skill with which you address the specific instructions and articulate and develop an argument to support your evaluation of the issue.

Understanding the context for writing: Purpose and audience of the Issue task

The Issue task is an exercise in critical thinking and persuasive writing. The purpose of this task is to determine how well you can develop a compelling argument supporting your own evaluation of an issue and effectively communicate that argument in writing to an academic audience. Your audience consists of GRE raters who are carefully trained to apply the scoring criteria identified in the  scoring guide for the "Analyze an Issue" task .

Raters apply the Issue scoring criteria to actual responses, so you should review scored sample Issue essay responses and rater commentary. The sample responses, particularly those at the 5 and 6 score levels, will show you a variety of successful strategies for organizing, developing and communicating a persuasive argument. The rater commentary discusses specific aspects of evaluation and writing, such as the use of examples, development and support, organization, language fluency and word choice. For each response, the commentary points out aspects that are particularly persuasive as well as any that detract from the overall effectiveness of the essay.

Preparing for the Issue task

Since the Issue task is meant to assess the persuasive writing skills you’ve developed throughout your education, it has been designed neither to require any particular course of study nor to advantage students with a particular type of training.

Many college textbooks on composition offer advice on persuasive writing and argumentation that you might find useful, but even this advice might be more technical and specialized than you need for the Issue task. You will not be expected to know specific critical thinking or writing terms or strategies; instead, you should be able to respond to the specific instructions and use reasons, evidence and examples to support your position on an issue.

Published topic pool

An excellent way to prepare for the Issue task is to practice writing on some of the  published topics (PDF) . Even if you don't write a full response, it’s helpful to practice with a few of the Issue topics and sketch out your possible responses. Some people prefer to start practicing without regard to the 30-minute time limit. Others prefer to take a "timed test" first and practice within the time limit.

Plan your response

Regardless of which approach you take, review the task directions and then follow these steps:

• Carefully read the claim and the specific instructions and make sure you understand them. If they seem unclear, discuss them with a friend or teacher.
• Think about the claim and instructions in relation to your own ideas and experiences, to events you have read about or observed and to people you have known. This is the knowledge base from which you will develop compelling reasons and examples in your argument that reinforce, negate or qualify the claim in some way.
• Decide what position you want to take and defend.
• Decide what compelling evidence (reasons and examples) you can use to support your position.

Remember that this is a task in critical thinking and persuasive writing. The most successful responses explore the complexity of the claim and follow the specific task instructions. As you prepare, ask yourself the following questions:

• What, precisely, is the central issue?
• What precisely are the instructions asking me to do?
• Do I agree with all or any part of the claim? Why or why not?
• Does the claim make certain assumptions? If so, are they reasonable?
• Is the claim valid only under certain conditions? If so, what are they?
• Do I need to explain how I interpret certain terms or concepts used in the claim?
• If I take a certain position on the issue, what reasons support my position?
• What examples — either real or hypothetical — could I use to illustrate those reasons and advance my point of view? Which examples are most compelling?

Once you’ve decided on a position to defend, consider the perspectives of others who might not agree with your position. Ask yourself:

• What reasons might someone use to refute or undermine my position?
• How should I acknowledge or defend against those views in my essay?

As you plan your response, you may find it helpful to:

• summarize your position and make notes about how you’ll support it
• look over your notes and decide how you’ll organize your response

After you’ve practiced with some of the topics, try writing responses to some of them within the 30-minute time limit so that you have a good idea of how to use your time in the actual test.

Evaluate your response

When you’re finished writing your practice response, it would be helpful to get some feedback on your response.

• You might want to get feedback on your response from an instructor who teaches critical thinking or writing
• You could trade essays on the same topic with other students and discuss one another's responses in relation to the scoring guide.

Look at the  scoring guide for the Issue topic  and try to determine how your essay meets or misses the criteria for each score point in the guide. Comparing your own response to the scoring guide will help you see how and where to improve.

Tips for the Issue task

Keep the following tips in mind:

• You’re free to organize and develop your response in any way that will enable you to effectively communicate your position.
• You can incorporate writing strategies you learned in English composition or writing-intensive college courses.
• GRE raters will not be looking for a particular developmental strategy or mode of writing. In fact, when GRE raters are trained, they review hundreds of Issue responses that, although highly diverse in content and form, display similar levels of critical thinking and persuasive writing.
• Raters will see some Issue responses at the 6 score level that begin by briefly summarizing the writer's position on the issue and then explicitly announcing the main points to be argued. They’ll see others that lead into the writer's position by making a prediction, asking a series of questions, describing a scenario or defining critical terms in the quotation. Raters know that a writer can earn a high score by giving multiple examples or by presenting a single, extended example.
• Use as many or as few paragraphs as needed to support your argument. You’ll probably need to create a new paragraph whenever you shift to a new cluster of ideas.
• The clarity of your ideas and the skill with which you convey them are more important than the number of examples and paragraphs or the form of your argument.

Sample Issue task with strategies, responses and rater commentary

For more information, review a sample Issue task, including strategies for the topic and essay responses with rater commentary at each score level.

The sample responses, particularly those at the 5 and 6 score levels, will show you a variety of successful strategies for organizing, developing and communicating a persuasive argument. The rater commentary discusses:

• specific aspects of evaluation and writing, such as the use of examples, development and support, organization, language fluency and word choice
• aspects that are particularly persuasive
• aspects that detract from the overall effectiveness of the essay

Pool of Issue topics

When you take the GRE General Test, you’ll be presented with one Issue topic from the pool. To help you prepare, we’ve published the entire pool of tasks from which your Issue topic will be selected.

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Gre prep online guides and tips, gre argument essay: how to get a perfect 6 score.

Of all the various types of questions on the GRE, Analytical Writing questions can seem like the trickiest ones to answer perfectly. Not only do you have to write hundreds of words to answer the Argument essay GRE question, but there’s also no one set correct answer that you can give and automatically get it right.

So how do you reliably score well on the GRE Argument essay? In this article, we’ll focus in on what goes into a high-scoring response and offer some GRE Argument essay tips to help you consistently write essays that meet those standards.

Do You Need a Perfect GRE Argument Essay Score?

Practically speaking, no, you don’t need a perfect 6.0 on the Argument essay. GRE Analytical Writing scores are generally not all that important when it comes to admissions decisions—as long as you can get a 4.5, you’ll be set for most schools.

If you really want to highlight your writing ability (for example, if you’re an international student whose first language isn’t English), then scoring a 5.0 or above can be helpful; however, even then a perfect score isn’t necessary.

Some writing intensive programs do have GRE Writing score cutoffs, but none of these cutoffs are going to be above a 4.5 . You can get a better idea of what GRE Writing score cutoffs for different programs are with our article about what makes a good GRE Writing score .

There are a few doctoral programs (e.g. UChicago’s PoliSci Ph.D. ) that have higher average GRE scores, but that’s more of a side-effect of the applicant pool than because that’s something the admissions committees look for. Students applying to top-notch doctoral programs in the humanities and social sciences will need to have strong analytical writing skills, yes, but this is usually presented through writing portfolios or other materials required by grad schools .

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What Makes a Perfect-Scoring GRE Argument Essay?

To get the most accurate picture of what goes into a perfect GRE Argument essay, we’ll turn to the official scoring rubric . This is the chart that the human GRE essay graders use for scoring the Argument essay on the real test, so it’s the best standard against which to hold your own practice essays.

Below, I’ve done a side-by-side comparison of the different criteria needed to get a 4.0 vs. a 6.0 on the Argument essay GRE question.

I know there is a  lot of information to process in that chart, so I’ve summarized it below by extracting the most important points. A good GRE Argument essay:

• Must limit its discussion to identifying and explaining the parts of the argument that are relevant to the essay task
• Must develop its ideas logically
• Must be organized and connect ideas smoothly
• Must include support for the main points of the author’s analysis
• Must be well-written

To get a perfect score on the Argument essay, you must display mastery with each one of these items .

Official GRE Argument Essay, Analyzed

Now that we’ve gone over the rubric in the abstract, it’s time to apply it to a high-scoring essay. By taking the rubric criteria and looking at how they are exemplified by a real essay, you’ll be able to get a better feel for what exactly it takes to get a perfect score .

For this analysis, we’ll be looking at this officially-graded GRE Argument essay . Here’s the prompt the essay was written in response to:

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 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.

The sample Argument essay we’ll be looking at discusses and disputes three different assumptions made by the argument :

• That the survey is a reliable measure of preferences and should be used as a source of information to inform budget planning.
• That there is a link between the river’s odor and pollution and the lack of residents’ recreational use of the river.
• That plans to clean up Mason River will be effective.

To analyze this essay, I’ll highlight places where the essay fulfills each of the criteria for the 6.0 GRE Writing score level. The first of these rubric criteria is a description of what a perfect-scoring Argument essay should look like overall:

Rubric description : In addressing the specific task directions, a 6 response presents a cogent, well-articulated examination of the argument and conveys meaning skillfully.

This description of what a perfect Argument essay should look like is much more general than the rest of the other rubric items and is more meant as a summary of what the other four items indicate than as a specific criterion in and of itself. If an essay meets all of the other four rubric requirements for a 6.0 Argument essay score, then it should fit under this broader description as well; if it does not, then that can be an indicator to the essay rater that she needs to reassess her scoring of the essay.

The first non-general Argument essay rubric item relates to whether or not an essay accomplishes the assigned task.

Rubric description : A 6 essay clearly identifies aspects of the argument relevant to the assigned task and examines them insightfully

The sample essay succeeds in meeting both parts of this criterion. In the essay, the author pinpoints three different assumptions of the argument (survey is reliable, water being dirty is why people don’t use it for recreational sports, and cleaning it will work). Each of these claims is a key assumption upon which the argument depends, since if any one of these three claims proved unfounded, then the argument becomes illogical.

The author also “examines [the assumptions] insightfully” by discussing the implications of each assumption and what it would mean for the argument were the assumptions to prove false . If the author had merely identified the key elements of the argument without this kind of discussion, the essay would have received a lower score. Below is an excerpt from the essay that illustrates an instance of the author fulfilling this criterion:

“If the river’s water quality and smell result from problems which can be cleaned, [that a river clean up will result in increased river usage] may be true… But if the quality and aroma results from the natural mineral deposits in the water or surrounding rock, this may not be true.”

In this excerpt, the author points out an assumption of the argument (that the quality and smell problems from the river can be dealt with) and presents the implications if the assumption is unwarranted (if the problems are from mineral deposits, quality and smell change might not be possible). The clear way in which the author gets to the point (if A, then B may be true…but if not A, then B may not be true) and the insight she uses in determining why the assumption might not be true and what effect that might have all contribute to this essay achieving a 6-level score.

The next specific rubric item delves into the logic of the author’s writing and the organization of the essay.

Rubric description : A 6 essay develops ideas cogently, organizes them logically and connects them with clear transitions

While the previous rubric item is concerned with the author’s ability to pick apart the logic of the argument in the prompt, this item focuses in on the author’s own writing style and her ability to logically develop and connect ideas in the Argument essay. GRE guidelines for both the Issue and Argument essay place a premium on clear logic and organization, both in terms of how ideas are linked within a paragraph as well as on a larger scale.

For the Argument essay, it makes sense to group your discussion of each assumption into its own separate paragraph. However, if you want to get a perfect essay score, you can’t just throw in information about the assumption and its implications willy-nilly, without a care for its organization. Instead, you must make sure that each of your points about the assumption is directly followed by support for that point. This clarity of development allows the reader to follow your logic more easily, which in turn makes your essay that much more persuasive and effective.

In the Argument essay, organization and logic are also important when it comes to ordering the paragraphs of your essay and transitioning between ideas. Here’s an example of a transition that connects the ideas of two consecutive paragraphs:

“Building upon the implication that residents do not use the river due to the quality of the river’s water and the smell, the author suggests that a river clean up will result in increased river usage.”

This sentence begins the fourth paragraph of the essay and logically transitions to the new assumption about to be discussed (“river clean up will result in increased river usage”) by referencing the idea just discussed in the third paragraph (“residents do not use the river due to the quality of the river’s water and the smell”). The sentence structure “building upon the implication that…the author suggests that” connects the two ideas skillfully, strengthening the link between the two paragraph by framing it as a logical progression.

The clear and logical way in which the author develops her points within each paragraph and the tight organizational connections between paragraphs are how the essay exemplifies this rubric item.

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The third non-general item on the GRE Argument essay rubric is focused entirely on how well the author supports her points.

Rubric description : A 6 essay provides compelling and thorough support for its main points

Essentially, this rubric item is all about determining whether or not an author properly supports her ideas and their development throughout the essay. Correctly identifying assumptions and examining them in a logical and organized way is all very well and good and satisfies the first two rubric criteria, but if you don’t support your analysis with either scenarios from the argument or hypothetical scenarios that could also explain assumptions made in the argument, you’re not going to get a perfect score.

Here’s an excerpt from the essay that demonstrates an instance of “compelling and thorough support”:

“Additionally, the author implies that residents do not use the river for swimming, boating, and fishing, despite their professed interest, because the water is polluted and smelly. While a polluted, smelly river would likely cut down on river sports, a concrete connection between the resident’s lack of river use and the river’s current state is not effectively made. Though there have been complaints, we do not know if there have been numerous complaints from a wide range of people, or perhaps from one or two individuals who made numerous complaints.”

The first sentence of this excerpt lays out the assumption made in the argument: the reason people don’t use the water for sport is because it’s dirty and odiferous. The next two sentences support the author’s claim that this assumption is unfounded in two important ways:

#1: The author singles out a particular way in which the argument is flawed , stating that “a concrete connection…is not effectively made” between two specific claims linked in the argument.

#2: The author explains why the argument is flawed by presenting relevant details, like the fact that the source of the complaints is unknown and could potentially be just a few people.

The reasoning and support used by the author in her essay are effective because the author explains clearly the ways in which they support her points. If the author had just said, “There is no clear connection between the lack of river use and the river’s polluted state because it could just be a few people complaining,” the link between the number of people complaining and why this matters for the validity of the complaints would’ve been unclear and the support would be less compelling.

The final rubric area for the Argument essay has to do with how skillfully an essay is written and how well it adheres to the standards of written English.

Rubric description : A 6 essay conveys ideas fluently and precisely, using effective vocabulary and sentence variety. Demonstrates superior facility with the conventions of standard written English (i.e., grammar, usage and mechanics), but may have minor errors

This last group of items on the Argument essay rubric gets into the mechanics of how well the author writes. The two ways in which this is effected are through the precise use of language and general dearth of errors . Here’s an example of an effective use of language in the sample essay:

“While a polluted, smelly river would likely cut down on river sports, a concrete connection between the resident’s lack of river use and the river’s current state is not effectively made.”

The precise language in this sentence successfully differentiates between the “likely” correlation that is made in the prompt and the “concrete connection” that is not made. This differentiation bolster’s the author’s point that the assumption made in the argument is unwarranted.

The second part of this set of rubric items has to do with the author’s ability to write in standard English without making too many errors. This is demonstrated throughout the mostly error-free sample essay; the errors that do remain, like “afffected” in paragraph four, do not impede the reader’s understanding of what the author is trying to say.

This last point is a good distillation of what all the rubric items for a perfect-scoring essay are trying to capture: a 6.0 GRE Argument essay is one that is clear and precise, whether in ideas, analysis, support, development, organization, or language .

6 Steps to a 6.0: GRE Argument Essay Tips

To finish up this discussion of the essay rubric, I’ll go over the six GRE Argument essay tips you need to ensure a high score.

#1: Focus on the Task

One of the core skills you must master in order to score at all well on the GRE Argument essay is being able to analyze the structure and logic of the arguments , rather than getting caught up in whether you agree or disagree with the points being made.

It may be difficult to do this at first, as it can be hard to be objective when the subject being argued about is one you have firm opinions on or when the logical flaws of the argument are so obvious it drives you crazy. Part of practicing and preparing for the GRE Argument essay task, though, is learning how to channel that irritation and outrage into an unflinching analysis and explanation of how the argument works and where it falls apart.

#2: Hit Major Points Only

Making sure you analyze the argument (rather than agreeing or disagreeing with its position) is only the first step to writing a successful GRE Argument essay, though. You’ll also need to make sure that in your dissection of the argument, your main focus stays on the major features of the argument that add (or detract from) the argument’s effectiveness.

With only 30 minutes to complete the argument task, your job is not to be comprehensive, but to analyze the points that matter. Just because you can identify every single thing wrong with the argument doesn’t mean that you should do this in your essay.

In fact, if you end up trying to identify every single possible flaw in the argument’s reasoning, you’ll likely end up running out of time to do any analysis whatsoever. And while finding the flaws in the argument is an important part of the GRE Argument essay, an equally important part is explaining in a coherent and unified way why the flaws matter.

Let’s consider the Mason City riverfront prompt again as an example.

There’s a lot of information in the prompt to mull over, and it can be tempting to leap into analyzing the first problematic assumption you notice, even if isn’t a major issue. Don’t fall prey to this temptation! It may be true that the prompt assumes that water sports can only be perpetrated on a river (rather than in a pool or the ocean), but the argument depends on this fact far less than it does on the assumption that the river’s bad smell and quality is why Mason City residents rarely use the Mason River for water sports.

The importance of keeping your analysis to major points is supported by the ideas and analysis rubric item: a 4-scoring essay “may also discuss some extraneous points”, while a 6-scoring essay only covers “aspects of the argument relevant to the assigned task.”

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#3: Keep Your Essay Organized

Because the GRE Argument essay involves critiquing someone else’s argument, rather than building your own, it may be difficult to see at first how you can keep your essay organized. In this case, as with many other types of essay, the five-paragraph essay form is your friend.

To start your essay, you will need to introduce the bare bones of what the argument is arguing. For the sample argument we went through above, those bare bones are that the Mason City government should spend more money this year on riverside recreational facilities. You must also include at least a general description of the thrust of your analysis (whether or not the argument is supported, if there are holes in the argument, or if the argument is more true than not). Ideally, these two points will connect to each other in a lean fashion, like in the introduction of this sample essay :

While it may be true that the Mason City government ought to devote more money to riverside recreational facilities, this author’s argument does not make a cogent case for increased resources based on river use. It is easy to understand why city residents would want a cleaner river, but this argument is rife with holes and assumptions, and thus, not strong enough to lead to increased funding.

In each of the three body paragraphs of your essay, you should discuss the three major components of the argument that go to prove your point. Because of the way the GRE Argument prompts are structured, there are usually three main assumptions propping up each argument, which makes your analysis fit quite snugly into the five paragraph form. If you only end up discussing two major questions or assumptions from the argument, it’s perfectly fine to end up with two body paragraphs, but you should keep in mind that if you have time, there might be a third avenue of the argument that’s worth exploring.

Finally, conclude your essay with a reference to your introduction and incorporation of some of the points you made. This conclusion can be short, depending on how you’re doing for time and brainpower by the time you get to it, but including at least some sort of conclusion statement is an important part of keeping your essay organized.

#4: Do Mock Analyses of Real GRE Essay Prompts

There are 176 possible topics you’ll be asked to write about on the GRE Argument essay, and all of them are available for free online . Because of this wealth of real essay topics, it’s unlikely that you’ll run out of prompts you can write practice essays on (unless you’re planning on spending 88 hours doing practice GRE Argument essays). Therefore, it’s safe to do practice outlines , rather than entire practice essays, for a portion of these prompts.

Writing mock Argument essay outlines is good practice if you’re fine with explaining your thoughts but are struggling with speedily analyzing arguments. Even if you have difficulty with both these aspects of the Argument task, creating outlines is still good practice because it will at least help you increase your analytical skills; once you’ve bolstered your ability to analyze an argument under time pressure, you can then proceed to writing full-length practice essays.

For each prompt you choose to outline, come up with at least three points of analysis and a few sentences to explain the importance of each point. These points of analysis could be assumptions made in the argument, the evidence that’s needed to successfully evaluate the argument, alternative explanations or arguments that could be made based on the facts presented in the task, and so on. Make sure, however, to follow step two above and only discuss points that are central to the argument.

#5: Analyze Sample GRE Essays

The rubric is a good way to grade your own essays, but it can sometimes be hard to know how to take the abstract criteria from the scoring guidelines and apply them to a real essay.

Fortunately, in addition to the free and publicly available sample argument essay I analyzed earlier, sample Argument essays at several different score levels are included in chapters 8 and 9 of The Official Guide to the GRE revised General Test (2nd Ed.) . You can maximize the value of these sample essays by not only reading them over but by also taking the GRE Argument essay rubric and applying it to them.

Use the major differences I pointed out in the 4-vs.-6 Writing score level comparison and my analysis of the 6-scoring sample GRE Argument essay to help you identify features that make the example essays so high-scoring. Make sure to note both what the authors do well and why what they do is effective . The official GRE reader commentary that goes along with each sample essay is also a valuable resource you should use to supplement your analysis and ensure you haven’t missed anything.

You should not copy exact words or phrases from the perfect-scoring essays to use in your own work (that’s plagiarism, which is not permitted on the GRE). Instead, observe how other students successfully earned high essay scores and plan out how you can emulate them.

#6: Leave Time to Revise

The word processor you use to write the Issue and Argument essays on the GRE does not have the standard amenities of autocorrect, spell check, or grammar check, which means you’re likely to make typos and not notice it. You’re also going to be typing under time pressure, which may lead you to make more errors than usual. Because of this, it’s imperative you check over your essay before submitting it.

Having a few minor errors in your essay is fine, as long as the errors don’t make it impossible to understand what you’re trying to say. However, if there are too many typos and in mistakes in your essays, the essay graders (both human and computer) will have difficulty understanding what you’re trying to say and following your analysis, and so will not be able to give you a high score.

Example 1: Not revised, major errors (grammar, spelling, and punctuation)

One of ht ecornerstones of the argument is that the fewer. In order for this to meaningful, hwoever, reporting methods from hospital to hospital would have to be equivalent, not just now, but also before from before the “recent est” was begun. wihtout having a reliable baseline it, would be imposisble to know if fhte measured reduction in patient infection gy harmful bacteria was all meaningful.

Example 2: Revised, some minor errors remaining

One of the cornerstones of the argument is that the hospitals reported fewer pateint infections after using UltraClean. In order for this to matter, however, reporting methods from hospital to hospital would have to be equivalent. Furthermore, the methods of reporting patient infection would have to have been equivalent before the “recent test” was begun. Without having a reliable baseline, it would be imposisble to know if fhte measured reduction in patient infection by harmful bacteria was at all meaningful.

What’s Next?

Now you have a better understanding of what it takes to get a perfect score on the Argument essay, but what about on the other half of Analytical Writing? Find out with our exploration of what it takes to get a perfect score on the GRE Issue essay and our analyses of perfect scoring GRE essay samples .

How well your essay matches up with the criteria in this essay rubric is just part of the GRE essay story. Learn more about how exactly GRE Writing is scored here !

I’ve discussed in this article about how a good GRE essay score isn’t necessarily a perfect score, but the same doesn’t necessarily follow for the rest of the GRE. Read more about how to decide on what’s a good GRE score for you here .

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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

The New GRE AWA: Tips to Approach the GRE Essay

The content in this post applies in 2024 to the new, shorter GRE!

The shorter GRE introduced a faster, more streamlined experience for test-takers. As part of the changes, the shorter GRE AWA section was reduced to one essay (instead of two). Great news! So, how do you prepare for the new GRE essay? Read on to find out.

How does the new GRE AWA work?

The new GRE Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) consists of the Issue essay . You are allotted 30 minutes for your essay. The GRE essay tests your ability to write a cogent thesis statement that you must defend over the course of several paragraphs.

What is the Analyze an Issue essay?

Gre issue essay topics.

It could be argued that the most important technological breakthroughs have happened by chance and through surprise discoveries. However, others argue that deliberate, well-planned research with specific goals is the only way to ensure technological advancement.

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

The Issue essay asks you to respond to and analyze a general statement, like the ones above, that relates to politics, education, or culture. Essentially, you are taking a position on a complex matter.

Where can I find sample GRE AWA topics?

Good news! ETS publishes the entire pools of Issue topics and Argument topics on its site. The topics you see on your test will be drawn from those pools , so this is an essential resource. Learn more about the seven types of topics you might encounter in our GRE Essay Topics post.

How is the GRE AWA scored?

Deep in a dark room far, far away resides a poor soul who must sort through an interminable stack of GRE AWA essays. In a mere thirty seconds, that person must award a score from a 0.0 – 6.0, based on 0.5 increments. The grader is typically a university literature/writing professor who, according to ETS, has undergone rigorous training in order to qualify.

But that’s only half of the story.

This next part sounds a little nefarious — so hold onto your seats. Over the course of the last decade or so, ETS has developed–and it would say refined–the “E-rater”, an automated essay grader.

While it may seem that HAL , the diabolical talking computer from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey , has been unleashed to wreak grading havoc on your essays, the “E-rater” is only used as a second “grader” to ensure that the human grader isn’t napping at the job. If the “E-rater’s” score differs by 1.5 points or more from the human grader’s score, then a second human grader will look at your essay, the master grader–who, presumably, resides in an even darker room.

Your final score is calculated by taking the two essays, averaging them, and then rounding the result to fit on the half point scale. At least for now, HAL has not completely taken over — the “E-rater” serves only as a check on human error. That is not to say that one day the two human graders will emerge from their dark rooms as anachronisms (as far as GRE AWA grading goes). Let’s hope that such a day never comes, the day in which admission to a top-notch grad school hangs in the precarious balance of a robot grader.

How does the GRE AWA scoring range work?

What exactly does it mean to get a 0.0, or for that matter a 6.0 on GRE Analytical Writing? Well, a 0.0 means you fell asleep, your forehead planted firmly on the keyboard, an endless series of gobbledygook forming on screen. A 6.0 is a consistently insightful and well-crafted essay, running a good 80-plus lines.

You may think I’m jesting with the 0.0, but really I’m not: those essays are deemed “Ungradeable.” Hence, very few students end up getting a 0.0, or, for that matter, a score below a 2.0. Indeed, the vast majority of students fall between a 3.0 and a 5.0.

So what exactly does it mean to get a 3.0 vs. 4.0, or a 4.5 vs. a 5.0? For me to really answer that it would take at least several pages, including example essays. Instead, have a look at the AWA scoring guidelines from ETS. The links to the sample essays are included below.

Is there anywhere I can get my essays graded?

While there is no better teacher than feedback, having someone give you an honest critique of your essay is difficult. ETS offers a service to grade your GRE AWA essays. But that is all you will get. A simple score. No feedback. People have tried, apparently, but nobody at ETS will provide feedback (apparently, the “E-rater” has not yet evolved to this level of sophistication).

Luckily, things aren’t quite as bleak as that. Over the years, I’ve seen many students asking for feedback on the forums ( urch.com , thegradcafe.com ) and munificent souls (usually GRE test takers with strong writing skills) provide insightful analysis. While that may not sound all that reassuring, remember that this feedback is free of charge and there really isn’t much else out there in terms of essay feedback.

More creative ideas on how to get your essay graded here , plus we have a downloadable GRE essay rubric . Let us know if you have any others, we’d love to hear them! 🙂

What do the graders look for?

The graders look for the three C’s: clarity, coherency, and cogency.

First off, you must express your ideas in a clear manner. If you jumble your words, or simply throw in unnecessary words, doing so compromises clarity. But your essay is not just one sentence with a clearly expressed idea; it is a set of ideas that should logically connect to one another. That is coherency.

Next you want to provide convincing evidence to back up your thesis. You can throw in some vague example, but doing so means your essay will probably lack cogency. Develop an example that cogently reinforces your thesis is key to a high essay score.

There are some other factors that play into the human grader’s assessment. Style is important; an essay with choppy sentences and unsophisticated vocabulary will be awarded a lower score, all other things being equal, than an essay with mature syntactical development and GRE-level vocabulary deployed felicitously.

There is also the issue of grammar. Even though the graders doesn’t set out to nitpick at grammar, as soon as you make the tiniest mistake, he or she will notice. Anything from improper use of pronouns to misspelling common words can negatively impact your score. At the same time, a grammatical flub or two won’t preclude an essay from getting a perfect score, as long as everything else about the essay is top-notch.

I should note that the essay grader takes around 30 seconds to grade an essay. He or she scans to make sure that you have clearly organized your information, and that your paragraphs start with a topic sentence and flow into specific examples that support your analysis. The grader looks to make sure you have a conclusion that articulates what you’ve already stated. He or she gives you a score and they move on to the next essay.

How long do my GRE essays have to be?

Believe it or not, out of two essays that are identical, save for length, the longer will receive the higher score. That doesn’t mean you should frantically scribble away, hoping that a seven-paragraph essay will automatically confer the much coveted ‘6’. Substance matters greatly. But as long as all the parts of your essay are there, you should shoot for a five-paragraph essay: an intro, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

I should also point out that six paragraphs a long essay do not make. Paragraph length matters too. And, of course, don’t forget that each of those paragraphs has to flow logically and clearly from your thesis.

How do I practice for GRE Analytical Writing?

Essay writing is tough. Practicing for the GRE Analytical Writing Assessment–given that it’s difficult to get feedback–makes things even more unpleasant: you write and write without knowing if you are really improving. But do not despair–there are sample essays, friends and family, and the ETS essay grading service, as well as many GRE writing tips you can use.

By simply writing often you will be able to write with greater command and facility. With diligent practice , words will not seem submerged deep in your hippocampus, but will spring to life on the page.

2. Don’t forget to outline/brainstorm

You must think about what you are going to write before you write. I’m sure many amongst you subscribe to the school of thought that if you write, they will come: the words, the compelling examples, and the nuanced logic. When practicing for the GRE, you must avoid this tendency and instead spend a few minutes coming up with a roadmap (either in your head or on the computer screen). At first this step will slow you down and you will want to go back to the old method. Be patient. Once you become adept at outlining, the essay will write itself.

3. Spend lots of time editing your practice essays

Though you won’t get much of an opportunity to edit your essay test day, sedulously editing your practice essays will make you more aware of your mistakes, both grammatical and logical. Correcting these mistakes will not only help you anticipate them in the future, but will also make the writing and logic in your future essays clearer.

4. Constantly read sample essays

By reading other students’ essays, you will develop a sense of what ETS is looking for. You’ll also be able to better judge your own essays. Throughout practice sessions you should keep tweaking your essays, so they get closer and closer to the next score up. So if you started at a ‘3’, then focus on getting to a ‘4.’ Once you think you’ve done so, shoot your essay over to the ETS grading service. Check out this sample essay to see what it takes to achieve your ideal GRE writing score:

5. Improve grammar

ETS explicitly states that it is looking for the quality and clarity of thought, and not grammar per se. Yet the two are closely related. So if you struggle to articulate something–and in doing so break a grammatical rule (or three!)–you will sacrifice clarity. Even minor grammatical errors (faulty pronouns, subject/verb agreement) will mar the overall quality of your writing.

How do I improve my grammar and style?

Between grammar and style, grammar is much easier to improve. Great style is much more elusive. Indeed, many writers have cultivated their prose style over years of assiduous practice. Rest assured though–to score well on the GRE your prose does not have to be fit for The New York Times . You do want to avoid choppy sentences by varying up your sentence structure. You shouldn’t be averse to trading a simple word for a more complex one as long that word is appropriate for the context.

A great book that offers writing advice, from dangling modifiers to how to construct compelling, dynamic sentences, is William Zinsser’s On Writing Well .

For a more stern approach to writing, Strunk and White’s Elements of Style has helped students for over half a century.

The only reason I mention both of these books is they focus not only grammar but also on style. Many grammar books should suffice, as far as grammar goes–but they are short on teaching writing style, which is a great skill to have for the GRE (and beyond!).

Are there any sample essays I can read?

It is one thing to read the guidelines for what constitutes a ‘6’ essay. In essence you are interpreting the information. But by actually reading you learn what the grader (and the robot) are looking for.

While sample essays abound in prep books, some of them appear written and polished over time, and thus don’t reflect the work of someone who is under the constraints for the essay.

The best source for sample essays are the released sample essays (completed with grader comments!) from ETS:

Sample Issue Essays from ETS

Sample Argument Essays from ETS

The essays here are actual student essays. Use these essays to assess your own level of writing. In other words, determine where in the 0.0-6.0 range you fall, based on the scores given to the other essays.

Chris Lele is the Principal Curriculum Manager (and vocabulary wizard ) at Magoosh. Chris graduated from UCLA with a BA in Psychology and has 20 years of experience in the test prep industry. He’s been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including US News , GMAC , and Business Because . In his time at Magoosh, Chris has taught countless students how to tackle the GRE , GMAT, SAT, ACT, MCAT (CARS), and LSAT exams with confidence. Some of his students have even gone on to get near-perfect scores. You can find Chris on YouTube , LinkedIn , Twitter and Facebook !

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11 responses to “The New GRE AWA: Tips to Approach the GRE Essay”

Hi how much time does it take for the practice AWA to be graded?

Hi Gunjan, I’m not sure if I understand your question. Which practice AWA are you talking about? If you are asking about feedback from forums or other online resources, you’ll have to check with those websites or perhaps post your essay again. Please note that Magoosh does not provide essay grading and feedback at this time.

I got 2.5 score in awa how can i improve

These blog posts might be helpful for you: 12 tips to ace GRE Writing GRE Issue Strategies and practice essays

In order to improve in the AWA section, you should understand what the graders are looking for, have a strategy for writing a strong essay, and practice as MUCH as possible. I think these blog posts will help you to make a good strategy–don’t forget to keep practicing!

Thank you, Really it helps me a lot. but still i have confusion in argument Section, can you please tell me the deference between issue and argument

Hi Prachi! Sure 🙂 The Issue Task requires you to take a position and defend it. Usually it’s for or against some issue. The Argument Tasks asks you to read a short argument and then explain why it’s terrible. Hope that helps!

Hi! I got a poor score in AWA (2) and I did detect my fault that, in my issue task, I didn’t thoroughly agree or disagree, rather I agreed partially to the prompt and another mistake was I couldn’t conclude my essay with clear conclusive stand of mine, neither I finished my last sentence, let alone editing. Could u plz explain weather partially agree or disagree is allowed in issue task in AWA?

It sounds like you have done a good job of reflecting on your performance and identifying areas for improvement! That’s a great first step. In the AWA Issue task, it’s important to have a strong argument and clearly state your side. Your concession point shows that you have thought about the issue from different angles, but it’s important to stick to your argument and show how it is superior. We do not recommend that students take the “partially agree” approach, since it tends to ‘water down’ your argument and weaken your essay. Remember that this is an essay you are writing for a specific assignment–it doesn’t have to reflect your personal beliefs or ideas, as long as you can craft a strong argument. We have a lot of great resources for you to use to improve on the AWA, take a look 🙂

Thank you for this overall guide with lots of quality information for someone who is new to GRE like me. At the moment, this is quite sufficient for me to kick start my preparation for the test, which roughly happens in two weeks. Anyway, Thanks!

You’re welcome! Best of luck, Huy. 😀

i think it give us more idea in gre test.

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