How to Effectively Prepare for the Analytical Writing Portion of the GRE

The Analytical Writing section is one of the three parts of the GRE. Students are asked to write two different types of essays for this section. These essays reveal a student’s ability to understand what an author is conveying, organize ideas in a logical way, use specific examples to support their ideas, and write in a clear, concise manner. Let’s examine how to prepare for analytical writing, GRE essay tips, and more.

The Analytical Writing Section on the GRE

Students are required to write both an issue essay and an argument essay for the GRE. For the issue essay, you’ll read a statement about a familiar topic. Then, you’ll write an essay explaining whether you agree or disagree with the statement. You should use specific examples to support your position.

For the argument essay, you must read and analyze an argument put forth by an author. Then, you’ll write an essay proving that the argument is either logical or illogical based on specific examples from the text – the argument essay does not ask you to agree or disagree with the author’s statement, however. It’s important for you to read the specific instructions that accompany both the issue and argument essays on the GRE.

Writing Practice Essays

There are several things you can do to prepare for this section of the GRE. Analytical Writing practice is very helpful if you want to become more adept at creating both types of essays. It’s a good idea to start the process by making an outline that highlights the important points that you want to include in an essay. Then, you can also refer to the outline to stay on track while you’re writing.

You’ll be given 30 minutes to write each of the essays for the GRE. Because of this, Analytical Writing practice should include using a timer to make sure that you can finish writing an essay in the allotted amount of time. Of course, you must factor in the time it takes to read the author’s statement, create an outline, and complete the essay itself. Getting the timing right can take some of the stress out of writing the essays on test day.

Examine Successful GRE Essays

Along with writing practice essays for the GRE, Analytical Writing preparation should include reading essays that received high scores on the exam. You can look at the various components of these essays as well as how they are organized to get an idea of what test graders are looking for.

Some students may find it beneficial to use a high-scoring essay as a guide as they practice writing their own issue and argument essays. For many students, it’s useful to see the arrangement of ideas in these high-scoring essays. Often, students who write these successful essays follow a very simple outline that anyone can use.

Learning New Vocabulary Words

Another important part of GRE Analytical Writing preparation is learning how to use appropriate words to get a point across in an essay. You can expand your vocabulary by reading newspaper and magazine articles to become familiar with commonly used words and their definitions. You can make flashcards to help them learn these new vocabulary words from these articles, too. In addition, reading the well-crafted sentences in these types of publications gives you an opportunity to expand your own syntax. 

Students can also benefit from looking at the vocabulary words used in essays that received high scores on the GRE. Even if students don’t use all of these newly-learned words in their GRE essays, they may use them in future assignments and papers written for graduate school courses. In short, it’s always beneficial for a student to add to their supply of vocabulary words.

At Varsity Tutors, we teach our students how to prepare for analytical writing. GRE test-takers who study with us get the tools and confidence they need to write high-scoring essays. Each of our online GRE tutors earned an impressive score on the exam – this means we have the inside track on the analytical writing section, as well as every other section of the test! We teach students practical strategies that allow them to show off their essay-writing skills on the GRE. Contact our offices to sign up for one of our effective GRE prep classes today!

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