Among so many types of academic essays, the GRE Writing section is especially challenging. The very fact that you will have to create two essays in an hour makes students anxious. Combine it with difficult essay topics and the stress grows even more.
However, it’s possible to write GRE essays that win a good score. Even in such restricted time limits. To reach the heights in this, you will need to know exactly what is required from you in this assignment and follow several proven pieces of advice. Of course, all of this also includes efficient practice in writing or adopting some tricks from experts. Some students also prefer ordering custom-written papers online from an essay writing service whose experts could provide them with professional help for money.
In this article, we will reveal useful tips to prompt you when creating GRE analytical essays as a part of your test.
What Essays You Should Prepare to Write Within GRE AWA
As a rule, GRE Analytical Writing Assessment comprises two essays of different types:
- Issue essay. In this case, you will be given an issue and take a certain side. First, the situation will be described in detail and after this, the task will need you to agree or disagree with the suggested statement, say to what extent you agree, and explain the reasons. Here you can analyze the problem and welcome to support your position with evidence.
- Argument essay. On the contrary, argument essays drive you to use logic for analyzing the given opinion. Very often, such essays need you to search for the gaps in the given position and prove the opposite using your analytical skills and critical thinking. This will result in forming your personal opinion.
Awesome Tips That Work in GRE Essay Writing
Years of test-taking have given rise to the creation of proven tips that experts have approved. Using them, you will increase your chances for a higher score and will write essays in a much easier way.
We decided to divide the whole list of tips to those which will come in handy when writing the two different types of essays.
Overviewing Issue Essays: Advice On Writing an Informative Issue Essay
Based on Official GRE Essay Topic Prompts, here are the tips to create an issue essay that proves your view well.
- Make up a good for- or against- sentence. Just like a thesis sentence reflecting your attitude to the matter, a pro/com sentence is meant to express your general opinion and cover every example that will follow. Before compiling it, think which side appeals to you but don’t overthink it: the time at the exam will be limited. The faster you take the side – the better.
- Stick to the given topic. Well, in the whole essay you can exemplify your views with any specific fact within the area you write about, for example, technology or education. But be aware of anything distracting or leading you away from the topic. Just relate back to the thesis and don’t be vague.
- Have a look at a different side. An issue essay doesn’t just require you to give a one-sided model of your point. Once you explained what makes you take the opinion No.1, provide the reasons why you don’t favour the opinion No.2. or widen your angle thinking of situations when this contradictory opinion might be true. In academic writing, this trick is named a ‘concession point’ and in most cases, it’s desirable to base it on the thesis statement.
- Make your examples specific. It’s best to keep illustrations real-life and include reasoning in your body paragraphs. Verbs such as ‘prove’, ‘demonstrate’, ‘infer’, and others will help you sound persuasive.
Advice for Students On Writing Argument Essays
Argument essays can appear more challenging but, as experts in the exam say, they simply need you to understand the assignment right. So, make sure you read the task attentively and then try to follow the author’s chain of thoughts.
- Give your ideas of the author’s assumptions. Since this type of academic writing needs you to demonstrate logical thinking, you will have to find out and check these assumptions you get from the task passage. Realizing the logic behind them is crucial. Here, don’t be afraid to spend one more minute thinking them over. Questions such as ‘What does the author claim?’, ‘What supports these claims?’, ‘Is any supporting info missing or outdated?’ will help you on the way to finding real logical fallacies.
- Don’t take the given argument as a right one. What the exam jury expects you to do is to refute the argument giving clear insights about why the originally presented argument is weak. In the end, if it was a good argument, why would it even be at your exam to write an essay about?
- Choose examples meticulously. When you find the gaps in the argument’s logic, it’s time to supply them with good proofs. We don’t advise you to go for many examples. Stick to 3 or 4 of them, organize a perfect sequence. Basically, just give real evidence why there are serious logical flaws in the original argument.
As a final word, we want to encourage you and say that, even if it still feels overwhelming to create GRE essays, enough practice and wise strategy will let you ace essay writing. You will need some time to get adjusted to the form, content, and the timeframe of the exam. So, practice regularly, get sample essays from professionals, and don’t lose heart!