Gre Practice Book Essay Example

or division within a school, may require or recommend that its applicants take the GRE General Test.

The scores can be used by admissions or fellowship panels to supplement undergraduate records and other quali? cations for graduate study. The scores provide common measures for comparing the quali? cations of applicants and aid in the evaluation of grades and recommendations. Review of the Quantitative Section Overview .

11 Structure of the GRE General Test The paper-based GRE General Test contains ? ve sections. In addition, one unidenti? ed pretest section may be included and this section can appear in any position in the test after the Analytical Writing section. Questions in the pretest section are being pretested for possible use in future tests and answers will not count toward your scores.Total testing time is up to 33/4 hours. The directions at the beginning of each section specify the total number of questions in the section and the time allowed for the section.

The Analytical Writing section will always be ? rst. The Verbal and Quantitative sections may appear in any order, including an unidenti? ed Verbal or Quantitative pretest section. Treat each section presented during your test as if it counts. Review of the Analytical Writing Section Overview .

12 How the Analytical Writing Section is Scored

2 Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task

13 Analyze an Argument Task

1 B – Verbal and Quantitative Interpretive Tables ........................................ 54 C – Analytical Writing Topics, Sample Scored Essay Responses at Selected Score Points, and Reader Commentary .............................. 56 Answer Sheets .................................................. 63 3 Typical Paper-Based GRE General Test Sections Section Analytical Writing Verbal (2 sections) Quantitative (2 sections) Pretest** Number of Questions 1

Issue task* 1 Argument ta* 38 per section 30 per section Varies Time 45 min. 30 min. 30 min. per section 30 min. er section 30 min. * For the Issue task, two essay topics will be presented and you will choose one. The Argument task does not present a choice of topics; instead, one topic will be presented. ** An unidenti ed Verbal or Quantitative pretest section may be included and may appear in any order after the Analytical Writing section. Scores Reported Three scores are reported on the General Test: 1. a verbal score reported on a 200–800 score scale, in 10-point increments, 2. a quantitative score reported on a 200–800 score scale, in 10-point increments, and 3. n analytical writing score reported on a 0–6 score scale, in half-point increments. If you answer no questions at all in a section (verbal, quantitative, or analytical writing), that section will be reported as a No Score (NS).

Descriptions of the analytical writing abilities characteristic of particular score levels are available in the interpretive lea? et enclosed with your score report, in the Guide to the Use of GRE Scores, and at ets. org/gre/stupubs. Preparing for the GRE General Test Preparation for the test will depend on the amount of time you have available and your personal preferences for how to prepare.At a minimum, before you take the GRE General Test, you should know what to expect from the test, including the administrative procedures, types of questions and directions, the approximate number of questions, and the amount of time for each section. The administrative procedures include registration, date, time, test center location, cost, scorereporting procedures, and

availability of special testing arrangements. You can ? nd out about the administrative procedures for the paper-based General Test at ets. org/gre, or by contacting GRE at 1-609-771-7670 or 1-866-473-4373 (toll free for test takers in the U.S. , U. S. Territories*, and Canada). Before taking the practice General Test, it is important to become familiar with the content of each of the sections of the test. You can become familiar with the Verbal and Quantitative sections by reading about the skills the sections measure, how the sections are scored, reviewing the strategies for each of the question types, and reviewing the sample questions with explanations. Determine which strategies work best for you. Remember—you can do very well on the test without answering every question in each section correctly.Everyone—even the most practiced and con? dent of writers—should spend some time preparing for the Analytical Writing section before arriving at the test center. It is important to review the skills measured, how the section is scored, scoring guides and score level descriptions, sample topics, scored sample essay responses, and reader commentary. To help you prepare for the Analytical Writing section of the General Test, the GRE Program has published the entire pool of topics from which your test topics will be selected.

• You might  nd it helpful to review the Issue and Argument pools.You can view the published pools at ets. org/gre/greprep or obtain a copy by writing to GRE Program, PO Box 6000, Princeton, NJ 08541-6000. The topics in the Analytical Writing section relate to a broad range of subjects—from the ? ne arts and humanities to the social and physical sciences—but no topic requires
  

speci? c content knowledge. In fact, each topic has been ? eld-tested to ensure that it possesses several important characteristics, including the following:  GRE test takers, regardless of their ? eld of study or special interests, understood the topic and could easily discuss it. The topic 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. * Includes American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and U. S. Virgin Islands 4 Test-Taking Strategies IMPORTANT NOTE: Test-taking strategies appropriate for the Verbal and Quantitative sections of the paper-based General Test are different from those that are appropriate for taking the Verbal and Quantitative sections of the computer-based General Test.Be sure to follow the appropriate strategies for the testing format in which you will be testing. Paper-based testing strategies should not be used if you take the computer-based test. Verbal and Quantitative Sections When taking a Verbal or Quantitative section of the paper-based General Test, you are free, within any section, to skip questions that you might have dif? culty answering and to come back to them later during the time provided to work on that section.

You may also change the answer to any question you recorded on the answer sheet by erasing it completely and ? ling in the oval corresponding to your desired answer for that question. Each of your scores will be determined by the number of questions for which you select the best answer from the choices given. Questions for which you mark no answer or more than one answer are

not counted in scoring. Nothing is subtracted from a score if you answer a question incorrectly. Therefore, to maximize your scores on the Verbal and Quantitative sections of the paper-based test, it is better for you to answer each and every question and not to leave any questions unanswered. Work as rapidly as you can without being careless.This includes checking frequently to make sure you are marking your answers in the appropriate rows on your answer sheet. Since no question carries greater weight than any other, do not waste time pondering individual questions you ? nd extremely dif? cult or unfamiliar. You may want to work through a Verbal or Quantitative section of the General Test quite rapidly, ? rst answering only the questions about which you feel con? dent, then going back and answering questions that require more thought, and concluding with the most dif? cult questions if there is time.During the actual administration of the General Test, you may work only on the section the test center supervisor designates and only for the time allowed. You may not go back to an earlier section of the test after the supervisor announces, “Please stop work” for that section. The supervisor is authorized to dismiss you from the center for doing so. All answers must be recorded on your answer sheet.

Answers recorded in your test booklet will not be counted. Given the time constraints, you should avoid waiting until the last ? ve minutes of a test administration to record answers on your answer sheet.Some questions on the General Test have only four response options (A through D). All GRE answer sheets for the paper-based

test contain response positions for ? ve responses (A through E). Therefore, if an E response is marked for a fouroption question, it will be ignored. An E response for a four-option question is treated the same as no response (omitted). Analytical Writing Section In the paper-based General Test, the topics in the Analytical Writing section will be presented in the test book and you will handwrite your essay responses on the answer sheets provided.Make sure you use the correct answer sheet for each task. It is important to budget your time. Within the 45-minute time limit for the Issue task, you will need to allow suf? cient time to choose one of the two topics, think about the issue you’ve chosen, plan a response, and compose your essay. Within the 30minute time limit for the Argument task, you will need to allow suf? cient time to analyze the argument, plan a critique, and compose your response. Although GRE readers understand the time constraints under which you write and will consider your response a “? st draft,” you still want it to be the best possible example of your writing that you can produce under the testing circumstances. Save a few minutes at the end of each timed task to check for obvious errors.

Although an occasional spelling or grammatical error will not affect your score, severe and persistent errors will detract from the overall effectiveness of your writing and thus lower your score. During the actual administration of the General Test, you may work only on the particular writing task the test center supervisor designates and only for the time allowed.You may not go back

to an earlier 5 section of the test after the supervisor announces, “Please stop work,” for that task. The supervisor is authorized to dismiss you from the center for doing so. Following the Analytical Writing section, you will have the opportunity to take a 10-minute break. Directions* Each question below consists of a word printed in capital letters followed by ? ve lettered words or phrases. Choose the lettered word or phrase that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the word in capital letters. Since some of the questions require you to distinguish ? e shades of meaning, be sure to consider all the choices before deciding which one is best. Sample Question DIFFUSE: (A) concentrate (B) contend (C) imply (D) pretend (E) rebel Strategies for Answering

• Remember that antonyms are generally con? ned to nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

• Look for the word that is most nearly opposite to the given word.

• Try to de? ne words precisely.

• Make up a sentence using the given word to help establish its meaning.

• Look for possible second meanings before choosing an answer.

• Use your knowledge of pre? xes and suf? xes to help de? ne words you don’t know.Answer The best answer is (A). Diffuse means to permit or cause to spread out; only (A) presents an idea that is in any way opposite to diffuse. Review of the Verbal Section Overview The Verbal section measures your ability to analyze and evaluate written material and synthesize information obtained from it, to analyze relationships among component parts of sentences, to recognize relationships between words and concepts, and to reason with words in solving problems. There is a

balance of passages across different subject matter areas: humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.The Verbal section contains the following question types:

• Antonyms

• Analogies

• Sentence Completions

• Reading Comprehension Questions How the Verbal Section is Scored Scoring of the Verbal section of the paper-based General Test is essentially a two-step process. First, a raw score is computed.

The raw score is the number of questions for which the best answer choice was given. The raw score is then converted to a scaled score through a process known as equating. The equating process accounts for differences in dif? ulty among the different test editions; thus, a given scaled score re? ects approximately the same level of ability regardless of the edition of the test that was taken. Analogies Analogies measure your ability to recognize

• relationships among words and concepts they represent

• parallel relationships Directions* In each of the following questions, a related pair of words or phrases is followed by ? ve lettered pairs of words or phrases. Select the lettered pair that best expresses a relationship similar to that expressed in the original pair. AntonymsAntonyms measure your

• vocabulary

• ability to reason from a given concept to its opposite * The directions are presented as they appear on the actual test. 6 Sample Question COLOR : SPECTRUM : (A) tone : scale (B) sound : waves (C) verse : poem (D) dimension : space (E) cell : organism Strategies for Answering

• Establish a relationship between the given pair before reading the answer choices.

• Consider relationships of kind, size, spatial contiguity, or degree.

• Read all of the options. If more than one seems correct, try to state the relationship more

precisely. Check to see that you haven’t overlooked a possible second meaning for one of the words.

• Never decide on the best answer without reading all of the answer choices. Answer The relationship between color and spectrum is not merely that of part to whole, in which case (E) or even (C) might be defended as correct. A spectrum is made up of a progressive, graduated series of colors, as a scale is of a progressive, graduated sequence of tones. Thus, (A) is the correct answer choice. In this instance, the best answer must be selected from a group of fairly close choices.Sample Question Early ________ of hearing loss is ________ by the fact that the other senses are able to compensate for moderate amounts of loss, so that people frequently do not know that their hearing is imperfect. (A) discovery . . indicated (B) development . . prevented (C) detection . . complicated (D) treatment . . facilitated (E) incidence . . corrected Strategies for Answering

• Read the incomplete sentence carefully.

• Look for key words or phrases.

• Complete the blank(s) with your own words; see if any options are like yours.

• Pay attention to grammatical cues. If there are two blanks, be sure that both parts of your answer choice ? t logically and stylistically into the sentence.

• After choosing an answer, read the sentence through again to see if it makes sense. Answer The statement that the other senses compensate for partial loss of hearing indicates that the hearing loss is not prevented or corrected; therefore, choices (B) and (E) can be eliminated. Furthermore, the ability to compensate for hearing loss certainly does

not facilitate the early treatment (D) or the early discovery (A) of hearing loss.It is reasonable, however, that early detection of hearing loss is complicated by the ability to compensate for it. The best answer is (C). Sentence Completions Sentence completions measure your ability to recognize words or phrases that both logically and stylistically complete the meaning of a sentence. Directions* Each sentence below has one or two blanks, each blank indicating that something has been omitted. Beneath the sentence are ? ve lettered words or sets of words. Choose the word or set of words for each blank that best ? ts the meaning of the sentence as a whole.Reading Comprehension Questions Reading comprehension questions measure your ability to  read with understanding, insight, and discrimination  analyze a written passage from several perspectives Passages are taken from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Directions* The passage is followed by questions based on its content. After reading the passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all questions following the passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage. * The directions are presented as they appear on the actual test. 7 Sample QuestionPicture-taking is a technique both for annexing the objective world and for expressing the singular self. Photographs depict objective realities that already exist, though only the camera can disclose them. And they depict an individual photographer’s temperament, discovering itself through the camera’s cropping of reality. That is, photography has two antithetical ideals: in the first, photography is about the world, and the photographer is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the second, photography is

the instrument of intrepid, questing subjectivity and the photographer is all.

These conflicting ideals arise from a fundamental uneasiness on the part of both photographers and viewers of photographs toward the aggressive component in “taking” a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a photographer as observer is attractive because it implicitly denies that picture-taking is an aggressive act. The issue, of course, is not so clear-cut. What photographers do cannot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply, and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of picture-taking or the other is always being rediscovered and championed.An important result of the coexistence of these two ideals is a recurrent ambivalence toward photography’s means. Whatever the claims that photography might make to be a form of personal expression on a par with painting, its originality is inextricably linked to the powers of a machine. The steady growth of these powers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness and imaginative formal beauty of many photographs, like Harold Edgerton’s high-speed photographs of a bullet hitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis stroke.But as cameras become more sophisticated, more automated, some photographers are tempted to disarm themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed, preferring to submit themselves to the limits imposed by premodern camera technology because a cruder, less high-powered machine is thought to give more interesting or emotive results, to leave more room for creative accident. For example, it has been virtually a point of honor for many photographers, including Walker Evans and Cartier-Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment. These photographers have come to doubt the value of the camera as an

instrument of “fast seeing. Cartier-Bresson, in fact, claims that the modern camera may see too fast.

This ambivalence toward photographic means determines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster and faster seeing) alternates over time with the wish to return to a purer past — when images had a handmade quality. This nostalgia for some pristine state of the photographic enterprise is currently widespread and underlies the present-day enthusiasm for daguerreotypes and the work of forgotten nineteenth-century provincial photographers. Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need periodically to resist their own knowingness. 5) (10) According to the passage, the two antithetical ideals of photography differ primarily in the (A) value that each places on the beauty of the ? nished product (B) emphasis that each places on the emotional impact of the ? nished product (C) degree of technical knowledge that each requires of the photographer (D) extent of the power that each requires of the photographer’s equipment (E) way in which each de? nes the role of the photographer Strategies for Answering

• Read the passage closely, then proceed to the questions. or Skim the passage, then reread the passage losely as you answer the questions. You may want to try it both ways with sample questions to see what works best for you.

• Answer questions based on the content of the passage.

• Separate main ideas from supporting ideas.

• Separate the author’s own ideas from information being presented.

• Ask yourself... – What is this about? – What are the key points? – How does the main idea relate to other ideas in the passage? – What words de? ne relationships among ideas?

Answer The best answer to this question is (E). Photography’s two ideals are presented in lines 7–11.The main emphasis in the description of these two ideals is on the relationship of the photographer to the enterprise of photography, with the photographer described in the one as a passive observer and in the other as an active questioner. (E) identi? es this key feature in the description of the two ideals—the way in which each ideal conceives or de? nes the role of the photographer in photography. (A) through (D) present aspects of photography that are mentioned in the passage, but none of these choices represents a primary difference between the two ideals of photography. (15) (20) (25) 30) (35) (40) (45) (50) (55) 8 Review of the Quantitative Section Overview The Quantitative section measures your basic mathematical skills, your understanding of elementary mathematical concepts, and your ability to reason quantitatively and solve problems in a quantitative setting. There is a balance of questions requiring arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and data analysis. These are content areas usually studied in high school.

Arithmetic Questions may involve arithmetic operations, powers, operations on radical expressions, estimation, percent, absolute value, properties of integers (e. . , divisibility, factoring, prime numbers, odd and even integers), and the number line. Algebra Questions may involve rules of exponents, factoring and simplifying algebraic expressions, understanding concepts of relations and functions, equations and inequalities, solving linear and quadratic equations and inequalities, solving simultaneous equations, setting up equations to solve word problems, coordinate geometry, including slope, intercepts, and graphs of equations and inequalities, and applying basic algebra skills to solve problems.Geometry Questions may involve parallel lines, circles, triangles

(including isosceles, equilateral, and 30°–60°–90° triangles), rectangles, other polygons, area, perimeter, volume, the Pythagorean Theorem, and angle measure in degrees. The ability to construct proofs is not measured. Data Analysis Questions may involve elementary probability, basic descriptive statistics (mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation, percentiles), and interpretation of data in graphs and tables (line graphs, bar graphs, circle graphs, frequency distributions).Math Symbols and Other Information The following information applies to all questions in the quantitative sections.

• These common math symbols may be used: x < y (x is less than y) x y (x is not equal to y) (the nonnegative square root of x, where x ? 0) |x| (the absolute value of x, where x is a real number) n! (n factorial: the product of the ? rst n positive integers) m n (line m is parallel to line n) n (line m is perpendicular to line n) m A B C (? ABC is a right angle)

• Numbers: all numbers used are real numbers. Figures: – the positions of points, angles, regions, etc. , can be assumed to be in the order shown; angle measures are positive – a line shown as straight can be assumed to be straight – ? gures lie in a plane unless otherwise indicated – do not assume ? gures are drawn to scale unless stated It is important to familiarize yourself with the basic mathematical concepts in the GRE General Test. The publication Math Review, which is available at ets. org/gre/greprep, provides detailed information on the content of the Quantitative section.The Quantitative section contains the following question types:

• Quantitative Comparison Questions

• Problem Solving – Discrete Quantitative

Questions

• Problem Solving – Data Interpretation Questions Questions emphasize understanding basic principles and reasoning within the context of given information. 9 How the Quantitative Section is Scored The Quantitative section of the paper-based General Test is scored the same way as the Verbal section. First, a raw score is computed.The raw score is the number of questions for which the best answer choice was given. The raw score is then converted to a scaled score through a process known as equating. The equating process accounts for differences in dif? culty among the different test editions; thus a given scaled score re? ects approximately the same level of ability regardless of the edition of the test that was taken. Strategies for Answering

• Avoid extensive computation if possible. Try to estimate the answer

. • Consider all kinds of numbers before deciding.If under some conditions Column A is greater than Column B and for others, Column B is greater than Column A, choose “the relationship cannot be determined from the information given,” and go to the next question.

• Geometric ? gures may not be drawn to scale. Comparisons should be made based on the given information, together with your knowledge of mathematics, rather than on exact appearance. Answer to Question 1 denotes 10, the positive square root of 100. (For any positive number x, denotes the positive number whose square is x. ) Since 10 is greater than 9. , the best answer is (B). It is important not to confuse this question with a comparison of 9. 8 and x where x2 100. The latter comparison would yield (D) as the correct answer because x2 100 implies

that either x 10 or x 10, and there would be no way to determine which value x would actually have. Answer to Question 2 Since ( 6)4 is the product of four negative factors, and the product of an even number of negative numbers is positive, ( 6)4 is positive. Since the product of an odd number of negative numbers is negative, ( 6)5 is negative.Therefore, ( 6)4 is greater than ( 6)5 since any positive number is greater than any negative number. The best answer is (A). It is not necessary to calculate that 7,776 in order to ( 6)4 1,296 and that ( 6)5 make the comparison. Quantitative Comparison Questions Quantitative comparison questions measure your ability to: • reason quickly and accurately about the relative sizes of two quantities • perceive that not enough information is provided to make such a decision Directions* Each of the sample questions consists of two quantities, one in Column A and one in Column B.There may be additional information, centered above the two columns, that concerns one or both of the quantities. A symbol that appears in both columns represents the same thing in Column A as it does in Column B. You are to compare the quantity in Column A with the quantity in Column B and decide whether: (A) The quantity in Column A is greater. (B) The quantity in Column B is greater. (C) The two quantities are equal. (D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given. Note: Since there are only four choices, NEVER MARK (E). ** Sample Questions Column A 1. 2. ( 9. 8 6)4 ( 6)5 Column

BProblem Solving — Discrete Quantitative Questions Discrete quantitative questions measure

• basic mathematical knowledge

• your ability to read, understand, and solve a problem that involves either an actual or an abstract situation Directions* Each of the following questions has ? ve answer choices. For each of these questions, select the best of the answer choices given. * ** 10 The directions are presented as they appear on the actual test. The answer sheet contains ? ve choices for the Verbal and Quantitative sections. Sample Question When walking, a certain person takes 16 complete steps in 10 seconds.At this rate, how many complete steps does the person take in 72 seconds? (A) 45 (B) 78 (C) 86 (D) 90 (E) 115 Strategies for Answering

• Determine what is given and what is being asked.

• Scan all answer choices before answering a question.

• When approximation is required, scan answer choices to determine the degree of approximation.

• Avoid long computations. Use reasoning instead, when possible. Answer 72 seconds represents 7 ten-second intervals plus 2/10 of such an interval. Therefore, the person who takes 16 steps in 10 seconds will take (7. )(16) steps in 72 seconds. (7. 2)(16) (7)(16) (0. 2)(16) 112 3. 2 115. 2 Since the question asks for the number of complete steps, the best answer choice is (E). Sample Question Number of Graduate Student Applicants at University X, 1982–1991 1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 In which of the following years did the number of graduate student applicants increase the most from that of the previous year? (A) 1985 (B) 1986 (C) 1988 (D)

1990 (E) 1991 Strategies for Answering

• Scan the set of data to see what it is about. Try to make visual comparisons and estimate products and quotients rather than perform computations.

• Answer questions only on the basis of data given. Answer This question can be answered directly by visually comparing the heights of the bars in the graph. The greatest increase in height between two adjacent bars occurs for the years 1985 and 1986. The best answer is (B). Problem Solving — Data Interpretation Questions Data interpretation questions measure your ability

• to synthesize information and select appropriate data for answering a question

• to determine that suf? ient information for answering a question is not provided The data interpretation questions usually appear in sets and are based on data presented in tables, graphs, or other diagrams. Directions* Each of the following questions has ? ve answer choices. For each of these questions, select the best of the answer choices given. * The directions are presented as they appear on the actual test. 11 Review of the Analytical Writing Section Overview The Analytical Writing section tests your critical thinking and analytical writing skills.It assesses your ability to articulate and support complex ideas, analyze an argument, and sustain a focused and coherent discussion. It does not assess speci? c content knowledge. The Analytical Writing section consists of two separately-timed analytical writing tasks:

• a 45-minute “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” task

• a 30-minute “Analyze an Argument” task You will be given a choice between two Issue topics. Each states an opinion on an issue of broad interest and asks you to discuss the issue from any perspective(s) you

wish, as long as you provide relevant reasons and examples to explain and support your views.You will not have a choice of Argument topics. The Argument task presents a different challenge from that of the Issue task: it requires you to critique a given argument by discussing how well reasoned you ? nd it. You will need to consider the logical soundness of the argument rather than to agree or disagree with the position it presents. The two tasks are complementary in that one requires you to construct your own argument by taking a position and providing evidence supporting your views on the issue, whereas the other requires you to critique someone else’s argument by assessing its claims and evaluating the evidence it provides. rganization or poor organization, for example, will be part of the readers’ overall impression of the response and will therefore contribute to the score, but organization, as a distinct feature, has no speci? c weight. In general, GRE readers are college and university faculty experienced in teaching courses in which writing and critical thinking skills are important. All GRE readers have undergone careful training, passed stringent GRE qualifying tests, and demonstrated that they are able to maintain scoring accuracy.To ensure fairness and objectivity in scoring

• responses are randomly distributed to the readers

• all identifying information about the test takers is concealed from the readers

• each response is scored by two readers

• readers do not know what other scores a response may have received

• the scoring procedure requires that each response receive identical or adjacent scores from two readers; any other score combination is adjudicated by a third GRE reader The scores

given for the two tasks are then averaged for a ? nal reported score.The score level descriptions, presented in Appendix A on page 53, provide information on how to interpret the total score on the Analytical Writing section. The primary emphasis in scoring the Analytical Writing section is on critical thinking and analytical writing skills. Your essay responses on the Analytical Writing section will be reviewed by ETS® essay-similaritydetection software and by experienced essay readers during the scoring process. In light of the high value placed on independent intellectual activity within United States raduate schools and universities, ETS reserves the right to cancel test scores of any test taker when there is substantial evidence that an essay response includes, but is not limited to, any of the following:

• text that is similar to that found in one or more other GRE essay responses;

• quoting or paraphrasing, without attribution, language that appears in published or unpublished sources; •

unacknowledged use of work that has been produced through collaboration with others without citation of the contribution of others;

• essays that are submitted as work of the examinee when the words have, in fact, been borrowed from elsewhere or prepared by another person. How the Analytical Writing Section is Scored Each response is holistically scored on a 6-point scale according to the criteria published in the GRE analytical writing scoring guides (see Appendix A on pages 51–52). Holistic scoring means that each response is judged as a whole: readers do not separate the response into component parts and award a certain number of points for a particular criterion or element such as ideas, organization, sentence structure, or language. Instead,

readers assign scores based on the overall quality of the response, considering all of its characteristics in an integrated way. Excellent 12When one or more of these circumstances occurs, your essay text, in ETS’s professional judgement, does not re? ect the independent, analytical writing skills that this test seeks to measure. Therefore, ETS must cancel the essay score as invalid and cannot report the GRE General Test scores of which the essay score is an indispensable part. Test takers whose scores are canceled will forfeit their test fees and must pay to take the entire GRE General Test again at a future administration. No record of score cancellations, or the reason for cancellation, will appear on their future score reports sent to colleges and universities. correct position to take.Instead, the readers are evaluating the skill with which you articulate and develop an argument to support your position on the issue. Understanding the Context for Writing: Purpose and Audience 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 perspective on an issue and to effectively communicate that argument in writing to an academic audience. Your audience consists of college and university faculty who are trained as GRE readers to apply the scoring criteria identi? ed in the scoring guide for “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” (see page 51).To get a clearer idea of how GRE readers apply the Issue scoring criteria to actual responses, you should review scored sample Issue essay responses and readers’ commentaries. The sample responses, particularly at the 5 and

6 score levels, will show you a variety of successful strategies for organizing, developing, and communicating a persuasive argument. The readers’ commentaries discuss speci? c aspects of analysis and writing, such as the use of examples, development and support, organization, language ? uency, 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 Because the Issue task is meant to assess the persuasive writing skills that you have 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 that you might ? nd 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 speci? c critical thinking or writing terms or strategies; instead, you should be able to use reasons, evidence, and examples to support your position on an issue. Suppose, for instance, that an Issue topic asks you to consider whether it is important for government to provide ? nancial support for art museums.If your position is that government should fund art museums, you might support your position by discussing the reasons art is important and explain that museums are public Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task The “Present Your Perspective on 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 topic, presented

in quotation marks, makes a claim about an issue that test takers can discuss from various perspectives and apply to many different situations or conditions. Your task is to present a compelling case for your own position on the issue.Be sure to read the claim carefully and think about it from several points of view, considering the complexity of ideas associated with those perspectives. Then, make notes about the position you want to develop and list the main reasons and examples that you could use to support that position. The Issue task allows considerable latitude in the way you respond to the claim. Although it is important that you address the central issue, you are free to take any approach you wish. For example, you might

• agree absolutely with the claim, disagree completely, or agree with some parts and not others

• question the assumptions the statement seems to be making

• qualify any of its terms, especially if the way you de? e or apply a term is important to developing your perspective on the issue

• point out why the claim is valid in some situations but not in others

• evaluate points of view that contrast with your own perspective

• develop your position with reasons that are supported by several relevant examples or by a single extended example The GRE readers scoring your response are not looking for a “right” answer—in fact, there is no 13 places where art is available to anyone. On the other hand, if your position is that government should not support museums, you might point out that, given limited governmental funds, art museums are not as deserving of governmental funding as

are other, more socially important, institutions.Or, if you are in favor of government funding for art museums only under certain conditions, you might focus on the artistic criteria, cultural concerns, or political conditions that you think should determine how—or whether—art museums receive government funds. It is not your position that matters so much as the critical thinking skills you display in developing your position. An excellent way to prepare for the Issue task is to practice writing on some of the published topics. There is no “best” approach: some people prefer to start practicing without regard to the 45-minute time limit; others prefer to take a “timed test” ? rst and practice within the time limit.No matter which approach you take when you practice the Issue task, you should review the task directions, then

• carefully read the claim made in the topic and make sure you understand the issue involved; if it seems unclear, discuss it with a friend or teacher

• think about the issue 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 on the issue you want to take and defend—remember you are free to agree or disagree completely or to agree with some parts or some applications but not others

• 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. Therefore, you might

? d it helpful to explore the complexity of a claim in one of the topics by asking yourself the following questions:

• What, precisely, is the central issue?

• Do I agree with all or with 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 have decided on a position to defend, consider the perspective 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? To plan your response, you might want to summarize your position and make brief notes about how you will support the position you’re going to take. When you’ve done this, look over your notes and decide how you will organize your response. Then write a response developing your position on the issue. Even if you don’t write a full response, you should ? nd it helpful to practice with a few of the Issue topics and to sketch out your possible responses.After you have practiced with some of the topics, try writing responses to some of the topics within the 45-minute time limit so that you have a good

idea of how to use your time in the actual test. Next, compare your response to the scoring guide. Focus on seeing how your paper meets or misses the performance standards and what you therefore need to do in order to improve. Deciding Which Issue Topic to Choose Remember that the General Test will contain two Issue topics from the published pool; you must choose one of these two. Because the 45-minute timing begins when you ? rst see the two topics, you should not spend too much time making a decision.Instead, try to choose fairly quickly the issue that you feel better prepared to discuss. Before making a choice, read each topic carefully. Then decide on which topic you could develop a more effective and well-reasoned argument. In making this decision, you might ask yourself:

• Which topic do I ? nd more interesting or engaging?

• Which topic more closely relates to my own academic studies or other experiences? 14

• On which topic can I more clearly explain and defend my perspective?

• On which topic can I more readily think of strong reasons and examples to support my position? Your answers to these questions should help you make your choice.The Form of Your Response You are free to organize and develop your response in any way that you think will effectively communicate your ideas about the issue. Your response may, but need not, incorporate particular writing strategies learned in English composition or writing-intensive college courses. GRE readers will not be looking for a particular developmental strategy or mode of writing; in fact, when GRE readers 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. Readers will see, for example, some Issue responses at the 6 score level that begin by brie? y summarizing the writer’s position on the issue and then explicitly announcing the main points to be argued.They will see others that lead into the writer’s position by making a prediction, asking a series of questions, describing a scenario, or de? ning critical terms in the quotation.

The readers know that a writer can earn a high score by giving multiple examples or by presenting a single, extended example. Look at the sample Issue responses, particularly at the 5 and 6 score levels, to see how other writers have successfully developed and organized their arguments. You should use as many or as few paragraphs as you consider appropriate for your argument—for example, you will probably need to create a new paragraph whenever your discussion shifts to a new cluster of ideas.What matters is not the number of examples, the number of paragraphs, or the form your argument takes but, rather, the cogency of your ideas about the issue and the clarity and skill with which you communicate those ideas to academic readers. Directions* Present your perspective on the issue below, using relevant reasons and/or examples to support your views. Sample Topic “In our time, specialists of all kinds are highly overrated. We need more generalists—people who can provide broad perspectives. ” * Strategies for this Topic This claim raises several related questions: What does it mean to be a generalist or a specialist, and what value do they have for society?Does society actually need

more generalists, and are specialists, in fact, “highly overrated”? There are several basic positions you could take on this issue: Yes, society needs more generalists and places too high a value on specialists. No, the opposite is true. Or, it depends on various factors. Or, both groups are important in today’s culture; neither is overvalued. Your analysis might draw examples from a particular society or country, from one or more areas of society, or from various situations. It might focus on the role of generalists and specialists in relation to communications, transportation, politics, information, or technology.Any of these approaches is valid, as long as you use relevant reasons and examples to support your position. Before you stake out a position, take a few moments to reread the claim. To analyze it, consider questions such as these:

• What are the main differences between specialists and generalists? What are the strong points of each?

• Do these differences always hold in various professions or situations? Could there be some specialists, for example, who also need to have very broad knowledge and general abilities to perform their work well?

• How do generalists and specialists function in your ? eld?

• What value do you think society places on specialists and generalists?Are specialists overvalued in some situations, and not in others?

• Does society really need more generalists than it has? If so, what needs would they serve? Now you can organize your thoughts into two groups:

• Reasons and examples to support the claim

• Reasons and examples to support an opposing point of view If you ? nd one view clearly more persuasive than the other, consider developing an argument from that

perspective. As you build your argument, keep in mind the other points, which you could argue against. If both groups have compelling points, consider developing a position supporting, not the stated claim, but a more limited or more complex claim.The directions are presented as they appear on the actual test. 15 Then you can use reasons and examples from both sides to justify your position. Essay Response* – Score 6 In this era of rapid social and technological change leading to increasing life complexity and psychological displacement, both positive and negative effects among persons in Western society call for a balance in which there are both specialists and generalists. Specialists are necessary in order to allow society as a whole to properly and usefully assimilate the masses of new information and knowledge that have come out of research and have been widely disseminated through mass global media.As the head of Pharmacology at my university once said (and I paraphrase): “I can only research what I do because there are so many who have come before me to whom I can turn for basic knowledge. It is only because of each of the narrowly focussed individuals at each step that a full and true understanding of the complexities of life can be had. Each person can only hold enough knowledge to add one small rung to the ladder, but together we can climb to the moon. ” This illustrates the point that our societies level of knowledge and technology is at a stage in which there simply must be specialists in order for our society to take advantage of the information available to us.Simply put,

without specialists, our society would ? nd itself bogged down in the Sargasso sea of information overload.

While it was ne for early physicists to learn and understand the few laws and ideas that existed during their times, now, no one individual can possibly digest and assimilate all of the knowledge in any given area. On the other hand, Over specialization means narrow focii in which people can lose the larger picture. No one can hope to understand the human body by only inspecting one’s own toe-nails. What we learn from a narrow focus may be internally logically coherent but may be irrelevant or fallacious within the framework of a broader perspective.Further, if we inspect only our toe-nails, we may conclude that the whole body is hard and white. Useful conclusions and thus perhaps useful inventions must come by sharing among specialists. Simply throwing out various discovieries means we have a pile of useless discoveries, it is only when one can make with them a mosaic that we can see that they may form a picture. * Not only may over-specialization be dangerous in terms of the truth, purity and cohesion of knowledge, but it can also serve to drown moral or universall issues. Generalists and only generalists can see a broad enough picture to realize and introduce to the world the problems of the environment.With specialization, each person focusses on their research and their goals. Thus, industrialization, expansion, and new technologies are driven ahead. Meanwhile no individual can see the wholisitc view of our global existence in which true advancement may mean sti? ing individual specialists for the greater good of all. Finally, over-specialization in

a people’s daily lives and jobs has meant personal and psychological compartmentalization. People are forced into pigeon holes early in life (at least by university) and must conciously attempt to consume external forms of stimuli and information in order not to be lost in their small and isolated universe.Not only does this make for narrowly focussed and generally pooprlyeducated individuals, but it guarantees a sense of loss of community, often followed by a feeling of psychological displacement and personal dissatisfaction.

Without generalists, society becomes inwardlooking and eventually inef? cient. Without a society that recongnizes the impotance of braod-mindedness and fora for sharing generalities, individuals become isolated. Thus, while our form of society necessitates specialists, generalists are equally important. Specialists drive us forward in a series of thrusts while generalists make sure we are still on the jousting ? eld and know what the stakes are. Reader Commentary for Essay Response – Score 6 This is an outstanding analysis of the issue—insightful, well reasoned, and highly effective in its use of language. The introductory paragraph nnounces the writer’s position on the issue and provides the context within which the writer will develop that position: “In this era of rapid social and technological change leading to increasing life complexity and psychological displacement . . . .” The argument itself has two parts. The ? rst part presents a compelling case for specialization, primarily in the ? eld of medicine. The second part presents an equally compelling, well-organized case against overspecialization based on three main reasons:

• logical (narrowly trained specialists often fail to understand the whole) All responses in this publication are reproduced exactly as written, including errors, misspellings,

etc. , if any. 16 moral (usually generalists understand what is needed for “the greater good”)

• personal (specializing/pigeonholing too early can be psychologically damaging)

The argument’s careful line of reasoning is further strengthened by the skillful use of expert testimony (quotation from a prominent medical researcher) and vivid metaphor (to inspect only one’s toenails is to ignore the whole body). It is not only the reasoning that distinguishes this response. The language is precise and often ? gurative (“bogged down in a Sargasso sea of information overload,” “a pile of useless discoveries,” and “specialists drive us forward in a series of thrusts, while generalists make sure we are still on the jousting ? eld”).The reader is constantly guided through the argument by transitional phrases and ideas that help organize the ideas and move the argument forward. This is an exceptionally ? ne response to the topic. Essay Response – Score 5 Specialists are not overrated today. More generalists may be needed, but not to overshadow the specialists. Generalists can provide a great deal of information on many topics of interest with a broad range of ideas. People who look at the overall view of things can help with some of the large problems our society faces today. But specialists are necessary to gain a better understanding of more in depth methods to solve problems or ? xing things. One good example of why specialists are not overrated is in the medical ? eld.Doctors are necessary for people to live healthy lives.

When a person is sick, he may go to a general practitioner to ? nd out the cause of his problems. Usually, this kind of “generalized”

doctor can help most ailments with simple and effective treatments. Sometimes, though, a sickness may go beyond a family doctor’s knowledge or the prescribed treatments don’t work the way they should. When a sickness progresses or becomes diagnosed as a disease that requires more care than a family doctor can provide, he may be referred to a specialist. For instance, a person with constant breathing problems that require hospitalization may be suggested to visit an asthma specialist.Since a family doctor has a great deal of knowledge of medicine, he can decide when his methods are not effective and the patient needs to see someone who knows more about the speci? c problem; someone who knows how it begins, progresses, and speci? ed treat- ments. This is an excellent example of how a generalied person may not be equipped enough to handle something as well as a specialized one can. Another example of a specialist who is needed instead of a generalist involves teaching. In grammar school, children learn all the basic principles of reading, writing, and arithematic. But as children get older and progress in school, they gain a better understanding of the language and mathematical processes. As the years in school increase, they need to learn more and more speci? cs and details about various subjects.They start out by learning basic math concepts such as addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. A few years later, they are ready to begin algebraic concepts, geometry, and calculus. They are also ready to learn more advanced vocabulary, the principles of how all life is composed and how it functions. One teacher or professor can not provide as much

in depth discussion on all of these topics as well as one who has learned the speci? cs and studied mainly to know everything that is currently known about one of these subjects.

Generalized teachers are required to begin molding students at a very early age so they can get ready for the future ahead of them in gaining more facts about the basic subjects and ? ding out new facts on the old ones. These are only two examples of why specialists are not highly overrated and more generalists are not necessary to the point of overshadowing them. Generalists are needed to give the public a broad understanding of some things. But , specialists are important to help maintain the status, health, and safety of our society. Specialists are very necessary. Reader Commentary for Essay Response – Score 5 This writer presents a well-developed analysis of the complexities of the issue by discussing the need for both the generalist and the specialist. The argument is rooted in two extended examples, both well chosen. The ? st (paragraph 2) begins with a discussion of the necessity for medical generalists (the general practitioner) as well as specialists and moves into an example within the example (breathing problems and the need for an asthma specialist). This extension from the general to the speci? c characterizes the example in the next paragraph as well. There, the discussion centers on education from elementary to high school, from basic arithmetic to calculus. 17 The smooth development is aided by the use of appropriate transitions: “but,” “usually,” and “for instance,” among others. The essay ends by revisiting the writer’s thesis. While the

writer handles language and syntax well, several lapses in clarity keep this otherwise wellargued response out of the 6 category.

The problems vary from the lack of a pronoun referent (“When a sickness progresses or becomes diagnosed, . . . he may be referred to a specialist”) to an error in parallel structure (“how it begins, progresses and speci? ed treatments”), to loose syntax and imprecise language (“Generalized teachers are required to begin molding students at a very early age so they can get ready for the future ahead of them in gaining more facts about the basic subjects. ”) Essay Response – Score 4 Specialists are just what their name says: people who specialize in one part of a very general scheme of things. A person can’t know everything there is to know about everything. This is why specialists are helpful.You can take one general concept and divide it up three ways and have three fully developed different concepts instead of one general concept that no one really knows about. Isn’t it better to really know something well, than to know everything half-way. Take a special ed teacher compared to a general ed teacher. The general ed teacher knows how to deal with most students. She knows how to teach a subject to a student that is on a normal level. But what would happen to the child in the back of the room with dyslexia? She would be so lost in that general ed classroom that she would not only not learn, but be frustrated and quite possibly, have low self-esteem and hate school.If there is a special ed teacher there who specializes in

children with learning disabilities, she can teach the general ed teacher how to cope with this student as well as modify the curriculum so that the student can learn along with the others. The special ed teacher can also take that child for a few hours each day and work with her on her reading dif? culty one-on-one, which a general ed teacher never would have time to do. A general ed teacher can’t know what a special ed teacher knows and a special ed teacher can’t know what a general ed teacher knows. But the two of them working together and specializing in their own things can really get a lot more accomplished. The special ed teacher is also trained to work on the child’s self-esteem, which has a big part in how successful this child will be. Every child in the United States of America has the right to an equal education.How can a child with a learning disability receive the same equal education as a general ed student if there was no specialist there to help both teacher and child? Another thing to consider is how a committee is supposed to work together. Each person has a special task to accomplish and when these people all come together, with their tasks ? nished, every aspect of the community’s work is completely covered. Nothing is left undone. In this case there are many different specialists to meet the general goal of the committee. When you take into account that a specialist contributes only a small part of the generalist aspect, it seems ridiculous to say that specialists are overrated. The generalists looks to

the specialists any time they need help or clari? cation on their broad aspect.Specialists and generalists are part of the same system, so if a specialist is overrated, then so is a generalist. Reader Commentary for Essay Response – Score 4 This is an adequate analysis of the issue. After a somewhat confusing attempt to de? ne “specialists” in the introductory paragraph, the writer presents a pertinent example (the special education teacher) to illustrate the importance of specialists. The example dominates the response and contributes positively to the overall score of 4. The second example, how a committee works, is less persuasive.

However, it does seem to help clarify the writer’s de? nition of “general” as an umbrella term meaning the total collection of what specialists know about a topic.Although the writer’s views about the relationship between “generalist” and “specialist” are unusual, they do become clear in the conclusion of the essay. Yet, these ideas are not developed in suf? cient depth or with enough logical control to earn a score higher than 4. The writing is generally error free. There are few problems in sentence structure, grammar, and usage, although the phrasing is at times imprecise and wordy. Overall, this response displays clearly adequate control of the elements of written English. Essay Response – Score 3 To quote the saying, “Jack of all trades, master of none,” would be my position on the statement. I feel specialists 18 in all areas of knowledge lead to a higher standard of living for everyone.Specializing in different areas allows us to use each others talents to the highest level and maximize potential. As an example, if a person

required brain surgery, would they rather have a brain surgeon or a general practitioner doing the work? Clearly a specialist would do the better job and give the patient a chance at a better life. A university education starts by laying the groundwork for general knowledge but then narrows down to a speci? c ? eld. General knowledge and a broad prospective are important, but if there was no focus on speci? c areas, our overall knowledge as a population would be seriously lessened. Another example of specialists not being overated would be international trade. Not every nation can provide for themselves.They need to get products and ideas from other parts of the world because they are better at providing them. This allows for a growing economy if two different nations can provide each other with two different products. If one country can produce oranges better than another, it should trade the oranges for the ? sh that it can not produce. If generalizing was the normal thing to do and both countries tried to produce all kinds of products, the countries would probably survive, but not have the standard of living they presently have. Reader Commentary for Essay Response – Score 3 The writer’s position is clear: specialists are important and necessary. However, the position is not adequately supported with reasons or logical examples.Paragraph 1 presents an appropriate example of the brain surgeon versus the general practitioner.

However, the example of an increasingly narrow university education in paragraph 2, contains only two sentences and is seriously undeveloped. It does little to advance the writer’s position. Paragraph 3 offers yet another example, the most developed of

all. Unfortunately, this example is not clearly logical. The writer tries to argue that the “specialist” country (one that is a better producer of oranges) is superior to the “generalist” country (presumably one that produces oranges as well as other products). This generalist country, the writer tells us, would be inferior to the other.This conclusion does not emerge logically from the writer’s argument, and it seems to be at odds with everyday reality. Although language is used with some imprecision throughout the essay, the writer’s meaning is not obscured. The main reasons for the score of 3 are the lack of suf? cient development and inappropriate use of examples. Essay Response – Score 2 In the situation of health I feel that specialists are very important. For example if a person has heart problems, choose a heart specialist over a genral medicine Dr. However if a person is having a wide range of syptoms, perhaps choose a Dr. with a wide range of experience might be more helpful. It also depends on the type of problem you are having.For example I would not suggest taking a troubled child to a theorpist who specializes in marriage problems. In some cases have a specialists helps to insure that you are getting the best possibly treatment. On the other hand dealing with a person who has a wide range of experience may be able to ? nd different ways of dealing with a particular problem. Since the quotation did not state exactely what type of specialist we are dealing with it is also hard to determine the importance of having a specialist is.

For example the could be health

or problems with a car, or basically anything else. I feel that this information should not have been left out. I guess the bottom line is that I feel sometimes a specialist is very important.Reader Commentary for Essay Response – Score 2 This is a seriously ? awed analysis of the issue. The response argues in favor of specialists, but neither the reasons nor the examples are persuasive. The example of not taking “a troubled child to see a therapist who specializes in marriage problems” is both simplistic and off the mark since it differentiates between two specialists, not between a generalist and a specialist. The sentences are so poorly formed and phrased that the argument is at times hard to follow. Nevertheless, this is not a 1 essay: the writer presents a position on the issue, develops that position with some very weak analysis, and communicates some ideas clearly.Essay Response – Score 1 I disagree with the statement about specialists, we need specialists who take individual areas and specialize. A generalists can pinpoint a problem. He or she cannot determine the magnitude of the problem. A specialist can ? nd the root of the problem. When he or she has years working in that 19 speci? c ? eld. For example, when i got sick i went to a doctor. He did blood work, x-ray, talk to me, ect. He prescribed me a medicine. I got worst. So i decided to go another doctor. Now, i am doing great. A specialist knows the facts right away. Otherwise, it will take longer or not at all. Reader Commentary for Essay Response – Score 1 This

response presents a fundamentally de? cient discussion of the issue. The ? st sentence states the writer’s position in support of specialists, but that position is not followed by a coherent argument.

Some of the ideas seem contradictory (e. g. , “generalists can pinpoint a problem”) and the example is confusing. If the essay explained that the ? rst (unsuccessful) doctor was a generalist and the second (successful) doctor was a specialist, the example would be useful. However, as written, the example is unclear and even misleading. The concluding statement only adds to the confusion. Since most of the sentences are short and choppy, the ideas they try to communicate are also choppy. The writer needs to provide transitional phrases and ideas to bring logical cohesion to this response.Also, basic errors in usage and grammar are pervasive, but it is primarily the lack of a coherent argument that makes this response a 1. Analyze an Argument Task The “Analyze an Argument” task assesses your ability to understand, analyze, and evaluate arguments and to clearly convey your analysis in writing. The task consists of a brief passage in which the author makes a case for some course of action or interpretation of events by presenting claims backed by reasons and evidence. Your task is to discuss the logical soundness of the author’s case by critically examining the line of reasoning and the use of evidence. This task requires you to read the argument very carefully.You might want to read it more than once and possibly make brief notes about points you want to develop more fully in your response. In reading the argument, you should pay special

attention to

• what is offered as evidence, support, or proof

• what is explicitly stated, claimed, or concluded

• what is assumed or supposed, perhaps without justi? cation or proof

• what is not stated, but necessarily follows from what is stated In addition, you should consider the structure of the argument—the way in which these elements are linked together to form a line of reasoning; that is, you should recognize the separate, sometimes implicit steps in the thinking process and consider whether the movement from each one to the next is logically sound.In tracing this line, look for transition words and phrases that suggest that the author is attempting to make a logical connection (e. g. , however, thus, therefore, evidently, hence, in conclusion). An important part of performing well on the Argument task is remembering what you are not being asked to do. You are not being asked to discuss whether the statements in the argument are true or accurate; instead, you are being asked whether conclusions and inferences are validly drawn from the statements. You are not being asked to agree or disagree with the position stated; instead, you are being asked to comment on the thinking that underlies the position stated.You are not being asked to express your own views on the subject being discussed (as you were in the Issue task); instead, you are being asked to evaluate the logical soundness of an argument of another writer and, in doing so, to demonstrate the critical thinking, perceptive reading, and analytical writing skills that university faculty consider important for success in graduate school. “Analyze an Argument” is primarily a critical thinking task requiring a

written response.

Consequently, the analytical skills displayed in your critique carry great weight in determining your score. Understanding the Context for Writing: Purpose and Audience The purpose of the task is to see how well equipped you are to insightfully analyze an argument written by someone else and to effectively communicate your critique in writing to an academic audience. Your audience consists of college and university faculty who are trained as GRE readers to apply the scoring criteria identi? d in the scoring guide for the “Analyze an Argument” task (see page 52). To get a clearer idea of how GRE readers apply the Argument scoring criteria to actual essays, you should review scored sample Argument essay responses and readers’ commentaries. The sample responses, particularly at the 5 and 6 score levels, will show you a variety of successful strategies for organizing and developing an insightful critique. You will also see many examples of particularly effective uses of 20 language. The readers’ commentaries discuss speci? c aspects of analytical writing, such as cogency of ideas, development and support, organization, syntactic variety, and facility with language.These commentaries will point out aspects that are particularly effective and insightful as well as any that detract from the overall effectiveness of the responses. Preparing for the Argument Task Because the Argument task is meant to assess analytical writing and informal reasoning skills that you have developed throughout your education, it has been designed so as not to require any speci? c course of study or to advantage students with a particular type of training. Many college textbooks on rhetoric and composition have sections on informal logic and critical thinking that

might prove helpful, but even these might be more detailed and technical than the task requires. You will not be expected to know methods of analysis or technical terms.For instance, in one topic an elementary school principal might conclude that the new playground equipment has improved student attendance because absentee rates have declined since it was installed.

You will not need to see that the principal has committed the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy; you will simply need to see that there are other possible explanations for the improved attendance, to offer some common-sense examples, and perhaps to suggest what would be necessary to verify the conclusion. For instance, absentee rates might have decreased because the climate was mild. This would have to be ruled out in order for the principal’s conclusion to be valid.Although you do not need to know special analytical techniques and terminology, you should be familiar with the directions for the Argument task in the Practice Tests and with certain key concepts, including the following: • alternative explanation—a possible competing version of what might have caused the events in question; an alternative explanation undercuts or quali? es the original explanation because it too can account for the observed facts • analysis—the process of breaking something (e. g. , an argument) down into its component parts in order to understand how they work together to make up the whole; also a presentation, usually in writing, of the results of this process argument—a claim or a set of claims with reasons and evidence offered as support; a line of reasoning meant to demonstrate the truth or falsehood of something

• assumption—a belief, often unstated

or unexamined, that someone must hold in order to maintain a particular position; something that is taken for granted but that must be true in order for the conclusion to be true

• conclusion—the end point reached by a line of reasoning, valid if the reasoning is sound; the resulting assertion

• counterexample—an example, real or hypothetical, that refutes or disproves a statement in the argument An excellent way to prepare for the “Analyze an Argument” topic is to practice writing on some of the published Argument topics. There is no one way to practice that is best for everyone. Some prefer to start practicing without adhering to the 30-minute time limit. If you follow this approach, take all the time you need to analyze the argument.No matter which approach you take, you should

• carefully read the argument—you might want to read it over more than once

• identify as many of its claims, conclusions, and underlying assumptions as possible

• think of as many alternative explanations and counterexamples as you can

• think of what additional evidence might weaken or lend support to the claims

• ask yourself what changes in the argument would make the reasoning more sound Jot down each of these thoughts as a brief note. When you’ve gone as far as you can with your analysis, look over the notes and put them in a good order for discussion (perhaps by numbering them). Then write a critique by fully developing each of your points in turn. Even if you choose not to write a full essay response, you should ? d it very helpful to practice analyzing a few of the arguments and sketching out your

responses. When you become quicker and more con? dent, you should practice writing some Argument responses within the 30-minute time limit so that you will have a good sense of how to pace yourself in the actual test. For example, you will not want to discuss one point so exhaustively or to provide so many equivalent examples that you run out of time to make your other main points. 21 Next, compare your response(s) to the scoring guide. Focus on seeing how your paper meets or misses the performance standards and what you therefore need to do in order to improve.How to Interpret Numbers, Percentages, and Statistics in Argument Topics Some arguments contain numbers, percentages, or statistics that are offered as evidence in support of the argument’s conclusion. For example, an argument might claim that a certain community event is less popular this year than it was last year because only 100 people attended this year in comparison with 150 last year, a 33 percent decline in attendance. It is important to remember that you are not being asked to do a mathematical task with the numbers, percentages, or statistics. Instead you should evaluate these as evidence that is intended to support the conclusion. In the example above, the conclusion is that a community event has become less popular. You should ask yourself: does the difference between 100 people and 150 people support that conclusion?Note that, in this case, there are other possible explanations; for example, the weather might have been much worse this year, this year’s event might have been held at an inconvenient time, the cost of the event might have gone up

this year, or there might have been another popular event this year at the same time.

Each of these could explain the difference in attendance, and thus would weaken the conclusion that the event was “less popular. ” Similarly, percentages might support or weaken a conclusion depending on what actual numbers the percentages represent. Consider the claim that the drama club at a school deserves more funding because its membership has increased by 100 percent. This 100 percent increase could be signi? cant if there had been 100 members and now there are 200 members, whereas the increase would be much less signi? cant if there had been 5 members and now there are 10.Remember that any numbers, percentages, or statistics in Argument topics are used only as evidence in support of a conclusion, and you should always consider whether they actually support the conclusion. The Form of Your Response You are free to organize and develop your critique in any way that you think will effectively communicate your analysis of the argument. Your response may, * but need not, incorporate particular writing strategies learned in English composition or writing-intensive college courses. GRE readers will not be looking for a particular developmental strategy or mode of writing. In fact, when faculty are trained to be GRE readers, they review hundreds of Argument responses that, although highly diverse in content and form, display similar levels of critical thinking and analytical writing.Readers will see, for example, some essays at the 6 score level that begin by brie? y summarizing the argument and then explicitly stating and developing the main points of the critique. The readers know that a

writer can earn a high score by analyzing and developing several points in a critique or by identifying a central ? aw in the argument and developing that critique extensively. You might want to look at the sample Argument responses, particularly at the 5 and 6 score levels, to see how other writers have successfully developed and organized their critiques. You should make choices about format and organization that you think support and enhance the overall effectiveness of your critique.

This means using as many or as few paragraphs as you consider appropriate for your critique—for example, creating a new paragraph when your discussion shifts to a new point of analysis. You might want to organize your critique around the organization of the argument itself, discussing the argument line by line. Or you might want to ? rst point out a central questionable assumption and then move on to discuss related ? aws in the argument’s line of reasoning. Similarly, you might want to use examples if they help illustrate an important point in your critique or move your discussion forward (remember, however, that in terms of your ability to perform the Argument task effectively, it is your critical thinking and analytical writing, not your ability to come up with examples, that is being assessed).What matters is not the form the response takes, but how insightfully you analyze the argument and how articulately you communicate your analysis to academic readers within the context of the task. Directions* Discuss how well reasoned you ? nd this argument. Sample Topic “Hospital statistics regarding people who go to the emergency room after roller skating accidents indicate the need for

more protective equipment. Within The directions are presented as they appear on the actual test. 22 this group of people, 75 percent of those who had accidents in streets or parking lots were not wearing any protective clothing (helmets, knee pads, etc. ) or any light-re? cting material (clip-on lights, glow-inthe-dark wrist pads, etc. ). Clearly, these statistics indicate that by investing in high-quality protective gear and re? ective equipment, roller skaters will greatly reduce their risk of being severely injured in an accident. ” Strategies for this Topic This argument cites a particular hospital statistic to support the general conclusion that “investing in high-quality protective gear and re? ective equipment” will reduce the risk of being severely injured in a roller skating accident. In developing your analysis, you should ask yourself whether the hospital statistic actually supports the conclusion.You might want to ask yourself such questions as:

• What percentage of all roller skaters goes to the emergency room after roller skating accidents?

• Are the people who go to the emergency room after roller skating accidents representative of roller skaters in general?

• Are there people who are injured in roller skating accidents who do not go to the emergency room?

• Were the roller skaters who went to the emergency room severely injured?

• Were the 25 percent of roller skaters who were wearing protective gear injured just as severely as the 75 percent who were not wearing the gear?

• Are streets and parking lots inherently more dangerous for roller skating than other places? Would mid-quality gear and equipment be just as effective as high-quality gear and equipment in reducing the risk of severe injury while roller

skating?

• Are there factors other than gear and equipment—e. g. , weather conditions, visibility, skill of the skaters—that might be more closely correlated with the risk of roller skating injuries? Considering possible answers to questions such as these will help you identify assumptions, alternative explanations, and weaknesses that you can develop in your critique of the argument. * Essay Response* – Score 6 The notion that protective gear reduces the injuries suffered in accidents seems at ? rst glance to be an obvious conclusion. After all, it is the intent of these products to either provent accidents from occuring in the ? st place or to reduce the injuries suffered by the wearer should an accident occur. However, the conclusion that investing in high quality protective gear greatly reduces the risk of being severely injured in an accident may mask other (and potentially more signi? cant) causes of injuries and may inspire people to over invest ? nancially and psychologically in protective gear. First of all, as mentioned in the argument, there are two distinct kinds of gear—preventative gear (such as light re? ecting material) and protective gear (such as helmets). Preventative gear is intended to warn others, presumably for the most part motorists, of the presence of the roller skater.It works only if the “other” is a responsible and caring individual who will afford the skater the necessary space and attention. Protective gear is intended to reduce the effect of any accident, whether it is caused by an other, the skater or some force of nature. Protective gear does little, if anything, to prevent accidents but is presumed to reduce the injuries that occur

in an accident.

The statistics on injuries suffered by skaters would be more interesting if the skaters were grouped into those wearing no gear at all, those wearing protective gear only, those wearing preventative gear only and those wearing both. These statistics could provide skaters with a clearer understanding of which kinds of gear are more bene? cial.The argument above is weakened by the fact that it does not take into account the inherent differences between skaters who wear gear and those who do not. If is at least likely that those who wear gear may be generally more responsible and/or safety conscious individuals. The skaters who wear gear may be less likely to cause accidents through careless or dangerous behavior. It may, in fact, be their natural caution and repsonsibility that keeps them out of the emergency room rather than the gear itself. Also, the statistic above is based entirely on those who are skating in streets and parking lots which are relatively dangerous places to skate in the ? rst place.People who are generally more safety conscious (and therefore more likely to wear gear) may choose to skate in safer areas such as parks or back yards. All responses in this publication are reproduced exactly as written, including errors, misspellings, etc. , if any. 23 The statistic also goes not differentiate between severity of injuries. The conclusion that safety gear prevents severe injuries suggests that it is presumed that people come to the emergency room only with severe injuries. This is certainly not the case. Also, given that skating is a recreational activity that may be primarily engaged in during evenings and weekends (when

doctors’ of? es are closed), skater with less severe injuries may be especially likely to come to the emergency room for treatment.

Finally, there is absolutely no evidence provided that high quality (and presumably more expensive) gear is any more bene? cial than other kinds of gear. For example, a simple white t-shirt may provide the same preventative bene? t as a higher quality, more expensive, shirt designed only for skating. Before skaters are encouraged to invest heavily in gear, a more complete understanding of the bene? t provided by individual pieces of gear would be helpful. The argument for safety gear based on emergency room statistics could provide important information and potentially saves lives.Before conclusions about the amount and kinds of investments that should be made in gear are reached, however, a more complete understanding of the bene? ts are needed. After all, a false con? dence in ineffective gear could be just as dangerous as no gear at all. Reader Commentary for Essay Response – Score 6 This outstanding response demonstrates the writer’s insightful analytical skills. The introduction, which notes that adopting the topic’s fallacious reasoning could “. . . inspire people to over invest ? nancially and psychologically in protective gear,” is followed by a comprehensive examination of each of the argument’s root ? aws. Speci? cally, the writer exposes several points that undermine the argument:

• that preventive and rotective gear are not the same

• that skaters who wear gear may be less prone to accidents because they are, by nature, more responsible and cautious

• that the statistics do not differentiate by the severity of the injuries

• that gear may not need to

be high-quality to be bene? cial The discussion is smoothly and logically organized, and each point is thoroughly and cogently developed. In addition, the writing is succinct, economical, and generally error-free. Sentences are varied and complex, and diction is expressive and precise. In sum, this response exempli? es the very top of the 6 range described in the scoring guide. If the writer had been less eloquent or provided fewer reasons to refute the argument, the paper could still have received a 6. Essay Response – Score 5 The argument presented is limited but useful.It indicates a possible relationship between a high percentage of accidents and a lack of protective equipment. The statistics cited compel a further investigation of the usefulness of protective gear in preventing or mitigating roller-skating related injuries. However, the conclusion that protective gear and re? ective equipment would “greatly reduce. risk of being severely injured” is premature. Data is lacking with reference to the total population of skaters and the relative levels of experience, skill and physical coordination of that population. It is entirely possible that further research would indicate that most serious injury is averted by the skater’s ability to react quickly and skillfully in emergency situations.Another area of investigation necessary before conclusions can be reached is identi? cation of the types of injuries that occur and the various causes of those injuries. The article fails to identify the most prevalent types of roller-skating related injuries. It also fails to correlate the absence of protective gear and re? ective equipment to those injuries. For example, if the majority of injuries are skin abrasions and closed-head injuries, then a case can

be made for the usefulness of protective clothing mentioned. Likewise, if injuries are caused by collision with vehicles (e. g. bicycles, cars) or pedestrians, then light-re? ective equipment might mitigate the occurences.However, if the primary types of injuries are soft-tissue injuries such as torn ligaments and muscles, back injuries and the like, then a greater case could be made for training and experience as preventative measures. Reader Commentary for Essay Response – Score 5 This strong response gets right to the work of critiquing the argument, observing that it “indicates a possible relationship” but that its conclusion “is premature. ” It raises three central questions that, if answered, might undermine the soundness of the argument:

• What are the characteristics of the total population of skaters? 24

• What is the usefulness of protective or re? ective gear in preventing or mitigating roller skatingrelated injuries?

• What are the types of injuries sustained and their causes?The writer develops each of these questions by considering possible answers that would either strengthen or weaken the argument. The paper does not analyze the argument as insightfully or develop the critique as fully as required for a 6 paper, but the clear organization, strong control of language, and substantial degree of development warrant more than a score of 4. Essay Response – Score 4 Although the argument stated above discusses the importance of safety equipment as signi? cant part of avoiding injury, the statistics quoted are vague and inconclusive. Simply because 75 percent of the people involved in roller-skating accidents are not wearing the stated equipment does not automatically implicate the lack of equipment as the cause of injury.The term “accidents” may

imply a great variety of injuries. The types of injuries one could incur by not wearing the types of equipment stated above are minor head injuries; skin abrasions or possibly bone fracture of a select few areas such as knees, elbows, hands, etc. (which are in fact most vulnerable to this sport); and/or injuries due to practising the sport during low light times of the day. During any physically demanding activity or sport people are subjected to a wide variety of injuries which cannot be avoided with protective clothing or lightre? ective materials. These injuries include inner trauma (e. g. , heart-attack); exhaustion; strained muscles, ligaments, or tendons; etc.Perhaps the numbers and percentages of people injured during roller-skating, even without protective equipment, would decrease greatly if people participating in the sport had proper training, good physical health, warm-up properly before beginning (stretching), as well as take other measures to prevent possible injury, such as common-sense, by refraining from performing the activity after proper lighting has ceased and knowing your personal limitations as an individual and athlete. The statistics used in the above reasoning are lacking in proper direction considering their assertions and therefore must be further examined and modi? ed so that proper conclusions can be reached. Reader Commentary for Essay Response – Score 4 This adequate response targets the argument’s vague and inconclusive “statistics. ”

The essay identi? s and critiques the illogical reasoning that results from the misguided use of the argument’s statistics:

• that non-use of equipment may be “automatically” assumed to be the cause of injury

• that “accidents” may refer to minor injuries

• that injuries may result from other causes — skating in

the dark, failure to train or warm-up properly, failure to recognize one’s physical limitations The writer competently grasps the weaknesses of the argument. The ideas are clear and connected, but the response lacks transitional phrases. Development, too, is only adequate. Control of language is better than adequate. The writer achieves both control and clarity and ably conforms to the conventions of written English. Overall, though, this 4 response lacks the more thorough development that would warrant a score of 5. Essay Response – Score 3 The arguement is well presented and supported, but not completely well reasoned. It is clear and concisely written. The content is logically and smoothly presented.Statistics cited are used to develop support for the recommendation, that roller skaters who invest in protective gear and re? ective equipment can reduce their risk of severe, accidental injuries. Examples of the types of protective equipment are described for the reader. Unfortunately, the author of the argement fails to note that merely by purchasing gear and re? ective equipment that the skater will be protected. This is, of course, falacious if the skater fails to use the equipment, or uses it incorrectly or inappropriately. It is also an unnecessary assumption that a skater need purchase high-quality gear for the same degree of effectiveness to be achieved.The argument could be improved by taking these issues into consideration, and making recommendations for education and safety awareness to skaters. Reader Commentary for Essay Response – Score 3 The ? rst half of this generally well-written but limited response merely describes the argument. The second half of the paper identi? es two assumptions of the argument:

• that people who

purchase protective gear will use the gear 25

• that high-quality gear is more effective than other gear These points are suf? cient to constitute some analysis and thus warrant a score of 3. However, neither of these analytic points is developed suf? ciently to merit a score of 4.Essay Response – Score 2 To reduce the accidents from roller skating we should consider about it causes and effects concurrently to ? nd the best solution. Basically the roller-skating players are children, they had less experiences to protect themselves from any kind of dangerous. Therefore, it should be a responsible of adult to take care them. Adult should recommend their child to wear any protective clothing, set the rules and look after them while they are playing. In the past roller-skating is limited in the skate yard but when it became popular people normally play it on the street way) Therefore the number of accidents from roller-skating is increased.The skate manufacturer should have a responsibility in producing a protective clothing. They should promote and sell them together with skates. The government or state should set the regulation of playing skate on the street way like they did with the bicycle. To prevent this kind of accident is the best solution but it needs a coorperation among us to have a concious mind to beware and realize its dangerous. Reader Commentary for Essay Response – Score 2 This seriously ? awed response, rather than critiquing the argument, suggests ways for adults and skate manufacturers to ensure that children wear protective clothing. In essence, the writer is uncritically accepting the argument.The response exhibits serious and frequent problems in

sentence structure and language use. Errors—word choice, verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, punctuation—are numerous and sometimes interfere with meaning, e. g. , “. . . it needs a cooperation among us to have a concious mind to beware and realize its dangerous. ” This essay earns a 2 because it demonstrates both serious linguistic weaknesses and failure to construct a critique based on logical analysis. Essay Response – Score 1 the protective equipment do help to reduce the risk of being severyly injuryed in an accident since there are 75% Of those who had accidents in streets or parking lots were not wearing any protectivel clothing. such as hemlets, kenn pads, etc. r any light-re? ecting materials such as clip-on lights, glow-in-thedark wrist pads ets. if they do have protective eqipment that only a quarter accident may happen, also that can greatly reduce their risk ofbeing severyly injuryed in an accident, that can save some lives and a lot of energy and money for the treatment. the protective equipment do help to reduce the risk of being severyly injuryed in an accident since there are 75% Of those who had accidents in streets or parking lots were not wearing any protectivel clothing. such as hemlets, kenn pads, etc. or any light-re? ecting materials such as clip-on lights, glow-in-the-dark wrist pads ets. f they do have protective eqipment that only a quarter accident may happen, also that can greatly reduce their risk ofbeing severyly injuryed in an accident, that can save some lives and a lot of energy and money for the treatment. the protective equipment do help to reduce the risk of being severyly injuryed in

an accident since there are 75% Of those who had accidents in streets or parking lots were not wearing any protectivel clothing. such as hemlets, kenn pads, etc. or any light-re? ecting materials such as clip-on lights, glow-in-the-dark wrist pads ets. if they do have protective eqipment that only a quarter accident may happen, also that can greatly reduce their risk ofbeing severyly injuryed in an accident, that can save some lives and a lot of energy and money for the treatment.Reader Commentary for Essay Response – Score 1 This fundamentally de? cient response uncritically accepts the reasoning of the topic: “the protective equipment do help to reduce the risk of being severyly injuryed in an accident. ” There is no evidence, though, that the writer is able to understand or analyze the argument; what follows, except for a few additional words, merely copies the topic.

This two-sentence response is repeated—verbatim—two more times. Language and usage are equally problematic. The few words that have been added, in combination with the words of the topic, result in incoherence. In sum, this essay ? ts all of the scoring guide descriptors for a 1. 26 Taking the Practice GRE General TestAfter you have become familiar with the three sections of the General Test, it is time to take the practice test in this book to see how well you do. Not only will this help you become familiar with the directions and types of questions, it will help you determine how to pace yourself during an actual test. The practice General Test begins on page 29. The total time that should be allotted for this practice test is

31/4 hours. The time that should be allotted for each section appears at the beginning of the section. The answer sheets are provided on pages 63–72. Evaluating Your Performance After you have taken the practice General Test in this book, it is time to evaluate your performance.Verbal and Quantitative Sections Appendix B on pages 54-55 contains information to help you evaluate your performance on the Verbal and Quantitative sections. A table of the correct answers to the questions in the Verbal and Quantitative sections is provided on page 54. Compare your answer to each question to the correct answer given in the list, crossing out questions you answered incorrectly or omitted. You can also evaluate your performance by looking at how you performed on each test question compared to others who answered the questions at an actual administration. In the table on page 54, there is a number to the right of each correct answer, P .The P is the percent of examinees who answered the question correctly and is based on the examinees who took that edition of the test. This information enables you to see how other examinees performed on each question. It can also help identify content areas in which you need more practice and review. Next, add the number of correct answers in Sections II and IV to obtain your raw verbal score. Add the number of correct answers in Sections III and V to obtain your raw quantitative score. Once you have obtained your raw scores, you can look up your scaled scores on both sections. The score conversion table on page 55 provides the scaled scores that correspond to

the raw scores on each section.The score conversion table also allows you to compare your scaled scores with those of others who have taken the General Test. The table provides for each scaled score, the percent of examinees who earned lower scores, and is based on those examinees who took the Verbal and Quantitative sections on the General Test between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2007. For example, the column next to the verbal scaled score 460 indicates 50 percent. This means that 50 percent of the examinees tested between July 2004 and June 2007 earned verbal scores below 460. For each score you earned on this practice test, note the percent of GRE examinees who earned lower scores.

This is a reasonable indication of your rank among GRE General Test examinees if you have taken the practice test under standard timing conditions. It may be helpful to compare your score to scores of examinees whose intended graduate school major ? eld is similar to your own. The mean scores table on page 55 shows you the average scores of people in various categories of intended graduate major ? elds who took the General Test between July 2004 and June 2007. You can evaluate your scores by ? nding the major ? eld category most closely related to your career goals and see how your performance compares with others who are striving for similar goals. Analytical Writing SectionOne way to evaluate your performance on the Issue and Argument topics you answered on the practice test is to compare your essay responses to the scored sample essay responses for these topics and review the reader commentary

for these sample essay responses. Scored sample essay responses at selected score levels and reader commentary are presented in Appendix C on pages 56-62 for the two Issue topics and one Argument topic presented in the Analytical Writing section of the test. The ? nal scores on each of the two essays (Issue and Argument) are averaged and rounded up to the nearest half-point interval. A single score is reported for the Analytical Writing section. You should review the score level descriptions on page 53 to better understand the analytical writing abilities characteristic of particular score levels. 27 Additional PreparationOnce you have evaluated your performance on the practice General Test in this book, you can determine what type of additional preparation you might want to do for the test. Services and products available from ETS and the GRE Board include: GRE ScoreItNow! ™ Online Writing Practice ets. org/scoreitnow This online service lets you test your analytical writing skills using authentic GRE analytical writing topics. It provides you with immediate scores on your essay responses, general suggestions for improving your writing skills, and sample essay responses on the topics you select. The essays are scored by e-rater®, ETS’s automated scoring system. Two options are available:

• Practice Option.Purchase two topics and specify which type you want, “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” or “Analyze an Argument. ” Write your responses online or of? ine and submit for scoring. You will receive a score and feedback for each response submitted.

• Test Experience Option. Purchase one GRE General Test Analytical Writing section. You will receive one “Argument” task and can select one of two “Issue” tasks presented. Write your

responses online using the same word processing features as the GRE General Test and within the same time allowed (75 minutes). You will receive a score and feedback for each response as well as a total score. Enhanced Diagnostic Service grediagnostic. ets. rg If you are preparing to take the General Test and you want feedback on your verbal and quantitative skills, you can answer a series of questions and receive immediate feedback on your performance on each question, an assessment of your strengths and weaknesses in the verbal and quantitative skill areas, and much more. To learn more about the GRE Diagnostic Service, visit grediagnostic. ets. org. GRE: Practicing to Take the General Test—10th Edition ets. org/store This test preparation book contains Verbal and Quantitative sections from seven actual GRE General Tests (different from those in POWERPREP®), including one test complete with explanations, test-taking strategies, and score conversion tables. It also includes a math review for