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The best way to figure out how to get a high Analytical Writing score is to wait at a GRE essay sample, but doing so without whatever guidance can be overwhelming. How do you show insight? Exercise typos impact your score? What's a good way to proceed your essay organized?

Nosotros'll answer all these questions for yous (and more!) in this commodity by analyzing four real GRE essay examples and highlighting the key features you lot'll want to include in your own essays.

How to Use This Guide

Before we get to the GRE sample essays and their analyses, I'll highlight 2 all-time ways to use this guide to meliorate your essay and get a great scoring essay yourself.

Offset, use the perfect-scoring sample GRE essays in this guide every bit models of possible means to accomplish the essay tasks. Past this, I don't mean you should plagiarize entire sentences, paragraphs, or essays – that'south both incorrect and against GRE code of deport (it volition disqualify your entire examination if discovered). Plus, in that location are so many prompts (152 Issue prompts and 176 Argument ones) that it'southward unlikely you'd be able to use whatever of these exact essays anyhow.

What y'all can and should do is contain the features highlighted in the analyses beneath in your own essays. For instance, if yous've been struggling with how to logically connect ideas within paragraphs in your own essays, take a expect of some of the examples of logical connexion I indicate out in this commodity and see how they fit within the context of the full essay. You can and then practice replicating successful connections betwixt ideas in your own exercise essays.

The other main mode to use this guide is in conjunction with the essay grading rubrics to help ferret out your writing weaknesses and piece of work on them. Outset with the rubrics for the Issue and Argument tasks and identify which criteria are most difficult for y'all to run across. Even if you can't articulate precisely what your weakest spot is (e.g. failing to logically connect your ideas inside paragraphs), you can at least narrow downwardly the general rubric area you most struggle with (e.g. organization in general).

One time y'all've identified the general area you accept the almost trouble with, read the GRE essay examples and our analyses in this article to find physical instances (rather than the abstract descriptions) of the rubric criteria. For more information about the dissimilar rubrics for the different essay tasks, read our articles on how to write perfect-scoring GRE Outcome and Argument essays.

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Considering this commodity is on the longer side, we've created a table of contents to enable you to spring to a specific essay example or task type:

Table of Contents: GRE Essay Examples

Upshot Essay 1: Technology and Human Ingenuity

Event Essay 2: Cooperation Vs. Competition

Argument Essay 1: Mason City Riverside Recreation

Argument Essay 2: Super Screen Movie Advertising

Issue Essay ane: Engineering science and Human Ingenuity

The first of the GRE sample essays we'll be looking at is written in response to the following "Clarify an Issue" prompt:

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

Hash out the extent to which y'all agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

The essay written on this Issue prompt takes the position that rather than hindering our abilities to think for themselves, engineering volition spur humanity on to achieve ever-greater things. The full text of this GRE essay sample can be found on the ETS website.

In this analysis, I'll go over the different ways in which this essay meets the GRE essay rubric criteria for a perfect scoring Issue essay. The offset of these rubric criteria I'll be discussing is the way the author takes a articulate and insightful opinion on the outcome in the essay.

The author'south position that instead of fearing new technology, we should encompass its possibilities is methodically articulated over the course of the entire essay, culminating in the essay'southward determination with a total thesis statement ("In that location is no need to retreat to a Luddite attitude to new things, just rather embrace a hopeful posture to the possibilities that technology provides for new avenues of human imagination."). Below is an outline of how the author expresses her thesis throughout the essay:

  • Paragraph 1: The author acknowledges "technology has revolutionized the world."
  • Paragraph ii: The author explains the reasoning behind the statement in the prompt ("The supposition is that an increased reliance on engineering negates the need for people to think creatively to solve previous quandaries").
  • Paragraph three: The author counters the reasoning she discussed in paragraph 2, writing that "reliance on technology does not necessarily preclude the creativity that marks the human species."
  • Paragraph 4: The author advances her counterclaim one step further, stating that "technology frees the human imagination."
  • Paragraph 5: The writer farther develops the idea from Paragraph 4, stating "By increasing our reliance on technology, impossible goals tin now exist achieved."
  • Paragraph half-dozen: This last paragraph concludes the essay with a fully articulated thesis that besides sums upwards what went before: "There is no need to retreat to a Luddite attitude to new things, just rather encompass a hopeful posture to the possibilities that engineering science provides for new avenues of human imagination."

The author'south straightforward explanations of her thinking and logic raise the clarity of her position, while the nuanced content of the position itself demonstrates insight into the result.

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The next area a perfect-scoring Issue essay must demonstrate mastery of is the development of its position through compelling and persuasive examples and reasoning. The author of this essay accomplishes this job by providing examples to back up each idea she discusses and, furthermore, explaining not only the content of the examples but also why the examples support her position.

Here's an example from paragraph 5:

By increasing our reliance on technology, impossible goals can at present be achieved. Consider how the late 20th century witnessed the consummate elimination of smallpox. This disease had ravaged the man race since prehistorical days, and yet with the technology of vaccines, free thinking humans dared to imagine a world free of smallpox. Using applied science, battle plans were fatigued out, and smallpox was systematically targeted and eradicated.

In this example, the author begins by laying out the chief thought to be discussed (incommunicable things can be achieved by relying more on technology). She then supports this thought with the case of the impossible problem of smallpox and the steps taken that led to its eradication.

The great matter most the way the writer explains her reasoning and examples is the concision and precision with which she gets her information beyond. Rather than going off into a discussion near the harm caused past smallpox, or staying as well vague by mentioning how "diseases" had been solved by the utilise of vaccines, the author chooses a specific instance (smallpox) and mentions merely the details relevant to proving her point. This kind of precise writing takes practice, only being able to finer sum upwardly an example and why it supports your position in only a couple of sentences is essential if you want to get a high score on the GRE Effect essay.

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Focus, organization, and logical connections are the third benchmark that a perfect-scoring essay needs to fulfill. In the case of this GRE essay sample, the writer achieves this organization and focus by linking ideas both within paragraphs (every bit seen in the previous instance) besides as betwixt paragraphs. Allow's look at the way the writer transitions betwixt the finish of paragraph four and the starting time of paragraph five:

The unlikely matrimony of economics and medicine has healed tense, hyperinflation environments from South America to Eastern Europe.

This last instance provides the most hope in how engineering science actually provides hope to the future of humanity. Past increasing our reliance on technology, incommunicable goals tin can now exist achieved.

The author connects the two paragraphs past continuing paragraph four's word of ways human imagination has been pushed by technology (technology combining economics and medicine has solved a trouble) with paragraph 5's exploration of how this example has led to achieving things previously considered impossible. The smoothness of the transition between the two paragraphs is effected both by presenting the content of the next paragraph as a logical progression from what was just discussed too as past using language ("this concluding example") that connects the ii on a more superficial level.

Past keeping paragraphs tightly linked on both the surface level of sentence structures equally well as on the deeper level of content being discussed, the author of this essay also keeps her writing focused and cohesive.

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The last quality a perfect-scoring essay must demonstrate is precision of language and flow in writing. The author of this GRE Analytical Writing sample fulfills this requirement by using linguistic communication to precisely and economically convey meaning throughout her essay. Here'due south one example of precise and constructive use of linguistic communication in the essay:

This disease had ravaged the man race since prehistorical days, and nonetheless with the applied science of vaccines, free thinking humans dared to imagine a globe free of smallpox.

In this excerpt, the author uses the evocative word "ravaged" to show the dire extent of the trouble solved by technology, reinforcing that the issue was previously considered impossible to cope with. She likewise uses the phrase "humans dared to imagine" in this sentence, which ties the example beingness discussed back to the previous paragraph's give-and-take of human imagination.

While at that place are a couple of small-scale errors in this extract ("prehistorical" should exist "prehistoric," "free thinking" should be "gratuitous-thinking"), they do not significantly change the meaning of the author'southward words so do non detract from the overall effectiveness of the author's language.

Nope nope nope we've gone too prehistoric, walk it back, folks
Nope nope nope, besides prehistoric for smallpox.

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Outcome Essay ii: Cooperation Vs. Competition

The 2d of the GRE Issue essay samples I'll be analyzing is written in response to the following prompt nigh the values of cooperation vs. contest:

"The all-time way for a lodge to ready its young people for leadership in government, manufacture, or other fields is by instilling in them a sense of cooperation, not competition."

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, exist sure to address the most compelling reasons or examples that could be used to claiming your position.

The sample Issue essay written in response to this topic takes the opinion that cooperation, non contest, is a preferable value to instill in young people in preparation for regime. You lot can read the total essay on page 108 of this PDF. Read on for a discussion of the different ways in which this essay meets the requirements for a perfect score.

Every bit with the previous GRE essay sample, we'll outset by looking at how this essay meets the perfect-scoring essay criteria of stating a clear and insightful position (as required past the essay task). The author fulfills the first part of the criteria with his clear statement of his thesis in the last line of the very showtime paragraph:

I would have to agree that the best way to prepare young people for leadership roles is to instill in them a sense of cooperation.

He reiterates this clear position with the concluding two sentences of his conclusion:

Getting to exist President of the United states or the managing managing director of a corporation might crave you to win some battles, but once you are there you will need diplomacy and people-skills. Those tin exist difficult to larn, but if you practice not have them, you are likely to be a short-lived leader.

To achieve a perfect Consequence essay score, however, it's not simply plenty to exist articulate in your position; your position must also demonstrate insight into the issue. The author of this essay accomplishes this 2nd office by choosing a two-pronged approach to answering the essay question. Rather than just explaining how cooperativeness leads to positive outcomes in government, industry, and other fields, the author too explains how competitiveness leads to negative outcomes.

Thus, the author makes his position clear past stating it in the opening and closing paragraphs of the essay and shows insight by taking the more complex position that not only is cooperation expert, simply competition is bad.

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The side by side of the rubric criteria we'll discuss has to do with how well the author develops his position with examples and reasoning. A swell instance of this development tin exist found in the 2d paragraph of this essay, which discusses the drawbacks of competition.

The writer begins his discussion of competitiveness by arguing that information technology's a quality that doesn't need to be "instilled" considering it's already present. First with general reasoning almost human behaviors at school and the office to introduce his point, the author and then neatly segues into specific examples of competitiveness gone amok (Hitler in Germany and the contempo economic meltdown in America).

With each case presented in the essay, the author pushes his position forth a little further. He moves from discussing the well-nigh extreme historical cases (genocide) to more recent events (economic recession), concluding by focusing in on one person's life and career (Tiger Woods). This terminal example allows the author to reach his concluding destination in his discussion of competitiveness: yes, competition tin can serve people well up to a certain point, but the price is that it is besides "detrimental and ultimately quite destructive."

Competition is particularly destructive if you're playing chess with glass pieces!
Competition is particularly destructive if y'all're playing chess with glass pieces!

The tertiary way this essay meets the requirements of a perfect-scoring essay is through the logical connectedness of ideas within and betwixt paragraphs. The transition between the finish of paragraph two and the start of paragraph three provides a stellar instance of this adept connecting of ideas:

It [competitiveness] served him well in some respects, but it also proved to exist detrimental and ultimately quite destructive.

Leaders who value cooperation, on the other ahnd, accept historically been less prone to these overreaching, destructive tendencies.

On the face up of information technology, the author but connects the two paragraphs by using a transition phrase ("on the other hand") that sets up the side by side paragraph as contrasting with what came before. While this kind of transition would be proficient enough for a lower-scoring essay, though, the author does not just get out the connectedness between the ii paragraphs at that. Instead, he also connects the 2 paragraphs by keeping the focus on the same upshot from the end of one paragraph to the kickoff of the next.

The content-level transition betwixt paragraphs occurs when the writer transitions from discussing the "detrimental and ultimately quite subversive" competitiveness of Tiger Wood directly into challenge that cooperation-valuing leaders are "less decumbent to these overreaching, destructive tendencies." This twofold linkage of content (deeper level) and transition phrase (more surface level) makes it articulate to the reader that the discussion of leaders valuing cooperation follows logically the give-and-take of negative outcomes for contest-valuing leaders.

THERE CAN BE ONLY OOOOOOOOOOOOONE!
THERE CAN BE ONLY OOOOOOOOOOOOONE!

The final six-level quality demonstrated by this GRE Writing sample is its use of expert and precise language to convey specific meaning. Overall, the language in this essay is formal and academic, despite the profligate use of commencement person bespeak of view by the author (which tin can make writing seem less formal). The post-obit sentence exemplifies the author'due south command of language:

The recent economic meltdown was acquired in no large part past the leaders of American banks and financial institutions who were obsessed with competing for the almighty dollar.

Despite the minor error in this sentence (it should read "in no modest role," rather than "in no large function,"), the writer's significant is absolutely clear: competition led to the meltdown. Strong vocabulary choices like "economic meltdown," "obsessed," "omnipotent dollar" are what brand this an constructive statement of the author's position. Compare the above excerpt to a more milquetoast version of the same argument:

The recent economical downturn was by and large caused by financial leaders who wanted to earn lots of money.

This second sentence has the same basic meaning equally the existent extract from the essay. Because it doesn't use particularly precise or compelling language, however, this watered-down version ends upwardly minimizing the magnitude of problems caused by competitiveness (which undercuts the writer's signal). This vaguer version of the essay extract also lacks the word "competing," which makes information technology useless as an instance of competition among leaders leading to negative consequences.

The original excerpt from the essay, and indeed the entire GRE essay case, is and so stiff precisely because it manages to pack in specific relevant language that adds to, rather than detracts from, the author's meaning.

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Argument Essay 1: Mason City Riverside Recreation

The next essay I'll exist analyzing is written in response to the following "Clarify an Argument" prompt:

In surveys Mason City residents rank water sports (swimming, canoeing and fishing) among their favorite recreational activities. The Bricklayer River flowing through the city is rarely used for these pursuits, however, and the city park department devotes petty of its budget to maintaining riverside recreational facilities. For years there accept been complaints from residents near the quality of the river's h2o and the river's odour. In response, the state has recently announced plans to clean up Stonemason River. Utilize of the river for water sports is therefore sure to increment. The metropolis government should for that reason devote more money in this yr's upkeep to riverside recreational facilities.

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Exist sure to explicate how the argument depends on the assumptions and what the implications are if the assumptions show unwarranted.

The GRE Statement essay sample I'll exist analyzing critiques the numerous assumptions fabricated and ultimately concludes that the argument for spending more coin on Mason City's riverside recreational facilities rests on faulty assumptions.

The full text of this essay can exist constitute on the ETS website. Be sure to read through the essay outset before coming back to read my analysis of it. We'll offset by looking at the ways in which this GRE essay sample identifies and examines the argument given in the prompt in an insightful style:

There are three key assumptions made past the argument that are identified in the essay:

#ane: The survey results are valid and representative

#2: The reason Mason River isn't used is considering of olfactory property and pollution

#3: Cleaning the pollution in the river will get rid of the odor and and so lead to more usage by residents

The Statement essay example we're looking at examines each of the assumptions by considering the implications if the assumptions made by the article plough out not to be true. Here's role of the essay'due south investigation of the second assumption listed to a higher place:

Though there take been complaints, we do non know if there have been numerous complaints from a broad range of people, or mayhap from ane or two individuals who made numerous complaints.

The author identifies the assumption that complaints bespeak many people want to use the river and examines it by reasoning through possible scenarios other than the one presented in the prompt. The insight comes from the fact that the specific possibilities discussed by the author are highly plausible alternative explanations for the facts that would change the validity of the prompt's supposition. It'due south very possible that the complaints were not fabricated by every unmarried resident, or even a bulk of residents, equally the prompt seems to assume, but were in fact only fabricated by a few people.

As a effect of her analysis, the author ultimately concludes that there is insufficient information to support the assumption that Mason River isn't used due to its odor and pollution.

Bear with me.
Are y'all sure they simply can't…Deport THE Smell? Eh? Eh?…OK, that face is fair.

The next way the author of this sample GRE essay fulfills the requirements of a perfect-scoring Argument essay is by providing comprehensive back up for each of her principal points. Throughout the essay, the writer is able to explicate exactly why each supposition made is problematic by using examples that precisely illustrate her argument.

Consider how this is approached in the second paragraph of the essay. The author starts the paragraph by presenting the supposition made in the essay argument that the survey results can exist relied upon. She then gain to decimate that assumption with multiple examples of ways in which the survey could be flawed and not be an accurate representation of the residents' opinions, as tin can exist seen in the following excerpt:

For example, the survey could take asked residents if they prefer using the river for h2o sports or would like to see a hydroelectric dam built, which may have swayed residents toward river sports. The sample may not have been representative of metropolis residents, asking but those residents who live upon the river. The survey may have been 10 pages long, with 2 questions defended to river sports. We just exercise not know.

The thoroughness of the author's support for her point is magnified by the specificity of the scenarios she proposes. Stating "the survey might non take been representative of the city residents" would take been far less compelling a point than stating "[t]he sample may not have been representative of metropolis residents, asking only those residents who alive upon the river."

Probably not quite so on the river as this, though.
Probably not quite and so on-the-river as this, though.

Another important ideal a perfect-scoring Argument essay must alive up to is being organized logically, with articulate transitions between ideas. The author of this GRE essay sample is able to meet the first part of this requirement with a simple five-paragraph organizational construction: an introduction, one paragraph for each assumption discussed, and a conclusion.

Accomplishing the logical connection and development of ideas throughout the essay requires a picayune scrap more finesse, but the author notwithstanding manages it. Here's an example from the first of the third paragraph of a good transition:

Additionally, the author implies that residents do non apply the river for pond, boating, and angling, despite their professed interest, because the water is polluted and smelly.

In the above example, the author uses the transition word "additionally" to connect the ideas that will follow with what went before. The instance too references the previous paragraph's discussion of the unreliability of the survey of residents ("their professed interest") and links information technology to the current word of pollution and odour existence the crusade of depression participation in riverside recreational activities. The combination of these two methods of connecting the two paragraphs results in a smooth logical menses from 1 idea to the next.

Let your ideas flow. Like the Mason River.
Let your ideas flow. Much like the Mason River.

Lastly, a perfect-scoring Statement essay must exist precise and effective in its discussion of ideas, with few if any errors. The writer of this essay successfully meets this standard past using purposeful language to efficiently and clearly get her point across, as can be seen in this example from paragraph 3:

While a polluted, evil-smelling river would probable cut down on river sports, a concrete connection betwixt the resident'due south lack of river use and the river'due south current state is not effectively fabricated.

The writer contrasts the prompt'due south assumption ("a polluted, evil-smelling river would probable cut down on river sports") with the "concrete connection" that is not present. The essay as a whole is non completely devoid of errors (for example, the author writes "afffected" instead of "affected"), but the errors are few and practise not have a negative touch on the clarity of the writing.

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Statement Essay 2: Super Screen Movie Advertisement

The concluding of the GRE essay examples I'll exist analyzing at is written in response to this "Analyze an Argument" prompt:

The following is taken from a memo from the ad director of the Super Screen Movie Production Company.

"According to a recent report from our marketing department, during the past year, fewer people attended Super Screen-produced movies than in any other year. And even so the per centum of positive reviews by movie reviewers near specific Super Screen movies actually increased during the past year. Conspicuously, the contents of these reviews are not reaching plenty of our prospective viewers. Thus, the trouble lies not with the quality of our movies but with the public'south lack of awareness that movies of good quality are bachelor. Super Screen should therefore allocate a greater share of its budget next twelvemonth to reaching the public through advertising."

Write a response in which y'all discuss what questions would demand to be answered in social club to make up one's mind whether the recommendation and the statement on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explicate how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

The essay written in response to this "Analyze an Argument" prompt raises and evaluates questions about how many viewers and reviews of Super Screen productions in that location really were, if in that location is a stiff relationship between how movie reviewers and general audiences react to movies, and whether or not the pct of positive reviews about a moving picture reflects how much of an impact reviews take on audiences.

The full text of this GRE essay sample can be found on p. 112 of this PDF. Read through the essay beginning, and then check below for an analysis of its positive (and negative) qualities.

The first aspect of the essay nosotros'll analyze is how it succeeds in identifying and examining the parts of the argument that are relevant to the chore. In the essay's introduction, the author mentions that there are questions that demand to be asked ("Earlier this plan is implemented, all the same, Super Screen needs to address some questions about its possible flaws"), but he really hammers information technology home in the decision by specifying which questions demand to exist answered:

In conclusion, there are many questions Super Screen needs to answer before using this advertising director's programme. They demand to look carefully at actual numbers, both of viewership and of positive reviews. The as well demand to identify the human relationship that their target audition has with movie reviewers and determine how their target audience feels nigh their movies. Fianlly they need to take a nuanced look at the movie reviews that they use in their advertisement.

With this conclusion, the author hits the 3 main points that need to exist considered before agreeing to the advertisement manager's plan: viewer and review numbers, audience reactions to reviews, and whether or non reviews are a useful metric past which to measure movie success.

An instance of the author identifying a particular argument can be found in the 3rd paragraph of this GRE essay sample. The paragraph starts past clearly stating the question that needs to be answered (what the number of positive reviews was and how it compared to past reviews). Later on this initial identification of the question, the author besides explains how answering this question would have an affect on the usefulness of the recommendation: if the increase in positive reviews was from 1% to ii%, allocating more coin to advertising to emphasize this fact is likely to have less impact than if the coin were instead budgeted towards improving moving picture quality.

Lights! Camera! And a 200% increase in script quality!
Lights! Photographic camera! And a 2% increase in reviews!

Another quality all perfect-scoring Argument essays must contain is strong and thorough support for each indicate discussed. The author of the GRE essay sample nosotros're analyzing fulfills this requirement, supporting every question she raises about the argument in the prompt by showing how its answer would affect the recommendation.

A practiced example of this all coming together happens in paragraph v of the essay:

Finally the studio must inquire whether the percentage of positive reviews is really a relevant way to measure out the potential impact of picture show reviews. There are dozens of film reviewers but when deciding whether to not to become to a movie, the general public will ordinarily choice from among the ten virtually popular motion-picture show reviews. These are the reviews that will impress the public if they are included in advertizing. If the most popular movie reviewers disliked Super Screen movies that a larger number of small time film bloggers reviewed positively, Super Screen needs to recollect of a new advertising strategy.

In this paragraph, the author opens by identifying the element of argument to exist discussed (are positive reviews a useful mode to measure the impact of pic reviews in general?). She so develops this point through reasoning nearly why the respond to this question might contradict the assumption fabricated in the argument (people mostly use popular reviews to decide on what movies to run into, rather than the ratio of popular to negative reviews).

The writer ends this paragraph past conclusively showing that the answer to the question raised in this paragraph is crucial for determining whether or non Super Screen should follow the advert managing director's plan: if the percent of positive reviews isn't a practiced way to measure movie impact and the real result is that relatively few pop motion-picture show reviewers liked Super Screen movies, then the recommendation of the advertizement section is unreasonable.

No amount of advertising's going to wake up that movie reviewer.
As Jerry sank to the floor in a fit of despair, he knew one matter: no amount of advertizing would brand people want to watch his movie.

The tertiary requirement for a perfect-scoring Argument essay is that it must develop and connect ideas in a clear and logical way. The organization of this GRE statement essay sample helps accomplish this by routing the author's thoughts into an introduction, four body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each trunk paragraph of the essay is centered around one or 2 related questions. A good example of this tin can exist found in paragraph four, which contains 2 related questions about the human relationship between audiences and moving-picture show reviewers:

Finally, Super Screen needs to ask what the relationship is betwixt its viewers and the movie reviewers cited in the memo. Using a survey distributed to its target audition, Super Screen could determine if movie reviews accept an upshot on their audience's decision to become meet a movie, whether movie reviewers tended to have the same taste as the target audience and exactly whether or not movie reviews are reaching the audience. Super Screen also needs to consider how its movie choices have afflicted the separate movie reviewer and audience populations. If the studio has switched from making mega- blockbuster activity movies to more nuanced dramas, the general public may be less willing to go see their movies even though picture critics prefer the dramas to the action movies.

The to a higher place paragraph starts out by discussing if Super Screen'due south target audiences are affected past reviews and whether their audiences and movie reviewers have the same taste, so segues into discussing if the studio's picture show-making choices have afflicted audiences and picture show reviews. The transition between the two different questions being discussed is effected by the unproblematic use of the give-and-take "also" in the third sentence of the paragraph:

Super Screen also needs to consider how its movie choices take affected the carve up picture reviewer and audience populations. [bolded for emphasis]

The last sentence of the paragraph over again links dorsum to the give-and-take of audition gustation vs. reviewer taste, reinforcing the close and logical connection between the ii questions discussed in the paragraph.

Bo Gordy-Stith/Flickr
Bo Gordy-Stith/Flickr

Finally, a perfect-scoring Argument essay must employ varied and precise language, with few errors. Before, nosotros discussed paragraph iv every bit a particularly strong example of the author'due south constructive evolution of ideas. The last sentence of this paragraph contributes to this efficacy through the use of specific language:

"If the studio has switched from making mega-blockbuster activity movies to more nuanced dramas, the general public may be less willing to get run across their movies even though movie critics prefer the dramas to the action movies."

The apply of the descriptor "mega-blockbuster" to describe the activeness movies preferred by the masses effectively conjures up something that is the diametric opposite of a "nuanced drama." In addition, the writer'south contrasting of the "mega-blockbuster activity movies" with "more than nuanced dramas" parallels the second half of the sentence's contrasting of the preferences of the general public vs. those of the (perchance) more refined movie reviewer.

There are a few small spelling errors (e.g. in "attendence" instead of "attendance"), and the final two body paragraphs both start with "finally" (which is a little repetitive), only in general, this is a skillfully written essay. It's not perfectly polished like an essay you'd turn in for school, merely that'south absolutely OK. In the k scheme of the GRE essay scoring rubric, writing flourishes thing much less than clarity of idea and precision of language.

Some Super Screen movie reviewers. MCAD Library/Flickr.
The general public might non capeesh Super Screen'southward more nuanced dramas. MCAD Library/Flickr

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vi Tips for a Perfect-Scoring GRE Essay

To wrap up this article, I'll become over some of the key points yous should take from the four GRE sample essays I analyzed in this article.

#ane: Include an Introduction and a Conclusion

1 thing that all these perfect-scoring GRE sample essays had in common was an introduction and a determination. It doesn't have to be a full paragraph, only you need to at the very least introduce your ideas at the beginning of your essay and wrap up your conclusions at the cease of information technology.

#2: State Your Position Conspicuously

In my notes to myself on one of the GRE Issue essay examples I analyzed above, I observed that the writer "states her thesis early and ofttimes" considering of the way her position was fabricated articulate throughout the essay. While obviously y'all don't desire to just repeat the aforementioned judgement over and over over again, it is imperative that you include at least 1 articulate statement of your position in your essay, preferably in your introduction paragraph.

The importance of conspicuously stating your position varies between the 2 GRE essay tasks somewhat. For the Argument essay, you might be able to get away with a vague summary of the points yous'll comprehend and still go a 4.0 or above on the essay; by contrast, it'south about impossible to get above a 3.0 on the Event essay if you do not clearly state your position on the issue, as that is integral to the essay chore itself.

Whatever the prompt or essay type, if yous want to get a perfect score on your essay, you'll need to include a articulate statement of your position on the issue or what points you'll exist analyzing in regards to the statement in the prompt.

#three: Be Specific in Your Support

All of the perfect-scoring GRE essay examples analyzed in this commodity contained specific and relevant support for the claims made by the authors. In the Issue essay examples, the authors drew upon well-defined examples and concise examples that direct supported the author's position on the issue. In the Argument essay samples, the authors focused in on several specific parts of the arguments and debated their validity using specific hypothetical scenarios and questions.

The takeaway of this for your own writing is that the specific is always more than persuasive than the full general when information technology comes to supporting a indicate. And if yous tin can't find specific support for your position or for the flaw yous've found in an argument, then that's a proficient sign that you need to consider changing your position or finding some other office of the argument to critique.

If you can't support your thesis with specific examples, you might need to find a new thesis.
If you can't back up your thesis with specific examples, you might need to find a new thesis.

#iv: Explain Your Support Clearly

Equally I discussed in my analyses of the four GRE Writing samples, whether or not your writing is polished and perfectly worded and spelled is non well-nigh as of import equally your successful communication of your ideas and how they are supported. In the GRE essay, all is precision, and analyses of issues that use conspicuously-explained compelling examples or analyses of arguments that cut to the very centre of why an statement is flawed with supporting explanations will ultimately score college than beautifully crafted simply logically imprecise essays.

#five: Use Transitions

All of the authors of the GRE essay examples analyzed in this commodity are able to maintain focus and organisation in their essays by employing multi-level transitions that link ideas between and within paragraphs on both content and linguistic levels. In your own writing, be conscious of when you are changing from discussing i idea to some other and make sure the transition is smooth. Even just calculation transition words similar "additionally" or "in contrast" to the beginning of new ideas can help your writing menstruum meliorate.

#six: Stay Organized

While all of the GRE essay examples used in this commodity were written in response to different prompts, they all adhered to basically the standard 5-paragraph, introduction-body paragraphs-conclusion format.

There's no reason to accept extra time away from your assay of the questions to figure out a unique organizational structure for each essay when the five paragraph essay volition become it done just likewise (if not better). This is not because other forms are not possible; as the ETS website says, "You are free to organize and develop your response in any way yous think will enable yous to finer communicate your ideas about the event."

Just the utility of the five paragraph form is that it's a tried-and-true mode to keep your essay organized. Using it will save y'all the time of having to figure out a new organizational strategy for every essay you write. And the more consistently you stick to a simple (merely clear) organizational structure, the faster yous'll go at it, until organizing your thoughts logically comes as second-nature (especially important in a timed essay environment when every second counts).

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What's Adjacent?

Now you know what information technology takes to get a perfect essay score. But do you really demand to become a perfect vi.0 on GRE Writing? Find out with our discussion of what a good GRE Writing score is.

Curious about how the criteria mentioned in this commodity interpret into numerical scores? Read our article on how the GRE essay is scored to learn more!

Demand to heave your essay score speedily? Nosotros have fifteen great tips and strategies that help you lot improve your Belittling Writing score.

Fix to dive into practice essays with some practice topics? Use our guide to the 328 official GRE essay topics to go started.

Ready to better your GRE score by 7 points?

We've written a eBook most the height 5 strategies you must be using to take a shot at improving your GRE score. Download information technology for free now:



Laura graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in Music and Psychology, and earned a Chief's degree in Composition from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and GRE and loves advising students on how to excel and fulfill their higher and grad school dreams. View all posts past Laura Staffaroni