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7 Tips for a Perfect GRE Issue Essay

By vivian kerr posted February 10, 2012

If you get a perfect score on the GRE’s Issue Essay (a 6), it can really boost your graduate school admissions chances! The best schools want good Verbal and Quantitative scores, but also students who are clear, competent writers. Lots of students have excellent transcripts and are good at taking tests – but not everyone can demonstrate impressive writing skills! Here are 7 tips to take your Issue essay to that perfect 6!

1. Write at least three practice essays. Practice makes perfect! You can study for the GRE online by looking up the AWA prompts and practicing writing several of them within the 30 minute guideline. The only way to get comfortable with the time constraints is to practice them, so set up test-like conditions and get to work. You can see the Issue essay prompts here.

2. Don’t waffle. Choose one side of the issue only, and don’t try to “have it both ways.” Even if you don’t believe in the side you choose, you’ll only have time to argue one side effectively. If you take a middle-of-the-road approach you won’t sound as confident or clear. Remember, according to ETS, the “readers are evaluating the skill with which you address the specific instructions and articulate and develop an argument to support your evaluation of the issue.” What exactly you say (what side you choose to defend) is less important than how you defend it!

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How to Structure the Argument Essay on the GRE

By vivian kerr posted February 8, 2012

The GRE’s Argument essay can be remarkably straightforward. The thesis is pre-written (some version of “the argument is flawed”) and you know it should be about 5-6 paragraphs in which you will criticize an argument, describe how it could be improved, and reiterate that is it overall weak and unconvincing. The following template is only a suggestion, so feel free to adjust it slightly into a version that best works for you! Remember to practice writing at least 2-3 full essays within the time constraint before Test Day! You can also look at GRE’s official website to access the Argument Essay topic pool to start applying this template to those prompts.

Paragraph 1 – Intro (3-4 sentences)

Start by showing the reader that you understand the premise. Make sure you have identified the Conclusion, Evidence, and underlying Assumptions of the argument in your pre-writing phase. Do not use self-reference, or the words “I agree” or “I disagree” anywhere in your essay. You will absolutely use phrases like “the argument” and “the author” but too much self-reference can come across as unconfident and wavering. Here are the main points to hit:

Try this GRE reading comprehension question for more practice.

Introduce the timeliness of the argument’s topic

Describe the argument in your own words

Thesis (final sentence): state unequivocally that the argument is flawed.

For example, your introduction could take a form like this:

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How to Find Area on the GRE

By vivian kerr posted February 6, 2012

Need better scores in Geometry questions on the GRE? Keep this guide handy while you study online for the GRE. These formulas are essential to answer questions about Area on Test Day.

Triangles - To find the area of a triangle, we use the formula A = ½ bh, where b = base and h = height. The base and the height of the triangle must always form a 90 degree angle. Keep in mind that the height can be inside or outside the triangle.

Quadrilaterals - To find the area of a square, we use the formula A = s², where s = side of the square. To find the area of a rectangle, we use the formula A = lw, where l = length and w = width.

To find the area of a parallelogram, we use the formula A = bh, where b = base and h = height. We do NOT multiply the two side lengths. Remember the base and the height must be perpendicular.

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How to Structure the GRE Issue Essay

By vivian kerr posted February 3, 2012

The GRE Issue essay is similar to any 5-paragraph short essay you’ve written in college. You may opt for 4-6 paragraphs, but this structure plans for 5. The official GRE website states that readers of the Issue essay “are evaluating the skill with which you…articulate and develop an argument to support your evaluation of the issue.” The better organized your essay, the clearer it will become to the reader. Here’s how to structure each paragraph:

Paragraph 1 – The Intro

How do you begin your essay? One of the following rhetorical devices is the most common: a generalization about the topic, a quotation, a short anecdote to set-up your position, a historical framework, a piece of news illustrating the relevance of the issue. Regardless of how you “get in” to the topic, you’ll score points if you can admit the complexity of the issue, and show how it applies to contemporary life. Show the reader what about the topic will be your focus.

Most students open with a general blanket statement about the issue, but feel free to be creative! You can find sample prompts from the Issue Essay topic pool to practice.

KEY TIP: Always place your thesis as the final sentence in your introduction.

Paragraph 2 – First Body Paragraph

Use your strongest, most specific example first. Your example can be from history, science, politics, business, entertainment, pop culture, current events, personal experience, etc. Anything can be an example, but choose ONE only for each paragraph. It needs to be something you are knowledgeable about and also something that you believe strongly supports your thesis. You have three tasks in your body paragraphs:

-Bring up your example.

-Explain how it relates to the topic.

-Show that it fully supports your thesis.

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How the AWA is Scored on the GRE

By vivian kerr posted February 1, 2012

The AWA section of the GRE is made up of two essays – the Argument essay, and the Issue essay. Each essay will be given two independent scores, but the scores are averaged into one score from 0 to 6. According to ETS, this is done because “it is more reliable than a score for either task alone.” The final score will be in half-point increments. For example, if you receive a 5 on the Argument essay, and a 6 on the Issue essay, your score will be a 5.5.

The readers of AWA are extremely familiar with the “look” of the graded GRE essays for each of the possible prompts, so they “know” ahead of time what a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 essay should “look like.” You will receive “NS” or no score, if you do not type any text. You will receive 0 if you write in a foreign language, or completely off-task.

According to the official ETS rubric, the highest scoring essays (those given a 5.5 or a 6) demonstrate: “insightful, in-depth analysis… logically compelling reasons and/or highly persuasive examples…is well organized; skillfully uses sentence variety and precise vocabulary to convey meaning effectively; demonstrates superior facility with sentence structure and language usage, but may have minor errors that do not interfere with meaning.” This means that they are not looking for perfection – obviously within 30 minutes you may have some spelling and grammar errors (and that’s okay!).

Grockit is convenient. Find out how you can study online any time of the day, from anywhere you have internet access.

The main qualities that the readers look for are the organization of your ideas, the quality of the ideas themselves, the strength and relevance of the examples, and your grasp of standard written English. Readers are trained to take non-native speakers’ abilities into account when grading so that scores are fair.

Below is the official AWA Scoring Percentile ranking from ETS. You can see that a score of 5 places you in the 87^st percentile. It’s quite plausible to achieve such a high score!

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How to Approach GRE Application Questions

By vivian kerr posted January 31, 2012

Although less common than Detail or Main Idea questions, you may see one or two Application questions on test day. Application questions asking you to apply what you have read in the passage to a different or hypothetical situation.

1. Read above and below the line numbers. You’ll need more context to answer these challenging questions. Don’t expect the quoted line numbers to give you enough information to solve. Tricky answer choices will mimic the subject of the specific line number provided, but won’t accurately reflect the full situation. It may help to use arrows or other symbols. Your ultimate goal will be to consider what the described situation is “like” so make sure you understand the original situation well.

2. Consider the author’s argument. Some application questions will focus on the author’s point of view. Just like you would for a Main Idea or Tone question, identify the author’s purpose and put yourself in the author’s shoes. Ask yourself questions. What is the point of this detail? How does it help the main argument?

3. Focus on process. Another useful tip for Application GRE questions is to pay attention to how a particular process is performed. For example, if the passage focuses on describing an historic development, you must clarify step-by-step how the development occurred, before you can apply that same manner of development to a different situation. Go back through the passage and list the verbs on your scratch pad. This will help you to understand the steps of the process and not be confused by the timeline.

Let’s try a sample Grockit GRE practice question!

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GRE Quant Numeric Entry: An old friend

By oren weinrib posted January 30, 2012

The new GRE Quantitative section introduces some minor twists and turns to the familiar test-taking landscape, but the content is the same basic high-school math: primarily arithmetic, algebra, geometry, simple statistics and data analysis, with a smattering of topics like probability and permutations/combinations. The good news is that you’ve probably been prepping for this kind of math since you took the ACT/SAT or other standardized tests years ago.

In this blog, we’ll examine the numerical entry question type. It may be new to the GRE, but other than a couple of technical details, this material is old hat. You’ve been doing this kind of math problem as homework since you were in grade school. You’re given a question, you compute the answer, and instead of writing it on paper, you type it into a box on the screen.

Need some GRE practice? Try this GRE numeric entry question and test your skills!

Because your answer is computer-scored and there are no answer choices to guide you, be careful to give the answer in the units requested, such as meters vs. kilometers or thousands vs. millions. Note if you’re being asked for a decimal or a percent, or to fill in a fraction. Some questions may ask you to round, for instance to the nearest .1 percent. In this case, don’t round any intermediate calculations, only your final calculated answer. That is to say, if you are doing a problem with the calculator that asks for a decimal , use the raw calculations from step to step. If you did the same problem using fractions, you could use the calculator to convert your answer at the end. When using the “Transfer Display” feature from the calculator, you may need to edit the answer to the required degree of precision. You can’t click and highlight, so use the Backspace key.

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Revised GRE Verbal: What to Expect

By jill muttera posted January 28, 2012

The Verbal Reasoning sections of the GRE assess your reading comprehension skills and your understanding and usage of vocabulary. About half of the Verbal questions will require you to read a passage and answer questions about it. The other half will have you fill in the blanks of sentences or paragraphs with vocabulary.

Timing: There will be 2-3 Verbal Reasoning sections on the GRE, depending if the unidentified, unscored section is Verbal or Quantitative. Each section will contain approximately 20 questions which you will be given 30 minutes to complete.

Format: The three types of questions that make up the Verbal sections are:

-Reading Comprehension

-Text Completion

-Sentence Equivalence

There are several different question formats, so let’s break down the formats within each question type.

Reading Comprehension: Some questions will be standard multiple choice, with 5 possible answer choices and 1 correct answer. The letter for each answer choice will appear in a circle.

Test your GRE skills with this reading comprehension, long passage practice question.

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GRE Practice: Consistent Ideas in Sentence Equivalence

By vivian kerr posted January 26, 2012

Sentence Equivalence is one of the newer GRE Verbal question types (replacing the older Sentence Completions). Like Sentence Completions, Sentence Equivalence consists of one sentence with one blank. Unlike Sentence Completions, there are two correct answers and not one, and you must get both to get the question correct.

To solve Sentence Equivalence, you’ll need to know 1) the relationship of the blank to the rest of the sentence, and 2) the meaning of the entire sentence. There are approximately 8 total Sentence Equivalence questions on the GRE, 4 on each Verbal section. These questions should take approximately 1 minute each.

Consistent Ideas is one of the four types of Sentence Equivalence questions. In Consistent Ideas questions, the blank will mirror or extent the logic of the rest of the sentence. Like it sounds, the blank will continue the ideas of the rest of the sentence. You’ll be able to recognize this type because of certain constructions.

Here are common “Consistent Ideas” key words and phrases to look out for: for this reason, again, to reiterate, along with, in addition, for example, to illustrate, thus, likewise, similarly, since, also, and, next, as well as, as a result, to sum up, concluding, additionally, etc.

Try this GRE sentence equivalence question for more practice before test day.

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GRE Quant MC – Single Blank: To Calculate or not to Calculate?

By oren weinrib posted January 25, 2012

The new GRE Quantitative section adds a bit of complexity to the testing methodology by changing up the way you are asked to provide answers. In addition to the comparison task and the standard multiple choice questions that appeared on the previous GRE format, the new question types include the “Select one or more” and the “Numeric entry” questions. The other novelty is the use of the on-screen calculator. In this blog entry, we’ll look at the traditional single answer multiple choice question in the context of the calculator.

Judicious use of the calculator will aid your performance on the test. One feature of the single answer multiple choice is that the answer choices can provide valuable information about the degree of precision required. Unlike the “Numeric entry” questions which require an exact answer, this type may yield to a quick estimate that saves you both time and the possibility of calculation errors.

Try this GRE quantitative practice problem and test your math skills today!

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