The analytical writing measure tests your critical thinking and analytical writing skills. It assesses your ability to articulate and support complex ideas, construct and evaluate arguments, and sustain a focused and coherent discussion. The analytical writing measure consists of two separately timed analytical writing tasks: the issue task presents an opinion on an issue of general interest followed by specific instructions on how to respond to that issue. You are required to evaluate the issue, consider its complexities and develop an argument with reasons and examples to support your views. The argument task requires you to evaluate a given argument according to specific instructions. You will need to consider the logical soundness of the argument rather than agree or disagree with the position it presents.

Persuasive Essay on Christopher Columbus

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 an issue, and the other requires you to evaluate someone else's argument by assessing its claims and evaluating the evidence it provides. Individuals taking the computer delivered test will use a basic word processor developed by ets. The basic word processor contains the following functionalities: insert text, delete text, cut and paste and undo the previous action. Tools such as a spell checker and grammar checker are not available in the ets software, largely to maintain fairness with those examinees who must handwrite their essays at paper delivered administrations. Everyone even the most practiced and confident of writers should spend some time preparing for the analytical writing measure before arriving at the test center. It is also useful to review the scoring guides, sample topics, scored sample essay responses and reader commentary for each task. The tasks in the analytical writing measure relate to a broad range of subjects from the fine arts and humanities to the social and physical sciences but no task requires knowledge of specific content.

In fact, each task has been tested by actual gre test takers to ensure that it possesses several important characteristics, including the following: gre test takers, regardless of their field of study or special interests, understood the task and could easily respond to it. The task 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.

Bipolar Disorder Research Paper Apa Form

To help you prepare for the analytical writing measure, the gre program has published the entire pool of tasks from which your test tasks will be selected. You might find it helpful to review the issue and argument pools: before taking the gre revised general test, review the strategies, sample topics, essay responses and reader commentary for each task contained in this section. This will give you a deeper understanding of how readers evaluate essays and the elements they're looking for in an essay. Within the 30 minute time limit for the issue task, you will need to allow sufficient time to consider the issue and the specific instructions, plan a response and compose your essay. Within the 30 minute time limit for the argument task, you will need to allow sufficient time to consider the argument and the specific instructions, plan a response and compose your essay.

Although the gre readers who score your essays understand the time constraints under which you write and will consider your response a first draft, you still want it to be the best possible example of your writing that you can produce under the testing conditions. Although an occasional spelling or grammatical error will not affect your score, serious and persistent errors will detract from the overall effectiveness of your writing and lower your score accordingly. While the toefl is generally a very different type of test from the gre, the gmat, and the sat, there are a few similarities, and the writing section is one of them.

Well, it asks for two essays, actually mdash one is about a reading and a lecture which you rsquo ll summarize , and the second is more open ended. Let rsquo s look at the questions that you might see for that second toefl essay, the ldquo independent task. You might be asked to write an essay about technology, education, media, family, or some other subject. Ets does provides a list of toefl independent essay questions in the official guide.

If you practice writing the essay before test day a good idea! , then you should use an essay prompt from that list. But there rsquo s an excess of information there mdash we want to know some more useful generalities! so let rsquo s divide those subjects into types. There are a couple of different approaches to writing this type of essay, but the simplest form is the ldquo five paragraph essay. Rdquo usually this is actually only four paragraphs, because you don rsquo t have that much time mdash the test only gives you 30 minutes to complete your independent essay. So if you choose a, you might write an essay that looks like this: intro a is better body 1 reason 1 and examples of why a is better short contrast with b body 2 reason 2 and examples of why a is better short contrast with b conclusion why this is significant in the real world of course, there are other ways to write an essay, but it rsquo s a good idea to use a relatively simple structure for clarity.

This is more true for the toefl than it is for essays on other tests, like the gre. Because the toefl is really a test of communication and how well you can write in english. Here are some examples of the ldquo choose a side rdquo writing topics: ldquo do you agree or disagree with the following statement? parents are the best teachers. Rdquo ldquo some people believe that the earth is being harmed damaged by human activity.

Rdquo ldquo it has recently been announced that a large shopping center may be built in your neighborhood. Do you support or oppose this plan? why? use specific reasons and details to support your answer rdquo there are a few common phrases which you will see in these essay topics, so they rsquo re easy to spot mdash those phrases are bold in the examples above. You might also get a slightly more complicated version of the ldquo choose a side rdquo prompt that asks you to compare sides, like this one: ldquo when people move to another country, some of them decide to follow the customs of the new country. Rdquo in that case, you could still use the structure i showed above, but you would emphasize the contrasts with ldquo b rdquo and write a bit more about them.

This is actually very similar to the ldquo choose a side rdquo type of essay subject, but it rsquo s a little bit more complicated because you have to think from two different standpoints. Here are a few examples: ldquo the government has announced that it plans to build a new university. Some people think that your community would be a good place to locate the university. compare the advantages and disadvantages of establishing a new university in your community. Rdquo ldquo some young children spend a great amount of their time practicing sports.

Rdquo there are a couple of different ways you might structure an essay like, but the simplest one may be the best. Intro general statements about issue body 1 advantages and examples body 2 disadvantages and examples conclusion why this is significant in the real world in a way, this is the most difficult type of independent essay question because it doesn rsquo t give you an a or b situation. Instead, you have to think of your own subject from a very big pool of possibilities. Ldquo what discovery in the last 100 years has been most beneficial for people in your country? use specific reasons and examples to support your choice. What changes do you think this new century will bring? use examples and details in your answer. Rdquo ldquo what change would make your hometown more appealing to people your age? use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

Rdquo ldquo if you could study a subject that you have never had the opportunity to study, what would you choose? explain your choice, using specific reasons and details. Rdquo ldquo if you could invent something new, what product would you develop? use specific details to explain why this invention is needed. Rdquo because these writing topics don rsquo t give you a yes ndash no or a ndash b choice, it rsquo s easy to get stuck in the planning phase. By the way, planning is incredibly important for writing any standardized test essay don rsquo t skip it! the structure doesn rsquo t have to be very different, though. Here rsquo s a rough idea of how you might organize a descriptive essay: intro your choice/subject body 1 reason 1 and examples body 2 reason 2 and examples body 3 reason 3 and examples conclusion why this is significant in the real world notice i added one more body paragraph. Because there rsquo s no ldquo other side rdquo to deal with, you have more time to explain the one topic you chose.