For an idea of what the issue will be, look no further than the official GRE Web site. Every possible issue topic is listed there. There are more than 200 topics listed, so writing sample essays for each one would not be the best use of your time. Then again, it wouldn’t hurt to practice writing a couple of sample essays from this list if you feel your essay-writing skills need work.

Looking over the list, you will see that most topics are broad statements that leave themselves open for interpretation. A statement like, “A nation should be ruled by its telemarketers” is the kind of open-ended topic that just dares you to agree or disagree with it.

The first essay begins by presenting you with two issues, not just one. You get to choose which issue you would like to gab about. You might get two topics similar to the ones below:

1. The creation of a theater company, however small, increases the attractiveness of a city to visitors. The theater company demonstrates that a city is committed to artistic endeavors, and such a commitment is usually associated with good governance.



2. Quick decisions lead to success in today’s business world.

It’s nice to have a choice of two topics to write about, but don’t waste too much time deciding which one you want to discuss. The clock starts counting down once the topics appear, so you want to decide as quickly as possible. Every second you spend thinking about the topic you don’t choose is time completely wasted. You want to maximize the amount of time you have for the topic you do choose, so read the two choices and then ask yourself, “Which topic can I write about more?” Getting words onto the screen is key, so make a decision about which topic you feel more loquacious about. If you’re the kind of person who reads the Wall Street Journal, choose the second topic. If you’re someone who flips through the Wall Street Journal searching for comics and movie reviews, the first topic is probably better for you.

Once you pick a topic, you need to decide whether you want to agree or disagree with the initial statement. Each topic sentence presents one side of an issue, and it’s up to you to “present your perspective on an issue” (that’s the official moniker for this part of the Analytical section). It doesn’t matter whether you choose to agree or disagree, since there’s no single “right” answer to these topics. All that matters is how well you explain your side of the argument with supporting details arranged in a logical manner.

Let’s say you choose the first topic sentence, and feeling cantankerous you decide to disagree with the opinion that theater companies increase the attractiveness of a city. With about 43 minutes remaining, take about 5 minutes to brainstorm some ideas that will help support this viewpoint. Jot these points down on scratch paper, and try to decide where you want to place them in the essay. There is a fine balance between spending time formulating your essay outline and getting down to actually writing it. The more planning you do, the better your essay will appear in terms of organization. Countering this attribute is the fact that a well-planned essay of only two paragraphs is not as good as a four-paragraph essay with some continuity problems. Five minutes is a good amount of time to plan. After that, start clacking those keys.

Take the time now and jot down some ideas about how theaters do not make a city more attractive to visitors. You might have some ideas similar to the ones below, but the topic is broad enough that there are many different ways to craft an essay arguing that this is not true.

The last statement attacks the link connecting artistic endeavor with good governance, but the other statements don’t have anything to do with it. Statement 4 might make it into the essay, but it’s not crucial that it does. If this essay were untimed, it would help to mount a comprehensive attack on all salient points that you want to disagree with, but hey! This is Essay Writing under Pressure, and no one expects you to be able to cover all bases with the paltry amount of time available.

Statement 1 provides your perspective on the issue, placing you firmly in the “I’ve listened to the original statement and I disagree” camp. Make sure you very clearly state whether you are for or against the original issue, and do so in the first one or two sentences. The readers are not going to spend four hours on every essay. It’s more accurate to say that they will spend less than 10 minutes on both essays combined, in which case you want to have your position very clearly stated right away, in plain view and for everyone to see. Mentally, a reader can then place a check alongside the rubric standard that says, “Every essay should have a clear, wellarticulated point of view.”

Your first paragraph could look like something like this:

One paragraph down, three to go.

Having stated your position, you must now back it up. The readers will expect your second paragraph to back up your position using specific details, so don’t disappoint them. Flesh out Statement 2, and use precise examples whenever possible. Cite specific examples that work in your favor. The point is to be convincing by using facts to state your point. You can’t just say, “C’mon! Believe me! I know what I’m talkin’ about!”

Sample Second Paragraph

Admittedly, this is not the greatest second paragraph the world has ever seen. Sentence A capitalizes the word Most for no reason. Sentences B and C could probably be combined to form one single good sentence instead of two choppy sentences. Sentence D is a bit vague on details, with phrases like Silicon Valley and Internet explosion tossed around with little explanation. Sentence E has the word Harbor capitalized incorrectly.

Sentences E, F, and G are all culled from the author’s brief visit to Baltimore last year, so a bold statement like G is not known to be definitively true. They are just the author’s recollections from a brief three-day visit two years ago that were dredged up from memory to help bolster a point on the standardized test. Someone could go to Baltimore or do research in a library to determine whether or not local theater was a factor in the Baltimore harbor renaissance. However, that someone is not going to be the reader of your essay, since this individual has only a couple of minutes to read through your essays, assign a grade, and then move on to the next. In other words, while you can’t—and shouldn’t—lie outright, you can use broad, plausible facts to prove your point. Looking over the statements made in the second paragraph, you can see that all of them are a nice blend of specificity (naming the actual city) and generalization (“people flocked there in search of great jobs”).

For all its faults, this second paragraph uses a host of supporting details to back up the initial perspective stated in the first paragraph. That is exactly what you want a second paragraph to do in order to get a good score on this essay. If this were an untimed essay, you would be expected to correct mistakes like improperly capitalized words, and you might also be expected to provide actual data. For instance, an untimed essay should provide actual census figures for the growth rate (and unemployment rate) in Silicon Valley between 1990 and 2000, and it should probably give a more precise geographical location than just “Silicon Valley.”

But this isn’t an untimed essay, is it? The people reading this essay don’t expect exact facts. They are looking for a slew of supporting details that back up the original position, and that’s just what the second paragraph gives them. The paragraph covers three different areas of the country and shows how local theater was not a factor in making them attractive to visitors.

With the first paragraph firmly supported by the second, it’s time to change tack.

Your third paragraph should be the “I understand the other side of the argument, I just don’t agree with it” paragraph. Somewhere in your essay the readers want to see that you understand both sides of the issue, and the third paragraph’s as good a place as any. So throw the opposition a bone, but then show how this little point still does not alter the fact that your initial position is the superior one.

Sample Third Paragraph

Again, this paragraph is not flawless, nor does it have to be. All it must do is show that you are a balanced person able to see both sides of an issue, and that you have reasons for rejecting the opposing side in favor of your own. Sentence H is the proverbial bone, and the rest of the paragraph does its best to explain why this viewpoint is not as strong as your own. This is done by making broad, plausible statements with a dash of specificity if possible. Sentence L works fine as, “Most people who come in from out of town want to go see large, unique tourist attractions or exceptional natural wonders.” It works better by including precise examples, since this helps reinforce the point and it shows the reader that you can cite specific examples if you have to. Think of it as your way of saying, “If I had time, I would bore you with precise details, but I only have time for a few right now.”

Specific examples like this help mask some other, vaguer claims. For instance, what exactly does the “artistic consciousness of the community” in Sentence E mean? The precise meaning is up for grabs, but it sure sounds good, doesn’t it? Readers skimming their way through this essay won’t pause, place their chin in their hand, and deeply reflect upon the exact meaning of that phrase. Instead, they’ll just go “uh-huh” absently and keep on blazing through the text. You will get the benefit of the doubt due to the time constraints of the format.

With three paragraphs in the bag, it’s time to check the clock. If you have less than 5 minutes left, you should hammer out a concluding sentence or two for paragraph four and then glance over the rest of your essay. Try to catch any obvious grammatical errors, and try to work on the overall flow of the essay, making sure that one paragraph flows well into another. You could use this time to combine Sentences B and C in the second paragraph, for instance.

If you finish three paragraphs and have around 10 minutes left, then you can use the word-processing format to your advantage in the following ways:

1. Write a 2- to 3-sentence final paragraph that restates your take on the initial proposition.



2. Look through everything you’ve written and catch any blatant grammatical mistakes.



3. Now, try to slip in another paragraph between the third paragraph and the final one. Your conclusion is already in place, so you don’t have to worry about ending your essay properly. You can use the remaining time to create a fourth paragraph that piles on more detail to support your belief. You might attack the “good governance” angle at this point, which is something you haven’t really addressed in the rest of your essay.



4. When the clock hits 1 minute to go, stop work on the fourth paragraph and make sure the transition between it and your final paragraph is smooth. If you only had a chance to write two sentences in the fourth paragraph, then just tack your twosentence conclusion to the end of it. However, if you were able to write 3–5 sentences in the fourth paragraph, don’t combine the final paragraph with the fourth.

If you had to write out your essay, you wouldn’t be able to go back and insert an entire paragraph into the rest of the text. Yet the computer format allows you to do that, so you should take advantage of it.Writing the final paragraph first fulfills the rubric standard, “restates original position clearly,” a basic requirement in essay-writing. You can then use the remaining time to expound upon your perspective on the issue. No one except you will know that you didn’t write the entire essay out in perfect linear fashion. All they will see is a well-organized five-paragraph essay.

Sample Last Paragraph to Write First

Then, squeeze in a fourth paragraph above that can go something like:

This fourth paragraph has mistakes just like the others before it, but it still achieves its purpose, which is to show your ability to approach the issue from more than one angle. Sentence N sets up a “what-if” hypothesis, and then Sentence O shows how this could be considered poor government. Sentence O is a bit unwieldy, but that’s OK, since the phrase “like in a public school or to provide more police officers” shows that you could be more specific . . . if only you had more time (fake sigh). Since you don’t have enough time, the essay has to stay as is.

Grouping all the sample paragraphs together gives you a good blueprint on how to achieve a solid score on the first Analytical essay. You don’t have to follow this blueprint exactly, but it wouldn’t hurt you if you did. Whether or not you add any variations, make sure that your first essay clearly contains the following points:

1. A Clearly Stated Position. Don’t send the readers on a scavenger hunt to see how you feel about the issue. Make sure your point of view is clearly stated. Basically, you will either disagree or agree with the initial topic sentence. The safest place to state your point of view is the first paragraph.



2. A Cartload of Plausible Supporting Details. You can’t use the phrase “because I say so” to back up your argument. You need to come up with believable reasons that justify your position. The more specific they are, the better, but the format of the time-intensive essay will prevent you from using hard data. You could memorize an almanac or census book if you like, but this is probably not a good use of your time. Instead, paint with broad strokes with phrases like, “many people enjoy fine seafood” and “computer skills are becoming increasingly important in the modern world.” Both of these statements are believable, even though they contain no hard facts.



3. Demonstrate That You Can See Other Side’s Point of View, Even Though You Disagree with It. Sadly, actual debate is very rare, at least on television. On TV, most shows put two implacable enemies on screen together, and then watch both sides use every sophistic trick in the book to browbeat their opponent and win the argument. It might make for entertaining TV, but it’s a lousy discourse. Such an extreme, unbending position is the exact opposite of what you want in your essay. Take a sentence or two to show how you understand the opponent’s point of view, and then use the rest of the paragraph to explain why you feel this position is not as strong as the one you believe.



4. Have a Clear Conclusion. It’s a basic point of every essay, and the readers will be looking for it. If possible, try to rephrase your original position. Don’t use the exact same words as you did at the beginning of the essay.

Look at the some of the sample issues at the GREWeb site and decide how you would approach them using the information in the chart above. Would you agree or disagree? What facts would you use to support your case? How would you show that you understood the other side’s view? If the Analytical score is important to you, give yourself 45 minutes and practice writing some sample essays. Use a computer to type out your response, since you want to practice your typing skills as well. Since there are about 240 topics listed, it is not very likely that a topic you practice on will be one of the ones you get for your actual GRE. Then again, stranger things have happened, and people do get lucky. If you glance over a bunch of the issue topics—say, about half of them—and think about how you would respond to them, you will be making your own luck.

The last thing to note is that you should take the entire 45 minutes on the essay. When it’s over, stretch your fingers and get prepared for some more typing. The Argument essay is next on the menu.

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