GRE Analytical Writing Tasks

The Analytical Writing section of the GRE is always the first test section completed, and test-takers have 30 minutes to write an essay in response to a given prompt. According to Educational Testing Service (ETS), the creator and administrator of the GRE, the Analytical Writing task assesses your ability to:

  • Articulate and support complex ideas
  • Construct arguments
  • Sustain a focused and coherent discussion

In this task, test-takers are presented with an opinion on a given issue and given instructions on how they should respond. Your job is to evalute the issue and consider its complexities before writing an argument in the form of an essay that includes reasons and examples to support your position.

Whether you take the GRE at a test center or remotely at home, you will use a computer to access a word processor program developed by ETS. You will write your essay in this program, which contains limited functionalities, including insert text, delete text, cut-and-paste, and undo the previous action. There are three important things to know about this word processor program:

  1. There is no spellchecker. Misspelled words will not be highlighted for correcting.
  2. There is no grammar checker. Sentences that do not contain a complete thought, are overly long, or are missing punctuation will not be highlighted and brought to your attention for editing.
  3. There is no AI writing assistance. The word processor program will not offer suggestions for finishing your sentence or assist with paragraph organization. Test-takers must brainstorm, organize, and write their essay entirely on their own to provide the truest example of their writing abilities.

While the Analytical Writing task understandably provokes anxiety in many test-takers, this is a task that can be mastered through focused preparation. Unlike the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning sections of the GRE, which contain questions you will not see until the day of your exam, Analytical Writing prompts are freely and easily available from ETS. Simply choose your preferred search engine and type “ETS Analytical Writing prompts” into the search bar. You will be directed to a PDF containing the entire pool of essay prompts, one of which will be randomly selected for you on test day.

Analyze an Issue Task

Years ago, the GRE contained two writing tasks: “Analyze an Issue” and “Analyze an Argument.” After the 2023 test revision, the Analytical Writing section was shortened so that only one essay is required. Even though there is now only one writing task, sometimes the GRE essay is still referred to as the “Analyze an Issue” task.

In this task, you will be presented with an opinion on an issue, followed by specific instructions for how to respond. You will be required to evaluate the issue and then develop an argument in the form of a written essay that includes reasons and examples to support your perspective.

The issues you will see on the Analytical Writing task are broad and do not require you to possess special or technical knowledge. If you are presented with an issue you have extensive experience with or specialized knowledge of, you can certainly use that to your advantage in your essay, but the point of this task is to demonstrate your ability to write an analytical essay, not to demonstrate in-depth knowledge of a topic. Issues tend to be controversial, meaning they have more than one side or are multi-faceted, offering you more than one position from which to write your essay. Issues are drawn from the arts, humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, political science, and general interest.

ETS provides six types of prompts you may be asked to respond to on the Analytical Writing task:

1) agree or disagree with a statement, explaining your reasoning and supporting your position while considering strengths and weaknesses of the statement and how these influence your position

2) agree or disagree with a recommendation and explain your reasoning, focusing on specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be beneficial

3) discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with a claim, addressing the most compelling reasons or examples that could counteract your argument

4) discuss which view more closely matches your own position, and justify the reasoning for why you hold your views while addressing both of the views presented

5) discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with a claim and its rationale

6) discuss your views on a policy and explain your justification while considering the consequences of implementing the policy and how they impact your views

For some essays, you may be asked to focus more on whether you agree or disagree with an opinion or policy; in other essays, you may be asked to consider both sides of an argument equally, noting the strengths and weaknesses, pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages, etc. Make sure you read the instructions carefully, as you do not want to lose points for addressing only one side of an issue when you were asked to consider both sides.

Analytical Writing Preparation

While the Analytical Writing section of the GRE is intended to evaluate critical thinking and writing skills that have been developed over a lifetime of education, everyone should spend time preparing for this section to review the skills measured, how the section is scored, the scoring guides and score level descriptions, scored sample essays, and reader commentary. This will help ensure that you perform in a way that maximizes your score on the day of your official exam.

The best way to prepare for the Analytical Writing task is to practice writing essays. Select a topic from ETS’s list of prompts. In the beginning, you may work without a timer, but eventually you will want to give yourself the same 30-minute time limit that you will have on test day.

You should also develop a standard essay structure than you can use consistently to organize your thoughts. Many students prefer using a five-paragraph essay structure while others prefer to utilize a certain style of analyzing the prompt, such as searching for assumptions or finding at least one thing they can strongly agree or disagree with. By having a standard writing process, you can approach the Analytical Writing task with confidence and start writing your essay without wasting time trying to decide where to begin and what to do next.

Test-takers can find extensive essay-writing support on the ETS website, including information about the scoring process, descriptions of what each score means, sample essays for each score level, and valuable preparation advice on writing essays.

ETS also offers a computer-scoring service called “Scoreitnow!” that provides you with additional opportunities to hone your essay writing skills. For $20, you can select two essay prompts, write and submit two essays, and receive a score for each essay, in addition to receiving diagnostic feedback about your writing. Students who complete two essays will have the option of receiving six more essay prompts free of charge, giving them six more chances to receive scores for their writing.

Manhattan Review also offers comprehensive Analytical Writing task preparation through our courses and private tutoring programs, ensuring that you know exactly what to expect on test day and equipping you with everything you need to ace writing your essay.

Time Management

Given that you are only allowed 30 minutes to complete the Analytical Writing task, it is critically important to develop strong time management skills. The best way to do this is by writing practice essays under timed conditions and becoming familiar with what 30 minutes feels like and how best to divide up your time. Here are additional tips for making the most of your limited essay-writing time:

  1. When you begin the Analytical Writing section, start by carefully reading the prompt and instructions on how to respond. Read this twice if everything is not clear after your first reading.
  2. Spend a few moments brainstorming and jotting down ideas. As a rule, each paragraph should focus on one idea, so decide what points you wish to make and the order in which you want to make them.
  3. Start writing, following whatever essay template you have developed (four paragraph, five paragraph, etc.).
  4. Save a few minutes at the end of the task to read back over your essay. Remember, spelling and grammar errors are neither highlighted nor automatically corrected, so this is your last chance to fix any obvious errors.
  5. Submit your essay and continue on with the rest of the GRE.

Conclusion

The Analytical Writing section of the GRE requires test-takers to write an essay in response to a given prompt. Possible prompts can be studied ahead of time, thanks to ETS making them freely available. Those taking the GRE should practice writing essays using the ETS prompts under timed conditions in order to best mimic the 30-minute time limit you will be given on test day. Through practice and developing a standard essay structure, you can be confident and prepared to ace this section of the GRE on the day of your exam.

Fill out Info Request