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What Is AWA?

As the very first section of the GRE, Analytical Writing consists of two tasks: an ‘Analyze an Issue’ task and an ‘Analyze an Argument’ task. The time allotted is one hour, with 30 minutes for each task. In the GRE Issue essay task, you will be given a general issue and asked to evaluate and analyze it. You are required to essentially develop a sound argument for the issue and support it with examples, while the Argument task expects you to evaluate a given argument for the correctness of the logic assumed. In other words, the Issue essay seeks to examine your ability to take a stance on a certain subject by developing an argument with reasons and examples to support your views about why you favor a side of the argument. On the other hand, in the Argument task, you are expected to critique and take apart the views that the author promotes in the topic.

In this blog, we will be taking a closer look at the Issue essay to better understand what it really entails, as well as the kind of topics that could be asked of you in this section from the ETS issue pool. Finally, we will be examining some GRE issue essay samples to grasp what a well-written, high-scoring essay looks like.

All About the GRE Issue Essay

A well-written issue essay is basically one that establishes and strongly sustains a particular point of view and gives sufficient justification for the choice of that perspective. Remember, in this section, as we had briefly discussed before, you are expected to understand a given issue and provide ample reasons and examples to support your point of view on the issue. While the examiner will have access to your assessment question, your argument must be clear and strong enough to be understood in a vacuum. In other words, it must be written well enough to rule out the necessity of checking the question at hand. The GRE issue essay task question has two parts: first is a thesis statement (or a claim) and the second is a small paragraph outlining the instructions on how to respond to that thesis. Sometimes, there can be yet another part: a brief reason that explains the claim in more detail.

While there is no ironclad minimum word requirement to meet, most students average around 500–600 words in the 30 minutes allotted to them. Remember, writing more words doesn’t necessarily mean your essay is going to be more persuasive or better. In fact, quite the opposite: many test-takers seem to think that writing more is a good substitute to an essay that is otherwise lacking in sound argument and logic, leading examiners to be wary of overly lengthy essays. Always keep it simple and concise, and you’re good to go.

Let us now take a look at some key elements of a GRE issue essay task, and how it is different from the argument essay:

1. Nature of topic:

   Generally, the topics and ideas that need to be probed in the issue essay will be of broad, general nature, and are drawn from everyday life, requiring you to rely on your own experiences for your answer. Issue prompts are taken from a wide variety of domains, such as education, politics, art, technology, etc. As such, it is not necessary to possess a very deep knowledge of the issue at hand, although it certainly helps if your general knowledge is up a notch!

2. Type of writing:

   The issue essay is less about critical analysis and more about logical reasoning and justification. Just make sure that your reasoning and justifications are sound, and you should be good to go! Because the issue essay hinges so much on reasoning, it is a great idea to draw on real-life examples to support your position and overall stance on the matter: this will portray you as someone who is well-read and in touch with the world around her. Remember, this is not a section in which you can spin examples out of thin air, so use that wild story that your uncle told you, if you need to!

3. Agreeing and disagreeing:

   While the argument essay contains a problematic thesis statement that needs to be disagreed upon and taken apart by you, the issue essay will generally conclude with a mention of the opposing point of view and stating a few instances in which that view may hold true. Doing so will both showcase you as a well-read, aware person, who is able to understand and appreciate opposing viewpoints. Moreover, in the issue essay, it is much easier to agree with the stance than it is to disagree, since you will usually find a lot more argument points in favor of than against. Although, of course, you are free to disagree if you wish: just be convincing about it!

4. Perspectives:

   The GRE issue essay is, at the heart of it, a matter of perspective, and what you really think about the question at hand. There’s no real, unequivocal ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer, because really it is two sides of the same coin, with both sides being amenable to argument and support. The quality of the essay will be wholly judged by your ability to pick one side of the coin, and how well you develop and support that choice. So, an issue question is a claim that needs to be analyzed and critiqued. This is unlike the argument essay, where the thesis statement itself is deliberately portrayed negatively or controversially so as to provoke your counter-argument.

5. Reasoning versus exposing:

   The argument essay is all about you dismantling the author’s claims by exposing the flaws in their arguments, while the issue task is notably about reasoning and building your argument from the ground up by using examples and logic.

6. Liberty to express:

   Last but not least, the issue task is defined by the freedom of scope it affords you. While the argument essay mandates you to work entirely with the evidence and arguments that lead up to the conclusion, the issue task is far more liberal because you are free of any authorial interference. Because of this, you can draw on any and every resource in your arsenal to deliver a powerful defense of your perspective.

What kind of topics can I expect on the issue task?

One of the things that daunt GRE test takers is essay writing: specifically, the fear of being tested on a topic or concept they may have no idea or knowledge about. Well, fear not! The GRE issue essay task is known for its supremely approachable and general nature and is broad enough to be attempted by anyone with basic general knowledge. Confused? Cast your mind back to all those family dinners, and your father arguing how mobile phones are destroying creativity and intelligence, or your uncle claiming that higher education should be free for all, and you’ll know what we are talking about. The GRE issue essay is something like those discussions, but with just a bit more sophistication, of course!

Let’s take a peek at some sample issue questions from the previous years’ GRE to better understand the kind of prompts you can expect. Do note that these are directly taken from the ETS (Educational Testing Service) website, and because ETS is the official administrator of the GRE, you can be rest assured that this information is straight from the horse’s mouth.

Sample issue tasks:

1. Governments should place few if any, restrictions on scientific research and development.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.

2. Claim: It is no longer possible for a society to regard any living man or woman as a hero.

ÌýÌýÌýÌýReason: The reputation of anyone who is subjected to media scrutiny will eventually be diminished.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.

3. ÌýCollege students should base their choice of a field of study on the availability of jobs in that field.

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

4. Young people should be encouraged to pursue long-term, realistic goals rather than seek immediate fame and recognition.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you 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.

Well, there you have it! You now have a general idea of what kind of questions you could expect in the issue task, and the structure of the issue prompts. As you can see, these are questions of a sweeping, unspecified nature, and usually, students find their own experiences, opinions, and awareness sufficient to write a satisfactory essay. Topics like education, healthcare, R&D, art, politics, social media, and gender are usually hot favorites for the ETS, so reading up on these areas and writing a few practice essays can prove to be immensely helpful. If you want the complete low-down on the exhaustive list of topics that make an appearance in the issue essay section, you can download our ebookÌýto get a better idea

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Now, we have seen the kind of topics and questions you could expect on the d-day, but what about the essay itself? What does a persuasive, well-written, high-scoring issue essay look and sound like? ÌýWe’re sure we’ve piqued your curiosity, so why not head over to our ebook consisting of a gamut of sample essays?

Download our eBOOK on “How to score 4+ in AWA“

We hope you found this article helpful and illuminating and opened your eyes to the intricacies of the GRE issue essay. If you have any questions that are not answered in this article, please drop us a comment below and we will get back to you soon. We wish you all the very best in your graduate school dreams!

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Let’s find out!

Why Take the GRE

GRE stands for Graduate Record Examination and is owned and administered by Education Testing Services, an educational testing and assessment organization headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. Depending on the course that a student wishes to pursue as well as the admissions requirements of the desired program, a student can either choose to take the GRE General Test or the GRE Subject Test. The GRE Subject Test is offered in six distinct subjects which areÌý Biology, Chemistry, ÌýMathematics, Literature in English, Physics, and Psychology.

Now, we will be focusing on the GRE scoring system of the General Test, given that it is the most popular option both for universities as well as test takers.

The GRE (General) tests a student’s abilities in three areas:

• Analytical Writing
• Quantitative Reasoning
• Verbal Reasoning

Coming to why GRE plays an important role in graduate admissions, the reason is that the student’s score in each of these areas gives a picture of how likely he/she is to succeed at a graduate program. All these things are considered in the GRE scoring system.

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To go a bit more in detail, we have to understand what graduate study entails. At a graduate level, students study subjects at a specialized level and usually partake in research, which means they must possess an ability to read, understand, and analyze the content of academic texts and long-form research papers. This ability is gauged by the student’s performance on the GRE’s Verbal Reasoning section. Graduate students not only have to read complex academic texts but must also be capable of writing reports and research papers based on a given problem statement. The AWA section of the GRE tests this skill. Similarly, most graduate programs in the fields of science, mathematics, and economics require students to read, grasp, and apply complicated mathematical and statistical concepts during the course of their study. For this purpose, the Quantitative Reasoning section tests the student’s competency in basic mathematics through questions in areas like algebra, data analysis, statistics, and geometry.

Format of the GRE

With an understanding of why students are required to take the GRE, let us move forward and get an idea of the format & GRE scoring system of the 2011 (revised) version of the GRE.

As mentioned above, the GRE tests three skills – analytical writing, verbal reasoning, and quantitative reasoning.

The test consists of six sections, namely:

• Analytical Writing Assessment – 1 section (always the first section of the test)
• Verbal Reasoning – 2 sections
• Quantitative Reasoning – 2 sections
• Experimental/Research Section – Can either be Quantitative Reasoning or Verbal Reasoning (This section doesn’t count towards the final score. Also, the test taker will not be made aware if a section is experimental or not.)

Level of Difficulty

Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning have two sections each, which contribute towards the test taker’s final score. The first section of each of these areas consists of questions with a level of difficulty ranging from easy to difficult. For the subsequent section of the respective area (verbal/quantitative), the level of difficulty is determined by the test taker’s performance in the initial section. This style of testing is called section-based adaptivity, wherein the performance on one section decides the level of difficulty on the next.

GRE Scoring System

A test taker’s GRE score has three components which correspond to their performance in the three areas of analytical writing, verbal reasoning, and quantitative reasoning. This is how the GRE scoring system is carried out.

The scale for the verbal and quantitative reasoning sections is the same wherein it ranges from 130–170 with 1-point increments. The total GRE score is the sum of the scores obtained on the verbal and quantitative sections respectively and ranges from 260 to 340.

As for the AWA section, the score scale is 0–6 with 0.5-point increments. The AWA score is considered separately and doesn’t contribute towards the total GRE score.

GRE Verbal Reasoning Section:

The test has two verbal reasoning sections which count towards the overall verbal score. While the level of difficulty between both sections may vary, the type of questions will be the same. A typical verbal reasoning section constitutes 20 questions, which can be of the following types:

• Text Completion (around 6)
• Sentence Equivalence (around 4)
• Questions based on reading comprehension passages (around 10)

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GRE Quantitative Reasoning Section:

Similar to the verbal reasoning sections, the quantitative sections have 20 questions each and the level of difficulty of the second section is based on the performance in the first. The questions are based on the following topics:

• Arithmetic
• Algebra
• Geometry
• Data Analysis and Interpretation

Additionally, the questions are asked in the following ways:

• Quantitative Comparison (around 8)
• Problem Solving Items (around 9)
• Data Interpretation (around 3)

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How the Quantitative/Verbal Sections Are Scored

The GRE scoring system for both quantitative and verbal reasoning sections are similar since the number of questions and sections are the same. The final score in verbal/quantitative sections is a result of a two-step process.

Step 1 – Raw Score

Verbal/Quantitative Reasoning has two sections of 20 questions each. In the first step, a raw score is calculated by giving one point to all the questions which the test taker got right on the exam, irrespective of the first or second section. So, one score for verbal reasoning and one score for quantitative reasoning is computed on a scale of 0 to 40 since the student answers 2 sets of 20 questions each for verbal and quantitative respectively.

Step 2 – Final/Scaled Score

The raw score is calculated by giving a point to all the questions which were answered correctly by the test taker. However, factors like the level of difficulty and the given topic are also to be taken into consideration when determining the score. Therefore, the final score is obtained by scaling the raw score with respect to the level of difficulty, topic, and type of each question that was answered correctly by the test taker. Specifically, since there is an overall difference in the level of difficulty between the questions in first and second sections of quantitative/verbal reasoning, the section-based difficulty levels also weigh in for the calculation of the final score. The GRE scoring system is different from other exams.Ìý

For example, in verbal reasoning, questions based on reading comprehension are relatively more difficult when compared to single-blank text completion questions. Similarly, triple-blank text completion questions are more challenging than double-blank text completion questions.

GRE Analytical Writing Section:

In the GRE, Analytical Writing is tested in a single section and is made up of two tasks, which are:

• Issue Task – Here, the test taker must comment on a specific issue which is provided in the question.
• Argument Task – The test taker is provided with a set of facts and an argument; The task is for the test taker to analyze the information provided and provide critique on the argument.

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How the AWA Section Is Scored

Each task is scored on a 0–6 scale with 1-point increments. The score is assigned based on a careful evaluation by a human grader. The final AWA score is an average of the scores obtained on both the tasks. Since the final score is an average of two whole numbers, it is on a scale of 0–6 with 0.5-point increments.

What Is a Good Score on the AWA Section?

While we have a general awareness on the range of scores preferred in the quantitative and verbal reasoning sections, let the numbers do the talking about what kind of score is preferred by some of the reputed universities in the US.

What Is a Score Percentile?

We now know how scores are computed for all the three sections of GRE. But there is still one concept that often appears to confuse students who wish to apply to grad schools.

If you have taken a look at the admission statistics of some programs offered by popular grad schools in the US, you might have come across statements which go along these lines:

On an average, we admit students with quantitative scores above the 85th percentile.

Students who have been previously admitted to this program have scores above the 50th percentile in the verbal, quantitative, and AWA sections of the GRE.

Well, to explain this, it is important to be acquainted with the concept of percentile ranks in statistics. As Google says,

A percentile rank of a score is the percentage of scores in the overall frequency distribution which is equal to or lower than it.

So, the score percentile for any given score is based on the scores obtained by all the test takers in a specific time period.

Therefore, a score above the 85th percentile means that the score is higher than what was obtained by 85% of the test takers.

To get a better idea of the score percentile as well as other GRE-related information, ETS has collated the data and statistics based on the tests taken between the years, 2014 and 2017 which can be found . Each score is mapped to a specific percentile for all the three sections of the GRE. It can help the test taker to understand where he/she stands with respect to all the others who took the test in the last few years.

Alright! Has this article helped in giving you a better understanding of why grad schools want GRE scores and how the GRE scoring system works? If you have any doubts, leave a comment and we will get back to you.

Ìý

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Is the AWA section really important?

AWA is the first section that you are going to face on the test day. ÌýEven though AWA is not included in the 260-340 score range, a low AWA score can be interpreted as an inability to reason critically and express your opinions in a clear, logical manner. Therefore, a good AWA score is crucial to your overall application and has a definite impact on your admissions.

Apart from measuring Ìýyour ability to think and form opinions, in a smaller scale, the AWA section also tests your language, grammar, and vocabulary.

What does the AWA section consist of?

This section requires you to write Ìýtwo essays – Issue and Argument. You get 30 minutes for each of the essays.

Given below is a brief of the essays.

• Issue essay:

This will be the first essay assigned to you where the topics will be generic in nature and can have varied opinions to it. This is also because the topic given to you is debatable and can have more than one side to it. You will be provided with a brief paragraph on a generic topic, such as climate change, social governance etc. In this exercise, you must take a stance and justify your opinion with supporting details from the given information and suitable international examples.

Reading leading newspapers like The Times of India, The New York Times, The Hindu etc. every day will be of great help in expressing your opinion effectively, besides strengthening your Ìýknowledge. This will help you grasp the style of writing as well as build your awareness on issues worldwide. Using current examples to convey your opinion can earn you serious brownie points with the evaluators.

• Argument essay:

The Argument essay is the second essay that you are required to write in the AWA section. In an argument essay, you must logically evaluate the arguments made in the question provided. Remember, you are not expected to provide your point of view. You are merely checking for fallacies in another’s point of view on a particular topic. Your task here is to be unbiased and pass your judgment on the validity of the argument.

How to answer an Argument essay in AWA?

Since, the Argument essay forms one-half of the AWA section , it requires specific preparation. Generally, GRE test takers find it difficult to keep their opinion out of the picture and evaluate the argument from a third-person point of view. This is probably one of the gravest errors you could make because that defeats the entire purpose of attempting the exercise. Another common problem among students is that they tend to digress from the topic and don’t quite make their point cogently. So, while writing the Argument essay, you must follow some of these tips:

#1: Brainstorm before you write.Ìý

Taking a few minutes before you start writing always works in your favor. During these few minutes, you are expected to evaluate the argument effectively. Think about what is being stated and the possible reasons behind it. Taking this top-down approach will help you get to the logical fallacies that the argument is anchored upon. Then, scrutinize the argument and think about points that could have made the argument stronger.

#2:ÌýMake an opening statement!

An ideal Argument essay would start with an introductory paragraph, explaining the various pillars of the argument. You must make sure that your introduction clearly definesÌýthe premise that is set. Don’t provide your opinion on the dispute at hand. Comment on the logic that defends each side. So, clearly state logical fallacies and then proceed to explain it one by one.

#3: Play the Devil’s Advocate.

After identifying the underlying assumptions use the next couple of paragraphs to point out the flaws and while mentioning the possible alternatives as well. This makes your argument seem holistic because you have addressed the points raised in the essay and also refuted them with ample evidence.

At this juncture, having a predefined structure for your essays helps as you can mentally visualize and arrange your points. For example, you can find a flow here:

#4:ÌýPractice until you can’t get it wrong!

While preparing for GRE, practice sample essays or go through the solved ones. This will teach you how to think logically and help you develop a flow to your writing.

AdmitEDGE Pro Tip: ETS has a pool of topics for both and , including solved examples. You can be rest assured that most of the AWA questions that you will see in your actual GRE will be taken from this pool of topics. So, practicing AWA from ETS is more than enough to score above 3-3.5.

If you want to read more on what each score band in AWA means, click here.

#5: Build your vocabulary

Actively practicing onÌýGRE word list while learning during GRE preparation can definitely elevate the quality of writing. But ensure that you only use those words that you are very comfortable with and are fully aware of the meaning and context of usage. Your AWA essay is tests your critical reasoning skills, not your English proficiency. Ìý

#6: Flash forward your typing!

Believe it or not, your typing speed plays a huge role in determining your AWA score. You risk losing precious time and putting yourself in a state of panic is you type too slow. Unfortunately, since not many of us are exposed to touch typing, it is quite an awkward battle with the keyboard, come exam day. Therefore, be sure to practice your AWA section on a computer, in a timed setting.

AdmitEDGE Pro Tip: To effectively improve your typing speed and learn touch typing, you can use . With multiple exercises and increasing difficulty levels, this website allows you to type quickly as well as accurately.Ìý

Ideal Timeline for an Issue/Argument Essay:

How to score above 4 in AWA?Ìý

Watch our expert unravel the important techniques behind answering AWA questions!

Now, don’t worry about scoring well in your AWA. It is just a matter of knowing how to identify key points and express it effectively. Ensure that you get a couple of your essays evaluated by experienced professors/trainers so that you know where you stand and where you have to improve.

As long as you read, solve the sample essays, and get the right guidance, you have a very good chance of scoring well in the section

We wish you all the best for your future endeavors!

What other doubts do you have regarding AWA? Type in as comments and let us know, we’ll clarify it for you!

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