When a builder wishes to construct a skyscraper, would they “wing it”? Not a chance! Likewise, when you’re preparing for the GRE, you should take a well-rounded, balanced approach. So, what are the foundations for success? We’ve put together 7 core components for mastering the GRE: Practice Tests Vocabulary Memorization and Use Math Fundamentals Test-Taking […]
The GRE Analytical Writing Issue Task
Details, Details When you begin your computer-based GRE, the first section you will encounter is the Analytical Writing measure, specifically the Issue Essay task, for which you have 30 minutes to write a response to a prompt. While the instructions for the issue essay vary from prompt to prompt, consider the portion of the instructions common […]
Behind the Scenes: The Analytical Writing Essay Graders
The Ballad of the Raters Ever wonder who grades your GRE essays? Both the Issue and Argument essays receive two scores, one from a human grader (“rater”) and one from ETS’s computer algorithm e-rater. In the event of more than a 0.5 point discrepancy between the scores, a third rater comes in and assigns a final […]
3 Key Facts about e-Rater and Automated GRE Essay Scores
Every year more than a million GRE essays cross the desks of ETS essay raters. These same submissions slide through the subroutines of e-rater, an automated scoring program developed by ETS. With a scoring speed of 800 essays per second, e-rater could evaluate every GRE essay from 2013–2014 (about 1.1 million submissions) in under 25 […]
Essays Get Automated Scores… Why Not Report Them in the Test Center?
Right after you take the computer-based GRE, unofficial scores are available for Quant and Verbal but not Analytical Writing. You won’t learn how you did on the GRE’s essay section until your official scores come out about two weeks later. Yet a mere two milliseconds is enough time to score your essays with e-rater, the […]
Recommended Practice Topics for the GRE Issue Task
When you take the GRE, you’ll have to write two essays for the Analytical Writing section. All the topics are online right now at the Official GRE website. You should pick out a few and practice . Let’s say you’re going to practice for the Issue Task essay. Which topics should you pick? Is it […]
Doing GRE Reading Comprehension Exercises to Prepare for the Argument Essay
In the Analytical Writing section’s “Analyze an Argument” task, you’ll critique a short argument that’s being made for or against some prediction (“profits will rise”), explanation (“genetics is the cause”), recommendation (“repeal the ban”), or other topic of debate. Your directions may be to ferret out hidden assumptions or to identify evidence that could help […]
Official GRE Essay Practice: Strong vs. Outstanding on the Argument Essay
ScoreItNow! is an online writing practice service from ETS, maker of the GRE. For US$20, you can write two responses to real Analytical Writing prompts and have them scored by e-rater, the automated essay scoring software used to check GRE essay scores assigned by human raters. I signed up and wrote an Argument essay. The […]
Real-world prep for the GRE Reading Comprehension and the Argument Essay
A sizable chunk of the GRE requires you to think about arguments. Half of Analytical Writing is the Analyze an Argument task, and about half of Verbal Reasoning is Reading Comprehension, a question type that often uses argument-based passages. Conveniently, you can prepare for Reading Comp and the Argument Task simultaneously using free (and modestly […]