Essential Tips for Improving Your GRE Writing Section

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Overview:

The GRE Writing section now consists of only one section – Issue Task. Your GRE begins with the writing section and it tests your ability to articulate your thoughts and ideas about a given topic – there is a pool of topics you can check out in the ETS website – in Standard English under 30 mins. Standard English doesn’t mean you have to be a scholar in English literature or Grammar; rather, the English that we have learnt during our school days should suffice. The ETS checks whether you are able to take a position on a given topic, supporting it with persuasive reasons and compelling evidence.

As is the case with many tests, scoring good in this writing assessment requires a strategic approach, a clear structure, ample practice, and objective evaluation.

Before we dive into the GRE exam preparation strategies, we need to understand how the GRE issue task is scored.

1. Understanding the Scoring Criteria in GRE Writing Section

   Issue Task is graded on a scale of 0-6 with half-point (0.5) increment, 1 being the lowest and 6 the highest. A good AWA score is anything above 4.0, though some universities may have a specific cut off.

   On what criteria do the graders evaluate your essay?

   1. Relevance

   2. Structure and Organization

   3. Reasons and compelling evidence

   4. Coherence

   5. Grammar and diction

2. Stick to the 1-3-1 template

   The 1-3-1 writing template is the universal writing template that is widely followed all over the world. 1-3-1 essay template is an effective and easily understandable structure for writing essays.

   What is 1-3-1 structure?

   1 Introduction

   3 Body paragraphs

   1 Conclusion

   Introduction: The very first paragraph is your Introduction paragraph in the writing section. The grader will simply look at your introduction and find out whether you have properly understood the given topic at hand and he will also know which position you have taken. So all you have to do in your introduction paragraph is as follows:

   1. Paraphrase the given prompt/statement in your own words.

   2. Provide a concession

   3. State your position categorically

   Body Paragraphs: The content you write in the body paragraphs forms the heart and soul of your essay. That decides how much you score out of 6. Each body paragraph should effectively present at least one primary reason and one detailed example which, combined together, support your position.

   Paragraph 1: Reason 1 + Example 1

   Paragraph 2: Reason 2 + Example 2

   Paragraph 3: Opposing arguments + revert to your position

   Conclusion: This is nothing but the repackaging – or reinforcement – of your introduction in different words.

3. Use the precious 30 mins smartly

   GRE Writing section is not a writing marathon where you have the luxury of time to write an essay with flowery language; rather, it is a fair assessment of your ability to build an argument on a given topic under the time stipulation – 30 mins.

   How smartly you utilise those 30 mins in writing a 5 para-essay comprising 450 odd words is no trivial matter. It requires proper dissection of those 30 mins:

   1-4 minutes: Brainstorm and have your rough draft ready

   5-26 minutes: Start typing your response

   27-30 minutes: Look for typos and grammar mistakes.

   Rough draft – What is my position + One reason/one example.

   Once you decide your position based on one concrete reason and example, start writing. The thoughts and ideas will continue to flow as you keep writing.

4. Present compelling examples

   The example you cite to strengthen your position makes up 2/3rd of your body paragraph. So when you illustrate your position with an example, make sure you give a detailed and relevant example. Some students may just mention an example superficially without digging deeper into the crux of that example. Also, the grader would appreciate your examples more if the examples came from art, literature, sports, history, geopolitics, current events. While a local example may not be frowned upon, a citation to Nelson Mandela may look more appealing to the grader than a local leader from your region.

5. Quality and Quantity

   The quality of your response is as important as your quantity. Writing just one quality point and signing off is just as bad as writing the same point in 10 different ways and styles.

   Since your essay is graded by both a human reader and a computer program (e-rater), you may be able to get past the human reader, but not the E-rater. Your essay is graded for both quality and quantity so it’s imperative that you maintain a perfect balance between the two.

6. Avoid extreme positions

   While most topics that appear on the AWA writing assessment may appear black or white, it is quite hard to stick to one side absolutely. No position is absolutely right or wrong. There is a room for acknowledging some limitations of your position or some pros of the other side. You can use the third body paragraph to present the counter-arguments and still present evidence to refute them. When you take a nuanced position accommodating conflicting perspectives, it showcases your ability to think critically.

7. Read Read Read

   You may have rich vocabulary at your disposal and sophisticated grammar rules in your kit, but what’s the point if you don’t have enough content to write about? You require a decent grip on general knowledge and a pulse on what is happening outside your cute isolated world. None writes anything in a vacuum. So today is the day you start reading articles, magazines, editorials, journals, critiques, research articles from various sources.

   In this digital world filled with digital libraries, it should not be a problem to find spaces where you can immerse yourself in an ocean of knowledge. If you are already an avid reader, keep reading. However, if you are not, now is the time to start reading as reading gives you content for your essay.

   No reading = No 4.0

8. Grammar and diction

   Though the graders are not grammar-nazis, consistent display of grammatical blunders can ruin your otherwise persuasive essay. There is nothing more unfortunate than a beautifully thought-out essay getting ruined by a series of grammatical errors as persistent grammatical errors can hijack the essence of your essay. As far as vocabulary is concerned, you can use some of the GRE words in your essay. However, AWA writing assessment is not a creative writing competition at Oxford. The quality of your argument is more important than your ability to use florid words, especially when you can employ simpler words effectively to drive the same point.

9. Practice and Evaluate

   Most Issue topics revolve around themes such as education, technology, government, environment, policies, ethics. Once you familiarize yourself with common topics from the ETS writing pool, it becomes relatively easy for you to practise. Set yourself a 30 min timer and start writing. Once the time is over, drop the pen and start evaluating on your own. If you can’t, seek feedback from your mentor or anyone who has a decent hold on the fundamentals of writing. You can also submit your response to the official ETS writing practice tool. This tool offers feedback on your responses to the prompts. You should have practised writing essays a lot prior to the main exam in such a way that your fingers start typing the moment you enter the exam centre.

10. No Plagiarism please

    In the digital world littered with AI inspired writing tools such as Chatgpt, Grok, Gemini, it is quite natural for us to seek inspiration or help from these tools. However, your response is your own ideas in your own words. Lifting responses from the internet, cramming them by heart, and then pouring them out onto the paper are strictly discouraged and it may even lead to disqualification.

    In sum, if you prepare for your GRE writing section or assessment with the above crucial points in mind, scoring above 4.0 out of 6.0 should not be a great challenge.

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