GRE Essay Topics and Score Calculator

Understanding the GRE Analytical Writing Section and Scoring Criteria

The GRE test is divided into different sections. These sections evaluate a candidate’s overall ability, and based on that, abroad-based academic institutes decide whether to allow the student. The core sections of the GRE test are verbal and quantitative reasoning, analytical writing, and critical interpretation. Every section determines the candidate’s vocabulary, numerical, reasoning, and analytical abilities. However, the most scoring section is the analytical writing section.

The analytical writing section in the GRE test evaluates critical thinking and analytical writing skills, reflected by the candidate’s ability to express complex ideas distinctly and effectively while maintaining a readable and focused discussion. Students often deviate from the fact that the test does not evaluate their content knowledge. Instead, the aim is to analyze the candidate’s clarity of thought.

Let us understand the analytical writing section of the test, the essay’s candidate must assess, and how the overall scoring calculator of the GRE test works.

GRE Analytical Writing section 

The analytical writing section consists of an issue and argument tasks. The writing section is graded between 0–6. The essays are written on a computer using a word processing program. The program does not contain a spell-checker or other advanced features. Therefore, candidates must be careful with the spelling and grammar of the essay. 

Issue Task

The candidate will be allocated 30 minutes to write an essay about a selected topic from several topics. Issue topics are selected from a pool of questions.

Argument Task

The candidate will be given an argument, a series of facts and considerations leading to a conclusion, and asked to write an essay analyzing the argument. Candidates are asked to consider the logic and propose suggestions about improving the argument’s logic. Candidates must address the argument’s flaws and refrain from providing personal opinions. The time assigned is 30 minutes. The Arguments are selected from a pool of topics published by the GRE Program.

List of GRE Essay Topics

Since the analytical writing section is divided into two parts, the topics are allotted to candidates in two parts. Let’s learn about them.

Essay topics for Issue Task:

Some of the topics for the issue task include,

• Education
• History
• Business
• Arts
• Politics

Essay topics for Argument Task:

For the essay topics in the Argument task, the candidates will be given a pool of topics from past or present issues. Candidates must write on any given essay topic and analyze a paragraph-length argument from the pool of issue topics provided to them. However, they are not required to present personal views on the topic. The candidate will briefly present the arguments with the author’s opinion or case. Candidates are required to determine if it is logically sound and evaluate the same.

Now that we have understood the essay candidates must present in the analytical writing section, let us explore the GRE test score calculator and understand how it works.

GRE Test score calculator

For Verbal and Quantitative Reasoning, the score is between 130 to 170. On the other hand, for Analytical writing,  the score on the GRE is between 0 to 6. The GRE score is calculated primarily focusing on the Verbal and Quantitative sections. Since the score range for Analytical writing is different, the calculation of the Analytical writing scores also differs. If no questions are attempted in a section, the candidate will receive a No Score for that particular section.

For calculation, the ETS first calculates raw scores. A raw score is the number of right-answered questions. Both the Verbal and Quantitative sections have 40 questions each. For example, if a candidate has answered all 40 questions correctly, the raw score will likely be 40. Later, this raw score is converted into a scaled score, which lies between 130 to 170, through equating. The process is carried out on the questions answered. Since the GRE is a computer-adaptive test, especially for Quantitative and Verbal sections, the scores are calculated based on their difficulty. Hence, some questions may have more weight. 

For the Analytical Writing section, the tasks are scored by one trained and an e-rater. The average of these two scores is used as the overall final score. In case of differences between the scores, the ETS assigns another trained rater to recheck the essays and takes the average of scores submitted by both the human raters.

Proper GRE guidance at Imperial Overseas.

GREs can be challenging for any aspiring student who wishes to pursue a master’s program abroad. But it is possible to attain a good score with the right guidance. Imperial overseas are ready to serve you in your journey to clear GREs and provide complete assistance, from course materials to preparation. Looking for guidance? Reach out to us or connect with us today.