Analytical Writing: The Analyze an Issue Task

Analytical Writing on the current GRE General Test consists of a single task: Analyze an Issue. An earlier second essay, "Analyze an Argument," was removed from the test some years ago and no longer appears -- if you encounter older prep material describing two Analytical Writing essays, it is describing an outdated version of the test. You have 30 minutes to respond to a general statement about a topic of broad interest, evaluating it critically and developing your own position with reasons and examples. Responses are scored 0-6 in half-point increments by trained human raters, typically alongside an automated scoring check.

A reliable structure has four parts: an introduction that clearly states your position on the issue, several body paragraphs each developing one distinct reason with specific support -- a concrete example, a plausible hypothetical scenario, or a clear logical explanation -- and a conclusion that reinforces your stated position without introducing brand-new claims. Strong responses often go a step further and briefly acknowledge a limitation or reasonable counterpoint before explaining why the overall position still holds -- this shows genuine critical evaluation rather than a one-sided restatement of an opinion.

Avoid three common weaknesses: simply restating the prompt's statement without ever clearly committing to your own position; relying on vague generalities ("this is important for society") instead of a specific example or concrete reasoning; and treating the task as a request to summarize both sides evenly with no thesis of your own -- Analyze an Issue explicitly wants your own evaluation and position, not a neutral summary.

Practice a full response using the Writing self-review tool on this course's exam-practice page, which includes rubric-based self-scoring you complete yourself -- VisaSparkSchools does not offer automated or AI grading and does not claim to predict any official GRE score.