About the Analytical Writing Section

Neither task tests your objective knowledge in a particular area or course of study. The prompts are meant to test how well you can both create and analyze persuasive arguments about topics of general interest. In fact, the topics are chosen specifically so that GRE test takers, no matter what field of study they plan to pursue or what special interests they have, can address the topic with no trouble. For the Issue task, you 

In addition to preparing for the test with the practice prompts on pages 68-71 of this book, you can help yourself prepare for the Analytical Writing section by familiarizing yourself with the collection of writing prompts from which your official prompt will be selected. The GRE program has published a complete list of writing prompts online. 

But do not get too excited—there are more than 300 prompts given for each task, and the wording might differ slightly when you see the prompt on the actual exam. So, while it is good to familiarize yourself with the prompts and even practice by answering or discussing some of them with friends, family, or teachers, you will not be able to have a stock answer ready for each prompt in the pool. 

To see the collection of Issue topics, go to www.GRE.org/issuetop.html. To see the collection of Argument topics, go to www.GRE.org/argutop.html. You can also write to the GRE Program to receive a hard copy of these topics at  

Finally, there is always the Help button, which you can click on during the test to review the directions and/or give you a summary of the tutorial however, keep in mind that this will take away from your precious test-taking time. It s best to be prepared if at all possible, familiarize yourself with the program before you go into the test. 

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