When gearing up for the GRE writing sections, it’s important for future graduate students to prepare for both the Issue Task and the Argument Task. The latter, however, requires more preparation, because this section exists to test students’ abilities for deconstructing a fallacious argument. And if they’re not used to doing so, this can prove to be a harrowing task.
What is the GRE Argument Essay?
The GRE Argument Task is a writing section in which test-takers are presented a declaration of some kind, often in the form of office memos, press-release-type statements, and other statements that come to some conclusion too abruptly or with many logic flaws.
All prompts will ask test-takers whether or not they find the argument “well-reasoned” or not. While it seems this question allows some room for “yes, I find it well-reasoned,” there will usually be at least 3 or 4 major flaws in logic within the statement presented.
After considering the prompt, test-takers must write out – in a sound and well-organized fashion – how the speaker of the statement has misled his or her audience. Because this obviously requires a bit of pre-writing thinking, it’s important not to jump in writing before working out what to say.
How to Write the GRE Argument Essays
First and foremost, the test-taker must carefully read the prompt that’s presented to him. Prompts will always be making claims that, on the surface, make a bit of sense. However, once the test-taker has read through it, he must identify the logic flaws (again, 3 or 4 of them).
This is where pre-writing comes in. Since there are only 30 minutes allotted to this task, this portion shouldn’t take up more than 3 minutes or so, so there’s enough time to construct the essay and proofread it at the end. The test-taker should jot down all the argument flaws, and try and keep the points and counter-points organized.
Here’s a sample prompt from the GRE Argument Task:
- "Our nation’s new college graduates will have better success obtaining jobs if they do not pursue advanced degrees after graduation. After all, more than 80 percent of State X’s undergraduate students are employed full-time within one year after they graduate, while less than half of State X’s graduate-level students find employment within one year after receiving their graduate degrees."
Go through sentence by sentence, if that helps. In this argument, the speaker automatically assumes that State X is representative of the nation as a whole, which is a generalization that may jump to irrational conclusion. Motivation from a state-to-state basis could be different, too, between graduates and undergraduates.
This argument is susceptible to unreliable statistic samples, which is a common logic problem in GRE argument essay prompts. The architects of the GRE are looking for students who can deconstruct and argument and find its flaws.
Other Types of Argument Flaws
There are many other kinds of argument flaws that students can run into in the GRE Argument Task section.
- Unreliable polling techniques
- Weak analogies
- Correlation vs. cause and effect (calling something a cause or an effect when there is only correlation)
- Over-generalizing
- Drawing a too-broad conclusion
- Circular reasoning
- Reliance on vague or ill-defined terminology
These are only a few logic flaws test-takers may run across when taking the GRE. It’s important to practice finding flaws in arguments before going in to take the test because without practice, this skill will not come easily. With a bit of GRE writing preparation, that high score of 6 should come a lot more easily.
For great practice, visit Educational Testing Service’s pool of argument topics.
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