1.

Education
These GRE writing prompts will ask you something about the
aims and objectives of essay writing. The emphasis is typically on
collegechoosing majors, tuition, curriculumthough you might
get a prompt relating to education at large.
All college and university students would benefit from spending
at least one semester studying in a foreign country.
Educational institutions have a responsibility to dissuade
students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely
to succeed.
Educational institutions should actively encourage their students
to choose fields of study that will prepare them for lucrative
careers.
A nation should require all of its students to study the same
national curriculum until they enter college.
Governments should offer a free university education to any
student who has been admitted to a university but who cannot
afford the tuition.
Universities should require every student to take a variety of
courses outside the students field of study.
Claim: Universities should require every student to take a
variety of courses outside the students major field of study.
Reason: Acquiring knowledge of various academic disciplines is
the best way to become truly educated.
Formal education tends to restrain our minds and spirits rather
than set them free.
Youll notice these prompts are all very similar. For instance,
there are two promptsthe ones beginning with educational
institutionsthat are almost identical. Though this list is not
exhaustive, in terms of education prompts that could pop up, it is
highly representative, as are the prompts for the categories
below. So if you practice with just a few prompts per category,
you should be ready.
Unsurprisingly, given that the GRE is a test for graduate school,
the education prompt tends to come up more often than any
other. I would recommend writing one of these essays on a
prompt that specifically mentions college and another that
doesnt (Formal education tendsfree is a good one because it
is probably the least related to the others).
2. Technology and society
As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems,
the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely
deteriorate.
The primary goal of technological advancement should be to
increase peoples efficiency so that they have more leisure time.
The increasingly rapid pace of life today causes more problems
than it solves.
Although innovations such as video, computers, and the
Internet seem to offer schools improved methods for instructing
students, these technologies all too often distract from real
learning. (this ones a hybrid with the education bucketcool!)
Some people believe that our ever-increasing use of technology
significantly reduces our opportunities for human interaction.
Other people believe that technology provides us with new and
better ways to communicate and connect with one another.
The human mind will always be superior to machines because
machines are only tools of human minds.
3. Cities
(I know this is a pretty random bucket but its what ETS
decrees)
To understand the most important characteristics of a society,
one must study its major cities.
Claim: Governments must ensure that their major cities receive
the financial support they need in order to thrive.
Reason: It is primarily in cities that a nations cultural traditions
are preserved and generated.
It is primarily in cities that a nations cultural traditions are
generated and preserved.
When old buildings stand on ground that modern planners feel
could be better used for modern purposes, modern development
should be given precedence over the preservation of historic
buildings.
The best way to solve environmental problems caused by
consumer-generated waste is for towns and cities to impose
strict limits on the amount of trash they will accept from each
household.
4. Arts
Some people believe that government funding of the arts is
necessary to ensure that the arts can flourish and be available to
all people. Others believe that government funding of the arts
threatens the integrity of the arts.
In order for any work of artfor example, a film, a novel, a
poem, or a songto have merit, it must be understandable to
most people.
Claim: Nations should suspend government funding for the arts
when significant numbers of their citizens are hungry or
unemployed.
Reason: It is inappropriateand, perhaps, even cruelto use
public resources to fund the arts when peoples basic needs are
not being met.
Nations should suspend government funding for the arts when
significant numbers of their citizens are hungry or unemployed.
5. Government and Power
The well-being of a society is enhanced when many of its people
question authority.
Claim: In any fieldbusiness, politics, education, government
those in power should step down after five years.
Reason: The surest path to success for any enterprise is
revitalization through new leadership.
Some people believe that government officials must carry out
the will of the people they serve. Others believe that officials
should base their decisions on their own judgment.
Some people believe that in order to thrive, a society must put
its own overall success before the well-being of its individual
citizens. Others believe that the well-being of a society can only
be measured by the general welfare of all its people.
Governments should not fund any scientific research whose
consequences are unclear.
Some people believe it is often necessary, even desirable, for
political leaders to withhold information from the public. Others
believe that the public has a right to be fully informed.
6. Intellectual Endeavors
In any field of inquiry, the beginner is more likely than the
expert to make important contributions.
The best ideas arise from a passionate interest in commonplace
things.
7. Philosophical
(For a lack of a better name though I guess Deep Thoughts by
ETS would work.)
As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more
comprehensible, but more complex and mysterious.
The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who
live after them, not by their contemporaries.
People who are the most deeply committed to an idea or policy
are also the most critical of it.
Many important discoveries or creations are accidental: it is
usually while seeking the answer to one question that we come
across the answer to another.
Claim: It is no longer possible for a society to regard any living
man or woman as a hero.
Reason: The reputation of anyone who is subjected to media
scrutiny will eventually be diminished.
How to practice using GRE writing prompts
Before you just start scribbling (or typing) a GRE essay, an
important word on organization:
The point here is to know what you are going to write before
writing it. The other way around, while tempting, can get you
into trouble with the clock. Sure, youll generate some smart
words right off the bat, but youll very likely write yourself into a
hole where you are repeating yourself. This kind of desperation
in which you dont have anything to say but are doing your
best to rephrase what you already said a sentence or two earlier
is not lost on the graders.
The first step is to brainstorm, taking a few minutes to first
come up with a position that is nuanced, instead of producing an
unequivocal yes or no to the issue question.
Next, you want to consider some possible
counterarguments to your position. In acknowledging them,
you are not weakening your position, as long as you show how
they are lacking. This kind of analysis will only strengthen your
position and it is the exact kind of analysis the graders usually
associate with 5 score and higher. Doing this will help you avoid
one of the biggest mistakes you can make on the Issue Essay
failing to provide support for your examples.
The good news is, coming up with arguments and
counterexamples for these GRE essay topics wont entail getting
a degree in art history, in the case of those prompts. You only
have to be able to be comfortable with a few examples, and
make sure you can effectively relate them to your analysis. After
all, the GRE Issue is not a test of knowledge as much as it is a
test of how you can use knowledge however limited to back
your position.
A few study tactics for using the GRE Issue
prompts
If establishing a nuanced position and coming up with
counterexamples to that position is difficult for you, dont worry!
Doing this is difficult for many, unless theyve had practice.
So instead of writing your entire essay, first sit down with a
prompt and practice coming up with a position and
counterexamples. To give yourself a little structure, start the
timer at 5 minutes. At first itll be difficult, but stick with it. Doing
three prompts each morning for a week or so will make the
process easier.
You can also go back to your notes after the five minutes are up
and think of ways they could have been improved. Again, being
patient and practicing daily will help make this process much
more natural. At that point, you can start writing full length
practice essays. And dont worry with almost 200 prompts,
you are not going to run out of practice material!