2.1 Analytical Writing Overview & 'Analyze an Issue' Task

2.1 Analytical Writing Overview & 'Analyze an Issue' Task

Quick Answer: The GRE Analytical Writing measure is a 30-minute, single-task section that always opens the test. You write one 'Analyze an Issue' essay, scored 0-6 in half-point increments by trained human raters and the ETS e-rater automated engine. The Argument task was removed September 22, 2023.

What the AW Measure Is

The Analytical Writing (AW) measure is the first section every GRE test taker encounters. It is a single 30-minute writing task called 'Analyze an Issue.' The AW measure is not section-level adaptive — only the Verbal and Quantitative measures are — so your performance on the essay does not change the difficulty of later sections. It does contribute an independent AW score on the 0-6 scale that graduate programs review alongside your Verbal and Quantitative scores.

The Post-September 2023 Change

On September 22, 2023, ETS shortened the GRE General Test. As part of that change, the 'Analyze an Argument' task was removed entirely, along with the unscored research section. Before that date the AW measure contained two 30-minute essays (Issue and Argument); today it contains only the Issue task. Any prep material that asks you to write two essays is out of date. Total AW time is now 30 minutes, not 60.

The 'Analyze an Issue' Task

The task presents two things on screen:

1. A brief opinion statement on a topic of general interest (the 'issue prompt').
2. A specific writing instruction that tells you how to frame your response.

A representative prompt looks like this:

'Universities should require every student to take at least one course in the creative arts, even if the student's major has no obvious connection to the arts.'

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.

Your job is to take a position on the issue, consider its complexities, and build an argument supported by reasons and examples. The instruction line is not boilerplate — it changes the task. Some instructions ask you to consider ways your view could be challenged; others ask you to consider the circumstances in which the claim would hold or fail. Always re-read the instruction before you draft.

Where the Topics Come From

ETS draws Issue prompts from a published pool that spans fine arts, humanities, social sciences, and physical sciences. Critically, no prompt requires specialized content knowledge — every prompt is accessible to any test taker. ETS validates each task by giving it to actual GRE test takers before it counts, ensuring the prompt is fair and that average writers can produce a reasonable response in 30 minutes.

Because ETS publishes the entire Issue Topic pool as a PDF, your actual test task comes from that pool. Reviewing the pool before test day is one of the highest-leverage prep moves you can make: you cannot memorize answers, but you can become familiar with the phrasings, the instructions, and the kinds of examples that work.

The On-Screen Word Processor

You write in a basic ETS word processor with these features and only these features:

• Insert text, delete text, cut, copy, paste, undo
• Scroll through your essay

What it does NOT have:

• No spellchecker
• No grammar checker
• No auto-correct
• No formatting (bold, italics, headers) beyond paragraph breaks

This matters because typos and grammar slips are not flagged for you. Save two to three minutes at the end to proofread — many 4.0 essays drop to 3.5 because of avoidable mechanical errors that a 60-second read-through would catch.

Scoring at a Glance

AW essays are scored 0-6 in half-point increments on a holistic scale. Two trained human raters independently score each essay; if their scores agree or differ by no more than one point, the final AW score is the average. If they differ by more than one point, a third human rater adjudicates. The e-rater automated scoring engine — developed by ETS — runs in parallel and identifies essay features related to writing proficiency (sentence variety, vocabulary use, grammar patterns, essay length). Its score is combined with the human scores according to ETS's scoring rules.

AW Percentiles (July 2022 – June 2025 window)

A 4.0 (63rd percentile) is a competent essay above the test-taker median; a 5.0 (93rd percentile) is a strong, well-organized essay that most graduate programs will accept; a 6.0 is rare and reflects genuinely insightful analysis.

Score Level Descriptions (from the ETS Guide to the Use of Scores)

What ETS Is Looking For

The ETS scoring guide for the Issue task emphasizes five things:

1. Articulate a clear position on the issue
2. Develop the position with compelling reasons and examples
3. Support with logical analysis
4. Acknowledge counterarguments where appropriate
5. Control language and conventions

The single most common failure mode is staying neutral. A 6.0 essay 'sustains insightful, well-focused' ideas — that requires taking a side and defending it, not listing pros and cons. A second common failure is misreading the instruction: if the prompt asks you to address the strongest objections to your view and you do not, you cannot reach the upper score bands no matter how well you write.