madison_7312

Issue Prompt: The luxuries and conveniences of contemporary life prevent people from developing into truly strong and independent individuals. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position. Issue Essay: In Anna Karenina, the philosophically driven Levin toils in the fields for months, living an ascetic life with his peasant field hands in order to understand the nature of hard work and sacrifice. Meanwhile, his peers in Moscow live the enjoyable, luxurious life of socialites, and become corrupted by greed and moral debasement. Tolstoy’s grand treatise on the nature of love and life underscores the idea that luxury and convenience makes people physically and emotionally weak, while physical labor strengthens the body and independent spirit. However, the luxuries and conveniences of modern life have had the opposite effect. Modern conveniences have allowed people to become more independent by furnishing increased opportunities for educational advancement and the use of services to satisfy basic human needs, freeing individuals to pursue their goals, work hard to achieve a luxurious lifestyle, and focus on strength and self improvement. Modern luxuries and conveniences have allowed individuals to invest in education and the pursuit of thought. Education allows individuals to exercise more independence, by permitting them to forge independent ideals and beliefs through informed decision making. Higher educational attainment frees individuals to develop character as well as to gain social standing by expanding the level of opportunity available. As a result, education is a luxury that allows knowledge seekers to advance in society as well as to care for themselves economically, leading to financial independence. This advancement is especially salient for young women, who have leveraged the opportunity to gain an education to become independent in society—a level of social status previously reserved almost exclusively for men in a society where women were precluded from educational opportunities and the ability to manage their own assets. Furthermore, the expansion of the service sector has permitted individuals to spend less time on menial tasks such as laundry and cleaning, and more time on the pursuit of moral and physically strengthening activities. Spending less time on basic labor frees time for cultural and social activities that cultivate the mind and strengthen the spirit, such as attending the opera or fostering interpersonal relationships through books clubs and community events. This has a similar impact on physical strength. In the absence of maintaining a completely self sufficient household, individuals can now purchase gym memberships and engage in group exercise classes to strengthen the body. Practices such as yoga and Pilates strive to strengthen both the body and the mind. Rather than farm for food, people now go to the supermarket; rather than raise their own livestock, people eat vegetarian or visit a butcher; washboards of old have been replaced with Laundromats. Modern conveniences allow people to focus on becoming independent thinkers and doers, innovating, and strengthening the mind and body through cultural and physical exercises. The emergence of the greatest convenience of all—technology—stymies this argument. Detractors of the cell phone and personal computer contend that these devices have made us more dependent on the luxuries of daily life than ever, and that rather than increase social strength through constant communication, these innovations weaken human ability to build interpersonal relationships face to face. Others adhere to Tolstoy’s argument that hard physical labor and a life bare of luxury is the only way to maintain spiritual independence and physical integrity. This idea contributes to the persistent ideal of the farmer as virtuous and wholesome, or working middle class as the heart of America. Yet despite these arguments, the gains made by modern conveniences in terms of time for independent pursuits reduce this argument to mere rhetoric. The luxuries and conveniences of modern life have expanded the human capacity for independent educational, social, cultural, and physical pursuit, allowing individuals to strengthen the mind and body through the freedom allotted by time for personal growth. Argument Prompt: According to a recent report, cheating among college and university students is on the rise. However, Groveton College has successfully reduced student cheating by adopting an honor code, which calls for students to agree not to cheat in their academic endeavors and to notify a faculty member if they suspect that others have cheated. Groveton's honor code replaced a system in which teachers closely monitored students; under that system, teachers reported an average of thirty cases of cheating per year. In the first year the honor code was in place, students reported twenty-one cases of cheating; five years later, this figure had dropped to fourteen. Moreover, in a recent survey, a majority of Groveton students said that they would be less likely to cheat with an honor code in place than without. Thus, all colleges and universities should adopt honor codes similar to Groveton's in order to decrease cheating among students. Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation. Argument Essay: The argument that all colleges and universities should adopt honor codes similar to Groveton’s in order to decrease instances of cheating among students hinges on several begs several questions. In order to evaluate this lofty claim, it is necessary to understand the demographic and nature of Groveton students compared to other students in the nation, how the honor code has been enforced and how students and teachers have reacted to it, what penalties are in place for students that are caught cheating and how these penalties have changed over time, and what constitutes a majority for the purposes of the survey of Groveton students. Firstly, this argument necessitates an investigation of the student body at Groveton compared to student bodies in other schools. This claim suggests that the Groveton honor code program should be applied to all colleges and universities, but it is likely that the demographics and nature of students at these schools differs vastly from Groveton. The honor code program at Groveton may have been more successful because Groveton students happen to have higher integrity than students at other universities. Perhaps it is more socioeconomically and ethnically diverse, which may impact how the honor code system functions. On the other hand, perhaps Groveton students have colluded to cheat the honor code system by deciding to ignore it, leading students to report less cheating with each passing year due to an implicit agreement between students not to blow the whistle on their classmates. Other universities may have different student populations, that would react differently to an honor code like the one applied at Groveton College. Therefore, it is a gross overstatement to imply that because a program worked at one school, it will de facto work at another school with very different student types and a different student body. Knowing how students react to the honor code system, and what types of students comprise a student body, will allow program managers to better assess how the program could apply to or be adapted for different schools, and to parse out the extent to which the program has actually been successful, as opposed to the extent to which students have worked together to protect each other. Additionally, it is important to know the size of Groveton College in order to assess if the honor code has actually driven lower levels of student cheating. Small class sizes may actually allow teachers to catch cheating more easily, rendering the honor code system less effective. However, if class sizes are large, the honor code system would be more likely to work because teachers cannot possibly monitor every individual student while proctoring. Knowing the class size would inform the application of this program to other schools, and may suggest the use of teaching assistants or additional proctors to monitor students. Understanding the punishments utilized by each school in order to limit cheating also serves to inform this claim, and question the extent to which the honor system has been successful. Have the changes in cheating levels at Groveton College been because of the honor code, or an increase in severity of punishments for cheaters, which might dissuade students from cheating? Do other schools have punishments so severe as to render the honor code obsolete? Knowing the answers to these questions will help to isolate the honor code as the variable contributing to a reduction in cheating, and how applicable this model is to different schools. Logistics also impact the applicability of the claim that the Groveton honor code model should be universally applied to all colleges and universities. The survey taken of students about cheating with an honor code in place as opposed to teacher monitoring cites that a “majority” of students would be less likely to cheat with an honor code, but this begs the question—what constitutes a majority? Without knowing survey metrics, how the questions were asked, who was asked and what the sample size was, and generally how the survey was done, it is difficult to apply survey results empirically to programs at other schools. Survey design may have been Groveton specific, meaning that results may indeed not be universally applicable. Furthermore, knowing what the Groveton honor code includes will inform which elements should be exported to other schools, if at all. If this honor code is specific to Groveton policies and students, it may not be exportable at all, and other schools should not anticipate that it will be successful on their campus because it was successful at Groveton. Finally, this claim exposes a major flaw insofar as teachers reported 30 students cheating, but students reported less. The difference between replying on student and teacher reports introduces variability into the argument, because students and teachers may have different metrics for reporting. This may confound results, which makes the data unreliable. In order to improve upon this, teacher and student reports of cheating before and after the introduction of the honor code should be simultaneously collected and compared, so as to maintain consistency and discover if there is a significant difference between student and teacher reporting, and the resultant efficacy of the honor code program. Without answers to the pressing logistical, survey bias, and design questions discussed above, it would be unwise to apply to Groveton College honor code module blindly to other universities. Interested universities should explore the answers to these questions in order to determine the extent to which the reduction of cheating at Groveton has been to the honor code, possible biases and survey design flaws that might skew the data, and how the honor code could be adapted from the Groveton model to serve the unique needs of their specific college or university.

Hi! I have written a sample GRE Issue (Essay #1) and Argument (Essay #2) essay, and would appreciate some feedback from someone who has scored essays before or has taken/ is familiar with the exam. Honesty appreciated! Thank you. Issue essay prompt: In any field of endeavor, it is impossible to make a significant contribution without first being strongly influenced by past achievements within that field. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position. Essay: Art and science have benefitted immensely from the influences and achievements of past greats. Yet, these fields continue to constantly move forward, calling their strict adherence to past influences into question. Renegade thinkers and dreamers have demonstrated that innovation emerges from thought that breaks from past work in any given field, opposing the notion that significant contributions are impossible without relying upon the influence of past achievements. Rather, historical achievements in the arts and sciences suggest that challenging accepted discourse encourages significant, novel achievement. Challenging the influence of accepted norms and past achievements in a field often augments innovation and discovery. The Impressionists exemplify this assertion. In post-Revolutionary France, prior artistic norms were rebuffed in favor of soft, fluid painting styles depicting nature scenes and the fleeting nature of light and color. No precedent existed in French artistic history—nor in global artistic tradition—to suggest the rise of the Impressionist school. Rather, deviating from the influences of past schools of art allowed a new, lasting style to flourish. The same might be said of Copernicus or Galileo. Both of these significant scientific figures actively strayed from accepted scientific dogma, influenced by past achievements insofar as they ignored them. As a result of deviating from the norm and the influences of the past, both men made lasting contributions to the physical sciences that have become dogmatic in their own right. Furthermore, important works may gain repute as a result of influences outside of their field, as well as within. Achievements in any field may thus become significant without narrowly relying on past accomplishments within their respective discipline. Modern architecture draws broadly from science, popular culture, social media, and various artistic traditions of the past to produce structures that both contribute significantly to the field of architecture, but do so by drawing on achievements in other fields. One salient example is the One World Trade Center in New York, which has incorporated architectural finesse and style with modern technology, interactive social media, and folklore through its inclusion of the nearby 9/11 museum. The amalgamation of influences from various fields has created a dynamic architectural feat uniquely significant within its burgeoning field. However, certain disciplines to require the influence of past work by nature. Calculus would prove impossible without the Mayan contribution of the zero, which redefined mathematics and remains integral to applied mathematical theory. It may suffice to concede that technical fields like mathematics and electrical engineering would be lost without the influences of past work in their respective fields, and rely on past influences to foster future innovation by nature of their practice. Film also demonstrates this important quality, as modern films often include pastiche from past important works, and filmmakers frequently reference their idols and influencers in modern work. This dialogue is prevalent throughout “The Artist,” which gained accolades due to its resurgence of black and white, silent film and historical influence. On the whole, while certain fields require a conversation with past works in order to make significant contributions, innovation emerges when works break from the mold of past influences and the restraints of their field. Argument essay prompt: The following is a recommendation from the Board of Directors of Monarch Books. "We recommend that Monarch Books open a café in its store. Monarch, having been in business at the same location for more than twenty years, has a large customer base because it is known for its wide selection of books on all subjects. Clearly, opening the café would attract more customers. Space could be made for the café by discontinuing the children's book section, which will probably become less popular given that the most recent national census indicated a significant decline in the percentage of the population under age ten. Opening a café will allow Monarch to attract more customers and better compete with Regal Books, which recently opened its own café." Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation. Essay: Many questions emerge to challenge the idea that Monarch Books will attract more customers and better compete with Regal Books as a result of opening an in store café. Namely, Monarch Books should consider if loyal Monarch customers are interested in a café and how reducing the selection of children’s books might limit the “wide selection of books” that Monarch prides itself on. Additionally, Monarch Books might reconsider the extent to which the national projected demographic shift will influence their business, and reassess the claim that Regal Books has begun to thrive due to the presence of a café. The first consideration that Monarch Books must evaluate concerns the demand amongst its customer base for a café. It may be that customers of this bookstore, which has been in the same location for 20 years, are not interested in making significant changes to a treasured community location, which has endured and demonstrated longevity in its current state. Opening a café within the bookstore may have the adverse effect of turning some longtime, loyal customers away from the store, as they may feel disconnected from its roots. A survey of frequent Monarch Books customers—who may potentially spread the news about Monarch Books by word of mouth, thus generating more business-- may provide valuable insight into the demand and desire for a café within the bookstore. Secondly, the insistence that national demographic shifts preclude lesser demand for children’s books, and thus justifies the removal of the children’s section in order to add the café, is fallacious. The fact that children under 10 are decreasing in growth nationally may not translate to the town where Monarch Books is located. Perhaps Monarch Books operates in a suburban area, where families are common and children are on the rise? In this case, the store would be foolish to eliminate its children’s book section in favor of a café, which would not cater to this family demographic. Extrapolating national statistics—and unsure or untested ones, to boot—to the community that Monarch Books serves is shortsighted, and may result in reduced business. The store additionally prides itself on its wide selection of books, which includes children’s books. Reducing the selection and variety of books available would undermine the very reason that Monarch cites for its continued success. In order to ensure that it retains variety and selection, Monarch Books should maintain the children’s section, and petition the local government for recent census data indicating how many families with young children reside in the surrounding area. Monarch Books should also reassess the success of its competitor, Regal Books’, café. Regal Books may thrive for any number of reasons. These may include receiving a first copy of a highly anticipated new novel, or introducing community performances of poetry and book readings. Regal Books may also be closer to where frequent readers reside, or have more competitive prices than Monarch Books. To attribute its competitor’s success to the inclusion of a café may neglect other important reasons, which Monarch may be able to adapt and utilize according to its community’s needs in order to gain profit without needing to overhaul the children’s book section to build a café. Finally, Monarch Books must consider the implicit question of cost before deciding to build a café. If the cost of a new café exceeds the annual revenue garnered by the store’s business, it may be unwise to invest in a café. Monarch Books might hire a financial analyst to model the capital gains and returns from investment that a new café would guarantee, in order to assess if the cost of building the new store feature would exceed the benefits gained by having to build, staff, and operate an in-store café. In order to compete with Regal Books, Monarch should engage in customer, financial, and demographic research before removing the children’s book section in order to build a café. It must assess questions pertaining to the logic of extrapolating national statistics to local demographics, the logic of building a café in its own neighborhood, and the added cost and competitiveness that will come with the addition of a café, in order to determine if building a new café is worth removing the children’s book section.

Hi! I have written a sample GRE Issue (Essay #1) and Argument (Essay #2) essay, and would appreciate some feedback from someone who has scored essays before or has taken/ is familiar with the exam. Honesty appreciated! Thank you. Issue essay prompt: In any field of endeavor, it is impossible to make a significant contribution without first being strongly influenced by past achievements within that field. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position. Essay: Art and science have benefitted immensely from the influences and achievements of past greats. Yet, these fields continue to constantly move forward, calling their strict adherence to past influences into question. Renegade thinkers and dreamers have demonstrated that innovation emerges from thought that breaks from past work in any given field, opposing the notion that significant contributions are impossible without relying upon the influence of past achievements. Rather, historical achievements in the arts and sciences suggest that challenging accepted discourse encourages significant, novel achievement. Challenging the influence of accepted norms and past achievements in a field often augments innovation and discovery. The Impressionists exemplify this assertion. In post-Revolutionary France, prior artistic norms were rebuffed in favor of soft, fluid painting styles depicting nature scenes and the fleeting nature of light and color. No precedent existed in French artistic history—nor in global artistic tradition—to suggest the rise of the Impressionist school. Rather, deviating from the influences of past schools of art allowed a new, lasting style to flourish. The same might be said of Copernicus or Galileo. Both of these significant scientific figures actively strayed from accepted scientific dogma, influenced by past achievements insofar as they ignored them. As a result of deviating from the norm and the influences of the past, both men made lasting contributions to the physical sciences that have become dogmatic in their own right. Furthermore, important works may gain repute as a result of influences outside of their field, as well as within. Achievements in any field may thus become significant without narrowly relying on past accomplishments within their respective discipline. Modern architecture draws broadly from science, popular culture, social media, and various artistic traditions of the past to produce structures that both contribute significantly to the field of architecture, but do so by drawing on achievements in other fields. One salient example is the One World Trade Center in New York, which has incorporated architectural finesse and style with modern technology, interactive social media, and folklore through its inclusion of the nearby 9/11 museum. The amalgamation of influences from various fields has created a dynamic architectural feat uniquely significant within its burgeoning field. However, certain disciplines to require the influence of past work by nature. Calculus would prove impossible without the Mayan contribution of the zero, which redefined mathematics and remains integral to applied mathematical theory. It may suffice to concede that technical fields like mathematics and electrical engineering would be lost without the influences of past work in their respective fields, and rely on past influences to foster future innovation by nature of their practice. Film also demonstrates this important quality, as modern films often include pastiche from past important works, and filmmakers frequently reference their idols and influencers in modern work. This dialogue is prevalent throughout “The Artist,” which gained accolades due to its resurgence of black and white, silent film and historical influence. On the whole, while certain fields require a conversation with past works in order to make significant contributions, innovation emerges when works break from the mold of past influences and the restraints of their field. Argument essay prompt: The following is a recommendation from the Board of Directors of Monarch Books. "We recommend that Monarch Books open a café in its store. Monarch, having been in business at the same location for more than twenty years, has a large customer base because it is known for its wide selection of books on all subjects. Clearly, opening the café would attract more customers. Space could be made for the café by discontinuing the children's book section, which will probably become less popular given that the most recent national census indicated a significant decline in the percentage of the population under age ten. Opening a café will allow Monarch to attract more customers and better compete with Regal Books, which recently opened its own café." Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation. Essay: Many questions emerge to challenge the idea that Monarch Books will attract more customers and better compete with Regal Books as a result of opening an in store café. Namely, Monarch Books should consider if loyal Monarch customers are interested in a café and how reducing the selection of children’s books might limit the “wide selection of books” that Monarch prides itself on. Additionally, Monarch Books might reconsider the extent to which the national projected demographic shift will influence their business, and reassess the claim that Regal Books has begun to thrive due to the presence of a café. The first consideration that Monarch Books must evaluate concerns the demand amongst its customer base for a café. It may be that customers of this bookstore, which has been in the same location for 20 years, are not interested in making significant changes to a treasured community location, which has endured and demonstrated longevity in its current state. Opening a café within the bookstore may have the adverse effect of turning some longtime, loyal customers away from the store, as they may feel disconnected from its roots. A survey of frequent Monarch Books customers—who may potentially spread the news about Monarch Books by word of mouth, thus generating more business-- may provide valuable insight into the demand and desire for a café within the bookstore. Secondly, the insistence that national demographic shifts preclude lesser demand for children’s books, and thus justifies the removal of the children’s section in order to add the café, is fallacious. The fact that children under 10 are decreasing in growth nationally may not translate to the town where Monarch Books is located. Perhaps Monarch Books operates in a suburban area, where families are common and children are on the rise? In this case, the store would be foolish to eliminate its children’s book section in favor of a café, which would not cater to this family demographic. Extrapolating national statistics—and unsure or untested ones, to boot—to the community that Monarch Books serves is shortsighted, and may result in reduced business. The store additionally prides itself on its wide selection of books, which includes children’s books. Reducing the selection and variety of books available would undermine the very reason that Monarch cites for its continued success. In order to ensure that it retains variety and selection, Monarch Books should maintain the children’s section, and petition the local government for recent census data indicating how many families with young children reside in the surrounding area. Monarch Books should also reassess the success of its competitor, Regal Books’, café. Regal Books may thrive for any number of reasons. These may include receiving a first copy of a highly anticipated new novel, or introducing community performances of poetry and book readings. Regal Books may also be closer to where frequent readers reside, or have more competitive prices than Monarch Books. To attribute its competitor’s success to the inclusion of a café may neglect other important reasons, which Monarch may be able to adapt and utilize according to its community’s needs in order to gain profit without needing to overhaul the children’s book section to build a café. Finally, Monarch Books must consider the implicit question of cost before deciding to build a café. If the cost of a new café exceeds the annual revenue garnered by the store’s business, it may be unwise to invest in a café. Monarch Books might hire a financial analyst to model the capital gains and returns from investment that a new café would guarantee, in order to assess if the cost of building the new store feature would exceed the benefits gained by having to build, staff, and operate an in-store café. In order to compete with Regal Books, Monarch should engage in customer, financial, and demographic research before removing the children’s book section in order to build a café. It must assess questions pertaining to the logic of extrapolating national statistics to local demographics, the logic of building a café in its own neighborhood, and the added cost and competitiveness that will come with the addition of a café, in order to determine if building a new café is worth removing the children’s book section.