What was your GRE Issue essay topic?

[flanders]

I am doing prep right now to take the GRE at the end of the month. I was just wondering if anyone would share what the topic was for the Issue essay they had to write about on the test was? I'm looking through all of the possible topics on the GRE website, but just curious which ones people actually got.

(By the way, I have no idea if it's against the GRE rules to share this information, so if it is, please forgive my ignorance in asking.)

[harrypotter]

http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/issue/pool

Prepare at least 3 or 4 essays from the list of topics in the pool given by ETS.

There is no point in mugging up essays.

Just keep a simple template with you and you will do well in AWA.

All the best.

[edost]

I remember signing something that required that I don't reveal the questions I got. Regardless, though, it doesn't really matter what others were asked, since the chances that you'll get that same topic are equal to the chances that you'll get any other topic on ETS's website.

[zea mays]

Read the link that the pp provided. The question I was asked is on that list, so I imagine that's and excellent resource.

[Helpplease123]

Just checked and mine is on that list too...I wouldn't worry about the content so much as making sure you have a good writing style, you can't memorise facts for every topic and a perfect score can be achieved with common sense in terms of the content (I say this because I had no particular information on my topic, just wrote general knowledge type content and got a 6)...I think practicing how you write is more important.

[Rachel B]

Mine is also on the list. It was actually very, very similar to what I had to write about for the ACT exam about 6 years ago!

[MCS_aspirant]

http://www.ets.org/g...ting/issue/pool

Prepare at least 3 or 4 essays from the list of topics in the pool given by ETS.

There is no point in mugging up essays.

Just keep a simple template with you and you will do well in AWA.

All the best.

I am really surprised that ETS has given you a pool of topics, and "when you take the test, you will be presented with one Issue topic from this pool."

I never came across anything like this while I took my GRE in mid 2011 (old version). Is this pool a new thing, or it has been around forever?

If I knew about this 'pool', I probably would have a much better AWA score

[Helpplease123]

I am really surprised that ETS has given you a pool of topics, and "when you take the test, you will be presented with one Issue topic from this pool."

I never came across anything like this while I took my GRE in mid 2011 (old version). Is this pool a new thing, or it has been around forever?

If I knew about this 'pool', I probably would have a much better AWA score

How? It's not testing your knowledge of the topic but your writing style/abilities...the topic isn't hugely relevant from my experience.

[Lyra Belacqua]

There are definitely topics on the list that I wouldn't be able to say anything intelligent about -- either because I have no opinion on the topic or because any answer I could think of giving would be based on emotion and not reason. I found the one that I did last year (the one that's basically about the noble lie); I took the old exam, so I had a choice between two (I don't remember what the other alternative was, except that I would have been pretty dismayed to have come up with an answer for it). That page on the website with the pool did exist before I took the exam, but I didn't look at it. I probably should have, and I was lucky to get a topic I felt like I could write something about.

[Chrysanthemum]

My topic was from the pool as well. I thought it was a ridiculous question.

[MCS_aspirant]

My topic was from the pool as well. I thought it was a ridiculous question.

The entire test of GRE is ridiculous, each and every part of it.

[Helpplease123]

The entire test of GRE is ridiculous, each and every part of it.

Which of your results were you not happy with? You think they were too low or too high based on your abilities?

[MCS_aspirant]

Which of your results were you not happy with? You think they were too low or too high based on your abilities?

I am extremely happy with my results, especially since English is not my first language.

I am unhappy because it can be easily 'cracked'. I simply memorized 4000 words and pulled off a 93 percentile on verbal. Now, it doesn't imply that I have a superior understanding of anything (and I gladly don't remember even one word of those 4000).

Another thing- I am in aerospace. I will give you a stack of 100 journal papers in aero, and not in a single one of them will you find a single word that I was asked to find the synonym/antonym of in GRE. Piquancy, Discommode, Vicissitude? Hello.... I am an aerospace engineer.

After all, GRE didn't even come close to testing my any of my ability. The time I spent on GRE could have been spent on something productive, say the biographies of college drop-outs.

[Helpplease123]

I am extremely happy with my results, especially since English is not my first language.

I am unhappy because it can be easily 'cracked'. I simply memorized 4000 words and pulled off a 93 percentile on verbal. Now, it doesn't imply that I have a superior understanding of anything (and I gladly don't remember even one word of those 4000).

Another thing- I am in aerospace. I will give you a stack of 100 journal papers in aero, and not in a single one of them will you find a single word that I was asked to find the synonym/antonym of in GRE. Piquancy, Discommode, Vicissitude? Hello.... I am an aerospace engineer.

After all, GRE didn't even come close to testing my any of my ability. The time I spent on GRE could have been spent on something productive, say the biographies of college drop-outs.

I doubt Aerospace admissions teams look very closely at your Verbal scores beyond a minimum threshold, for the reasons you pointed out. As you said, vocab learning is not a great measure of aptitude, which I imagine is why there is very little of it in the new test and those questions that are, allow you to use contexts and intuition rather than just memory. I imagine some programs look at one section, others another and some more general subjects look at both...clearly it is most important that you do well in the section most relevant to your degree.

I think a lot of people with lower scores will disagree that it can be "cracked" - as they didn't, despite probably wanting to. On the other hand most native English speakers probably have an inflated verbal percentile due to the amount of non-native speakers taking the test and some may have inflated quant percentiles due to the amount of History, English etc. majors taking the test, who aren't interested in that portion of the test (for reasons already mentioned).

Devaluing other peoples scores that they may have worked hard for and be proud of, by basically implying that the test is a piece of rubbish isn't really necessary though. Clearly it is not a waste of time or it would not exist/admissions committees would not ask for it. Maybe people place more emphasis on it than they need to, maybe you shouldn't have bothered to learn 4000 words BUT the fundamental testing of someones abilities to take maths formulas and apply them to a variety of problems, their abilities to decipher the meaning of an unclear piece of text or their ability to structure a coherent essay (which I don't think has anything to do with knowledge of the topic - I knew nothing about mine), can provide useful information on a candidates general aptitude. For example, if they need a boost having messed around during undergrad, leading to a lower GPA. There are of course flaws such as mentioned before, English not your first language, a History major who hasn't done maths since high school etc. but the admissions take these into account and can use the scores to get an overview of how capable a candidate is in the areas they're interested in.