4
PRESENT YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON AN ISSUE TASK
SCREEN DIRECTIONS
The screen below shows the content of the CBT directions for the Issue task.
After selecting the topic, the test taker sees this screen:
Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task
5
STRATEGIES FOR THE “PRESENT YOUR PERSPECTIVE
ON AN ISSUE” TASK
Understanding the Issue Task
The “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” section of the test assesses your ability to think critically
about a topic of general interest and to clearly express your thoughts about it in writing. Each topic,
presented in quotation marks, makes a claim about an issue that test takers can discuss from various
perspectives and apply to many different situations or conditions. Your task is to present a compelling
case for your own position on the issue. The best approach to this task is read the topic carefully. Think
about the claim from several points of view, and then make notes about the position you want to take
and the main reasons and examples that you plan to develop more fully in your essay.
The Issue task gives you considerable latitude in the way you respond to the statement or claim made in
each topic. Although it is important that you address the central issue, you are free to take any
approach you wish. For example, you might
• agree absolutely with the claim, disagree completely, or agree with some parts and not others
• question the assumptions the statement seems to be making
• qualify any of its terms, especially if the way you define or apply a term is important to
developing your perspective on the issue
• point out why the claim is valid in some situations but not in others
• evaluate points of view that contrast with your own perspective
• develop your position with reasons that are supported by several relevant examples or by a
single extended example
The GRE readers scoring your response are not looking for a “right” answer — in fact, there is no
correct position to take. Instead, the readers are evaluating the skill with which you articulate and
develop an argument to support your position on the issue.
Understanding the Context for Writing: Purpose and Audience
The Issue task is an exercise in critical thinking and persuasive writing. The purpose of the task is to
see how well equipped you are to develop a compelling argument supporting your own perspective on
an issue and to effectively communicate that argument in writing to an academic audience. Your
audience consists of college and university faculty who are trained as GRE readers to apply the scoring
criteria identified in the scoring guide for “Present Your Perspective on an Issue.” (See page 9.)
To get a clearer idea of how GRE readers apply the Issue scoring criteria to actual essays, you might
want to review sample Issue essays and readers’ commentaries. The sample essays, particularly at the
5 and 6 score levels, will show you some successful strategies for organizing and developing a
persuasive argument. You will also see examples of particularly effective uses of language. The
readers’ commentaries discuss specific aspects of writing, such as the use of examples, development
and support, organization, language fluency, and effective word choice. These commentaries will point
out aspects that are particularly effective and persuasive as well as any that detract from the overall
effectiveness of the essay.
The Published Pool of “Issue” Topics
Everyone — even the most practiced and confident of writers — should spend some time preparing for
the GRE Writing Assessment before arriving at the testing site. To help you prepare for the test, the
Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task
6
GRE Program has published the entire pool of topics from which your test topics will be selected. You
might find it helpful to review the entire Issue pool and to discuss some of the topics with a friend or
teacher. You can download the published pool from the Web at www.gre.org/writing.html or you can
obtain a copy by writing to GRE Program, PO Box 6000, Princeton, NJ 08541-6000. The six Issue
topics used in POWERPREP were selected from this pool to represent the kinds of topics in the pool.
Preparing for the “Issue” Task
Because the Issue task is meant to assess the persuasive writing skills you have developed throughout
your education, it has been designed neither to require any particular course of study nor to advantage
students with a particular type of training. Many college textbooks on composition offer advice on
persuasive writing that you might find useful, but even this advice might be more technical and
specialized than you need for the Issue task. You will not be expected to know specific critical thinking
or writing terms or strategies; instead, you will need to know how to use reasons, evidence, and
examples effectively to support your position on an issue. Suppose, for instance, that an Issue topic
asks you to consider whether it is important for government to provide financial support for art
museums. If your position is that government should fund art museums, you might support your
position by discussing the reasons art is important and explain that museums are the places where art
is available to anyone. On the other hand, if your position is that government should not support
museums, you might point out that, given limited governmental funds, art museums are not as
deserving of governmental funding as are other institutions. Or, if you are in favor of government
funding for art museums only under certain conditions, your argument might focus on the artistic
criteria, cultural concerns, or political conditions that you think should determine how — or
whether — art museums receive government funds. It is not your position that matters so much as the
skills you display in developing your position.
Reviewing the “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” scoring guide will help you understand the kinds
of skills you need to display in your essay to earn a particular score. The scoring guide describes the
qualities of writing that characterize the responses at each score point.
An excellent way to prepare for the Issue task is to practice writing on some of the published topics.
There is no “best” approach: some people prefer to start practicing without regard to the 45-minute
time limit; others prefer to take a “timed test” first and practice within the time limit. No matter
which approach you take when you practice the Issue task, you should
• carefully read the claim made in the topic and make sure you understand the issue involved;
if an issue seems unclear, discuss it with a friend or teacher
• think about the issue in relation to your own ideas and experiences, to events you have read
about or observed, and to people you have known; this is the knowledge base from which you
will develop compelling reasons and examples in your argument that reinforce, negate, or
qualify the claim in some way
• decide what position on the issue you want to take and defend — remember you are free
to agree or disagree completely or to agree with some parts of the claim but not others
• decide what compelling evidence (reasons and examples) you can use to support your position
Remember that this is a task in critical thinking and persuasive writing. Therefore, you might find it
helpful to explore the complexity of a claim in one of the topics by asking yourself the following
questions:
• What, precisely, is the central issue?
• Do I agree with all or with any part of the claim? Why or why not?
Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task
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• Does the claim make certain assumptions? If so, are they reasonable?
• Is the claim valid only under certain conditions? If so, what are they?
• Do I need to explain how I interpret certain terms or concepts used in the claim?
• If I take a certain position on the issue, what reasons support my position?
• What examples — either real or hypothetical — could I use to illustrate those reasons and
advance my point of view? Which examples are most compelling?
Once you have decided on a position to defend, you should consider the perspective of others who
might not agree with your position. Ask yourself:
• What reasons might someone use to refute or undermine my position? How should I
acknowledge or defend against those views in my essay?
To plan your response, you might want to summarize your position and make brief notes about how
you will support the position you are going to take. When you have done this, look over your notes and
decide how you will organize your response. Then write an essay developing your position on the
issue. Even if you don’t write a full essay response, you should find it helpful to practice with a few of
the Issue topics and to sketch out your possible responses. After you have practiced with some of the
topics, you should try writing responses to some of the topics within the 45-minute time limit so that
you have a good idea of how to use your time in the actual test.
You might want to get some feedback on your essay(s) from a writing instructor or another instructor
who emphasizes writing in his or her courses. It might also be useful to trade papers on the same topic
with other students and discuss one another’s essays in relation to the scoring guide. Try to determine
how each paper meets or misses the criteria for each score point in the guide. Comparing your essay to
the scoring guide will help you see how and where you might need to improve.
GRE POWERPREP
®
software, version 2.0, will let you practice writing essays under simulated GRE
testing conditions, using the same GRE word processor and testing tools that appear on the test. You
can also review the tutorials for the word processor and testing tools at the GRE Web site,
www.gre.org/writing.html.
Deciding Which “Issue” Topic to Choose
Remember that at the testing site, the computer will select two topics from the published pool of topics;
you must choose one of these two. Because the 45-minute timing begins when you first see the two
topics, you should not spend too much time making a decision. Instead, try to choose fairly quickly the
issue that you feel better prepared to discuss.
Before making a choice, read each topic carefully. Then decide on which topic you could write a more
effective and well-reasoned essay. In making this decision, you might ask yourself:
• Which topic do I find more interesting or engaging?
• Which topic more closely relates to my own academic studies or other experiences?
• On which topic can I more clearly explain and defend my perspective?
• On which topic can I more readily think of strong reasons and examples to support my position?
Your answers to these questions should help you make your choice.
Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task
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Writing Your Essay in the Time Allowed
With this, as with any standardized essay writing assessment, it is important to budget your time.
Within the 45-minute time limit, you will need to allow sufficient time to choose one of the two topics,
think about the issue you’ve chosen, plan a response, and compose your essay. Although GRE readers
understand the time constraints under which you write and will consider your essay a “first draft,” you
still want it to be the best possible example of your writing that you can produce under the testing
circumstances. Save a few minutes to check for obvious errors. Although an occasional typographical
or spelling or grammatical error will not affect your score, severe and persistent errors will detract from
the overall effectiveness of your writing and thus lower your overall score.
The Form of Your Essay
You are free to organize and develop your essay in any way that you think will effectively
communicate your ideas about the issue. Your essay may, but need not, incorporate particular writing
strategies learned in English composition or writing-intensive college courses. GRE readers will not be
looking for a particular developmental strategy or mode of writing; in fact, when faculty are trained to
be GRE readers, they review hundreds of Issue essays that, although highly diverse in content and
form, display similar levels of critical thinking and persuasive writing. Readers will see, for example,
some Issue essays at the 6 score level that begin by briefly summarizing the writer’s position on the
issue and then explicitly announcing the main points to be argued. They will see others that lead the
reader into the writer’s position by making a prediction, asking a series of questions, describing a
scenario, or defining critical terms in the quotation. The readers know that a writer can earn a high
score by giving multiple examples or by presenting a single, extended example. You might want to
look at the sample Issue essays, particularly at the 5 and 6 score levels, to see how other writers have
successfully developed and organized their essays.
You should use as many or as few as you consider appropriate for your essay — for example, you will
probably need to create a new paragraph whenever your discussion shifts to a new cluster of ideas.
What matters is not the number of examples, the number of paragraphs, or the form your essay takes
but, rather, the cogency of your ideas about the issue and the clarity and skill with which you
communicate those ideas to academic readers within the context of the Issue task.
Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task
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GRE WRITING ASSESSMENT SCORING GUIDE:
PRESENT YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON AN ISSUE*
SCORE 6
A 6 paper presents a cogent, well-articulated analysis of
the complexities of the issue and demonstrates mastery of
the elements of effective writing. A typical paper in this
category
• develops a position on the issue with insightful
reasons and/or persuasive examples
• sustains a well-focused, well-organized discussion
• expresses ideas clearly and precisely
• uses language fluently, with varied sentence structure
and effective vocabulary
• demonstrates superior facility with the conventions
(grammar, usage, and mechanics) of
• standard written English but may have minor flaws
SCORE 5
A 5 paper presents a well-developed analysis of the
complexities of the issue and demonstrates a strong control
of the elements of effective writing. A typical paper in this
category
• develops a position on the issue with well-chosen
reasons and/or examples
• is focused and generally well organized
• expresses ideas clearly and well
• uses varied sentence structure and appropriate
vocabulary
• demonstrates facility with the conventions of standard
written English but may have minor flaws
SCORE 4
A 4 paper presents a competent analysis of the issue and
demonstrates adequate control of the elements of writing.
A typical paper in this category
• develops a position on the issue with relevant reasons
and/or examples
• is adequately organized
• expresses ideas clearly
• demonstrates adequate control of language but may
lack sentence variety
• demonstrates control of the conventions of standard
written English but may have some flaws
SCORE 3
A 3 paper demonstrates some competence in its analysis of
the issue and in its control of the elements of writing but is
plainly flawed. A typical paper in this category exhibits
one or more of the following characteristics:
• is vague or limited in developing a position on the
issue
• is weak in the use of relevant reasons or examples
• is poorly focused and/or poorly organized
• has problems expressing ideas clearly
• uses language imprecisely and/or lacks sentence
variety
• contains occasional major errors or frequent minor
errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics
SCORE 2
A
2 paper demonstrates serious weaknesses in analytical
writing. A typical paper in this category exhibits one or
more of the following characteristics:
• is unclear or seriously limited in developing a position
on the issue
• provides few, if any, relevant reasons or examples
• is unfocused and/or disorganized
• has serious and frequent problems in the use of
language and sentence structure
• contains numerous errors in grammar, usage, or
mechanics that interfere with meaning
SCORE 1
A 1 paper demonstrates fundamental deficiencies in
analytical writing skills. A typical paper in this category
exhibits one or more of the following characteristics:
• provides little evidence of the ability to develop or
organize a coherent response to the topic
• has severe and persistent errors in language and
sentence structure
• contains a pervasive pattern of errors in grammar,
usage, and mechanics that severely interferes with
meaning
SCORE 0
• Off topic, in a foreign language, merely copies the
topic, consists only of keystroke characters, or is
illegible, blank, or nonverbal
_________________________
*Developed with university faculty and approved by the GRE Writing Assessment Advisory Committee
Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task
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Six Sample Essays and Reader Comments
for the Following Issue Topic
*
“In our time, specialists of all kinds are highly overrated. We need more generalists —
people who can provide broad perspectives.”
Sample Essay - Score 6
In this era of rapid social and technological change leading to increasing life
complexity and psychological displacement, both positive and negative effects among persons
in Western society call for a balance in which there are both specialists and generalists.
Specialists are necessary in order to allow society as a whole to properly and usefully
assimilate the masses of new information and knowledge that have come out of research and
have been widely disseminated through mass global media. As the head of Pharmacology at
my university once said (and I paraphrase):"I can only research what I do because there are so
many who have come before me to whom I can turn for basic knowledge. It is only because of
each of the narrowly focussed individuals at each step that a full and true understanding of the
complexities of life can be had. Each person can only hold enough knowledge to add one small
rung to the ladder, but together we can climb to the moon." This illustrates the point that our
societies level of knowledge and technology is at a stage in which there simply must be
specialists in order for our society to take advantage of the information available to us.
Simply put, without specialists, our society would find itself bogged down in the
Sargasso sea of information overload. While it was fine for early physicists to learn and
understand the few laws and ideas that existed during their times, now, no one individual can
possibly digest and assimilate all of the knowledge in any given area.
On the other hand, Over specialization means narrow focii in which people can lose the
larger picture. No one can hope to understand the human body by only inspecting one's own
toe-nails. What we learn from a narrow focus may be internally logically coherent but may be
irrelevant or fallacious within the framework of a broader perspective. Further, if we inspect
only our toe-nails, we may conclude that the whole body is hard and white. Useful conclusions
and thus perhaps useful inventions must come by sharing among specialists. Simply throwing
out various discovieries means we have a pile of useless discoveries, it is only when one can
make with them a mosaic that we can see that they may form a picture.
Not only may over-specialization be dangerous in terms of the truth, purity and
cohesion of knowledge, but it can also serve to drown moral or universall issues. Generalists
and only generalists can see a broad enough picture to realize and introduce to the world the
*Note: All of these sample essays are reproduced as written, although reformatted for this document.
Misspellings, typos, grammatical errors, etc., have been retained from the originals.
Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task
11
problems of the environment. With specialization, each person focusses on their research
and their goals. Thus, industrialization, expansion, and new technologies are driven ahead.
Meanwhile no individual can see the wholisitc view of our global existence in which true
advancement may mean stifling individual specialists for the greater good of all.
Finally, over-specialization in a people's daily lives and jobs has meant personal and
psychological compartmentalization. People are forced into pigeon holes early in life (at least
by university) and must conciously attempt to consume external forms of stimuli and
information in order not to be lost in their small and isolated universe. Not only does this make
for narrowly focussed and generally pooprly-educated individuals, but it guarantees a sense of
loss of community, often followed by a feeling of psychological displacement and personal
dissatisfaction.
Without generalists, society becomes inward-looking and eventually inefficient.
Without a society that recongnizes the impotance of braod-mindedness and fora for sharing
generalities, individuals become isolated. Thus, while our form of society necessitates
specialists, generalists are equally important. Specialists drive us forward in a series of thrusts
while generalists make sure we are still on the jousting field and know what the stakes are.
Commentary for Sample 6 Essay
This is an outstanding response — insightful, well reasoned, and highly effective in its
use of language. The introductory paragraph announces the writer's position on the issue and
provides the context within which the writer will develop that position: "In this era of rapid
social and technological change leading to increasing life complexity and psychological
displacement . . . ."
The argument itself has two parts. The first part presents a compelling case for
specialization, primarily in the field of medicine. The second part presents an equally
compelling, well-organized case against overspecialization based on three main reasons:
• logical (narrowly trained specialists often fail to understand the whole)
• moral (usually generalists understand what is needed for "the greater
good")
• personal (specializing/pigeonholing too early can be psychologically damaging)
The argument's careful line of reasoning is further strengthened by the skillful use of
expert testimony (quotation from a prominent medical researcher) and vivid metaphor (to
inspect only one's toenails is to ignore the whole body).
It is not only the reasoning that distinguishes this essay. The language is precise and
often the figurative ("bogged down in a Sargasso sea of information overload," "a pile of
useless discoveries," and "specialists drive us forward in a series of thrusts, while generalists
make sure we are still on the jousting field"). The reader is constantly guided through the
argument by transitional phrases and ideas that help organize the essay and move the argument
forward. This is an exceptionally fine response to the topic.
Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task
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Sample Essay - Score 5
Specialists are not overrated today. More generalists may be needed, but not to
overshadow the specialists. Generalists can provide a great deal of information on many topics
of interest with a broad range of ideas. People who look at the overall view of things can help
with some of the large problems our society faces today. But specialists are necessary to gain a
better understanding of more in depth methods to solve problems or fixing things.
One good example of why specialists are not overrated is in the medical field. Doctors
are necessary for people to live healthy lives. When a person is sick, he may go to a general
practitioner to find out the cause of his problems. Usually, this kind of "generalized" doctor
can help most ailments with simple and effective treatments. Sometimes, though, a sickness
may go beyond a family doctor's knowledge or the prescribed treatments don't work the way
they should. When a sickness progresses or becomes diagnosed as a disease that requires more
care than a family doctor can provide, he may be referred to a specialist. For instance, a person
with constant breathing problems that require hospitalization may be suggested to visit an
asthma specialist. Since a family doctor has a great deal of knowledge of medicine, he can
decide when his methods are not effective and the patient needs to see someone who knows
more about the specific problem; someone who knows how it begins, progresses, and specified
treatments. This is an excellent example of how a generalied person may not be equipped
enough to handle something as well as a specialized one can.
Another example of a specialist who is needed instead of a generalist involves teaching.
In grammar school, children learn all the basic principles of reading, writing, and arithematic.
But as children get older and progress in school, they gain a better understanding of the
language and mathematical processes. As the years in school increase, they need to learn more
and more specifics and details about various subjects. They start out by learning basic math
concepts such as addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. A few years later, they are
ready to begin algebraic concepts, geometry, and calculus. They are also ready to learn more
advanced vocabulary, the principles of how all life is composed and how it functions. One
teacher or professor can not provide as much in depth discussion on all of these topics as well
as one who has learned the specifics and studied mainly to know everything that is currently
known about one of these subjects. Generalized teachers are required to begin molding
students at a very early age so they can get ready for the future ahead of them in gaining more
facts about the basic subjects and finding out new facts on the old ones.
These are only two examples of why specialists are not highly overrated and more
generalists are not necessary to the point of overshadowing them. Generalists are needed to
give the public a broad understanding of some things. But, specialists are important to help
maintain the status, health, and safety of our society. Specialists are very necessary.
Commentary for Sample 5 Essay
The essay presents a well-developed analysis of the complexities of the issue by
discussing the need for both the generalist and the specialist.
This writer's argument is rooted in two extended examples, both well chosen and
effective. The first (paragraph 2) begins with a discussion of the necessity for medical
Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task
13
generalists (the general practitioner) as well as specialists and moves into an example within
the example (breathing problems and the need for an asthma specialist). This extension from
the general to the specific characterizes the example in the next paragraph as well. There, the
discussion centers on education from elementary to high school, from basic arithmetic to
calculus.
Smoothness of development is aided by the use of good transitions: "but," "usually,"
and "for instance," among others. The essay ends by revisiting the writer's thesis.
While the writer handles both language and syntax well, some bothersome problems
keep this otherwise well-argued response out of the 6 category. The problems vary from the
lack of a pronoun referent ("When a sickness progresses or becomes diagnosed, . . . he may be
referred to a specialist") to an error in parallel structure (". . . how it begins, progresses and
specified treatments"), to loose syntax and imprecise language ("Generalized teachers are
required to begin molding students at a very early age so they can get ready for the future
ahead of them in gaining more facts about the basic subjects . . .").
Sample Essay - Score 4
Specialists are just what their name says: people who specialize in one part of a very
general scheme of things. A person can't know everything there is to know about everything.
This is why specialists are helpful. You can take one general concept and divide it up three
ways and have three fully developed different concepts instead of one general concept that no
one really knows about. Isn't it better to really know something well, than to know everything
half-way.
Take a special ed teacher compared to a general ed teacher. The general ed teacher
knows how to deal with most students. She knows how to teach a subject to a student that is
on a normal level. But what would happen to the child in the back of the room with dyslexia?
She would be so lost in that general ed classroom that she would not only not learn, but be
frustrated and quite possibly, have low self-esteem and hate school. If there is a special ed
teacher there who specializes in children with learning disabilities, she can teach the general ed
teacher how to cope with this student as well as modify the curriculum so that the student can
learn along with the others. The special ed teacher can also take that child for a few hours each
day and work with her on her reading difficulty one-on-one, which a general ed teacher never
would have time to do.
A general ed teacher can't know what a special ed teacher knows and a special ed
teacher can't know what a general ed teacher knows. But the two of them working together
and specializing in their own things can really get a lot more accomplished. The special ed
teacher is also trained to work on the child's self-esteem, which has a big part in how
successful this child will be. Every child in the United States of America has the right to an
equal education. How can a child with a learning disability receive the same equal education
as a general ed student if there was no specialist there to help both teacher and child?
Another thing to consider is how a committee is supposed to work together. Each
person has a special task to accomplish and when these people all come together, with their
tasks finished, every aspect of the community's work is completely covered. Nothing is left
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