GRE Analytical Writing Section: Essay Topics, Tips, and Scoring Guide 2025

Updated on, Oct 27, 2025

GRE Analytical Writing section assesses your critical thinking and analytical writing skills, by assessing your ability to:

explain and support complext ideas,
build arguments, and
make decisions.

The Analytical Writing section in GRE includes an Analyze an Issue task. You will be given 30 minutes to write an essay based on a given issue. A perfect GRE Analytical Writing score depends on your writing structure and word limits. Make sure to write the essay between 500 and 600 words within 4 to 5 paragraphs. If you are targeting the top-ranked universities, a good score of above 4.5 is recommended for the AWA section.

GRE_Analytical_Writing

Table of Contents

AWA Topics
Issue Essay Format
Question Examples
AWA Score
Sample Questions

GRE AWA Topics

The GRE AWA section consists of a 30-minute analyze an issue task. This section evaluates critical thinking and analytical abilities. There is no pattern of GRE AWA questions. You must check the updated GRE exam pattern to undertand trhe recent changes. A few common topics for GRE analyze an issue are:

Technology and Society
Education
Arts
Intellectual Endeavours
Government and power
Cities
Philosophy

GRE Issue Essay Format

GRE AWA essay on an issue must be written in 500-600 words. The common topics are of general interest which can be discussed from various perspectives. Remember there are no absolute correct answers in GRE AWA. GRE Analyze an issue is a task which tests your critical thinking skills on a common topic. You are expected to convey your decision with compelling reasons. Before writing your response go through the instructions in detail and make a rough plan of your answer. The instructions can be of the following types:

Explain with reasons why you agree or disagree with the given statement. Consider the different perspectives for which the statement may be true or false.
Explain your position on the given recommendation with reasons and examples.
Write a compelling response discussing the extent of your agreement or disagreement with the given claim
Write a response with reasons explaining your position. You need to discuss both the arguments presented.
Explain with reasons your position on the given claim.
Write a response explaining the consequences of the given policy and how they shaped your decision.

Tips for Writing GRE Issue Essay

The basic GRE Issue Tips include- choosing a side, producing relevant and specific examples, and using strong and declarative sentences. Here are some Issue tips for AWA GRE that candidates can incorporate in GRE writings:

Start by Practicing GRE Issue Essays: The GRE issue task asks candidates to provide their ideas about a topic of general interest. GRE AWA tips ask candidates to practice GRE writing of a minimum of three essays will help candidates in managing their time, knowing the types of prompts, and the facts required to write.
Pick One Side: Candidates have to support only one side of the prompt. Talking for both sides will make their essay weak, and make it appear unclear. The examiner assesses the way the candidate defends the statement. Learning from AWA GRE tips and examples will help candidates in writing properly.
Provide Relevant Examples: GRE AWA tips help candidates in providing relevant examples that will support the essay. Candidates are required to provide examples only to support their essay and not cover the major part. They can use examples from a wide range like business, arts, history, and more.
Follow a Structured Pattern in GRE Issue Essay: A properly organized essay is one of the major GRE AWA tips. Examiners prefer seeing a structured essay to a haphazard one. It provides clarity to the readers and also increases the GRE AWA score.

GRE AWA Practice Questions

GRE AWA essays do repeat questions from their previous question bank. Hence practicing GRE analytical writing examples can ensure a good GRE score. Further, analysing AWA GRE examples enables candidates to get a better understanding. Check the GRE example essays that include GRE Issue Essay Task examples and GRE Argument Essay examples below:

AWA GRE Issue Essay Task Sample Questions

GRE AWA Scoring

GRE scores will be available on the official ETS website within 8-10 days after the exam date. The analytical writing GRE score ranges between 0 and 6.0. GRE score is valid for five years, candidates need to submit or send their additional score reports to their desired institutions within this validity period to get a successful admission. Let’s discuss the parameters that ETS search for when grading your AWA essays:

GRE AWA Score	Explanation
6 – Outstanding	Clear identification of the most important features of the argument with deep analysis. Looks for cogent ideas, logical organization, and connecting them properly without sudden transitions. Strongly supports the main points of the critique. Demonstrates superior control of the English language, sentence formation, spelling, grammar, and GRE vocabulary and the variety used in standard written English. Few to no flaws in the writing.
5 – Strong	Clearly, identification of the important features of the argument and analyzes them thoughtfully. Develops ideas clearly, and connects them logically, with appropriate transitions. Gives very sensible support to the main points of the critique. Has clear control of language, GRE grammar, including diction and syntactic variety It may have minor flaws like spelling errors, but no major flaws.
4 – Adequate	Capable of identifying and analyzing the main features of the argument. Develops and organizes ideas satisfactorily, but some important connections and transitions may be missing. Supports the main points of the critique. Demonstrates sufficient control of language, but may lack syntactic variety. May have many minor flaws or some major flaws.
3 – Limited	Does not identify or analyze many of the important features of the argument. Has limited logical development and no proper organization of ideas. Offers support of little relevance and value for points of the critique Uses language imprecisely and/or lacks sentence variety Contains occasional major errors or frequent minor errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics.
2 – Seriously Flawed	Demonstrates no understanding of the main features of the argument. Almost no analyses of the main points have been made. Does not develop any ideas or is disorganized Provides zero to few relevant pieces of evidence. Has frequent serious problems in the use of language, grammar, spelling, and sentence structure.
1 – Fundamentally Deficient	Provides little to no evidence of the ability to understand and analyze the main idea. Failure to develop an organized response. Contains severe and persistent errors in language and sentence structure Has an unusually frequent pattern of errors in grammar, usage, and logic. A totally incoherent response.
0 – Unscorable	The responses are off-topic. The responses are written in a language other than English. The responses are a mere copy of the given topic. The responses consist only of random keystroke characters. No response.

GRE AWA Score Based on Essay Length

You will be given 30 minutes to evaluate and write an essay on an issue. Your GRE AWA score depends on the essay's word limit and structure. A perfect GRE issue essay must be written within 500 to 600 words, divided into 4 to 5 paragraphs.

GRE_AWA_Score

GRE Analytical Writing Practice Papers

To ace the Analytical Writing Test, applicants must practice samples of GRE AWA. You can practice GRE AWA questions by following ETS official website. There are many best and most reputed websites and online apps available that offer comprehensive and updated GRE questions. Along with GRE AWA essay practice questions go through the sample questions given below.

GRE Analytical Writing Practice Papers 2025
Sample GRE Issue Essay 1	Sample GRE Issue Essay 1
Sample GRE Issue Essay 1	Sample GRE Issue Essay 1
Sample GRE Issue Essay 1	Sample GRE Issue Essay 1
Sample GRE Issue Essay 1	Sample GRE Issue Essay 1
Sample GRE Issue Essay 1	Sample GRE Issue Essay 1

Candidates must do AWA practice GRE more and more to attain good GRE scores in the exam. Applicants must check the format of the GRE and question pattern. Students need to follow writing samples for AWA practice for GRE. Applicants can follow the above-mentioned GRE issue essay and argumentative essay tips to ace the GRE exam.

FAQs

Ques: What is the AWA score on the GRE?

Ans: GRE AWA score ranges on a scale of 0-6 level, with a 0.5-point increment system. A GRE score above 4 in AWA is considered a good GRE AWA score, and accepted in almost all the top universities worldwide.

Ques: What is the AWA portion of the GRE?

Ans: GRE AWA consists of two separate portions; the analyze an issue task and the analyze an argument task. The GRE AWA section evaluates critical thinking and analytical abilities.

Ques: What is the passing score for GRE AWA?

Ans: There is no specific passing score for GRE AWA. An average score above 4.5 in GRE AWA is considered a good result and is accepted in most of the top universities worldwide.

Ques: Does AWA score affect admission?

Ans: GRE AWA score is important for admission, candidates need to meet the verbal, quant, and AWA cut-off requirements for a successful admission.

Ques: What are the common issue topics on the GRE?

Ans: The common issue in GRE consists of various writing topics like; education, science and technology, social issues, politics and government, arts and culture, ethics and morality.

Ques: Do universities check AWA score?

Ans: Almost all the universities in USA have separate cut-off requirements for GRE AWA scores. Most of the top-ranked universities in USA and worldwide require a score of 4+ in GRE AWA.

Ques: Is 4.5 a good AWA score?

Ans: A GRE AWA score of 4.5 is calculated as a score of 5. GRE AWA marking criteria follow a 0.5 score increments. So achieving a score of 4.5 is considered a good GRE AWA score.

Ques: How do I prepare for analytical writing in GRE?

Ans: Candidates can prepare for analytical writing in GRE by reading the issue task carefully, brainstorming examples which are relatable, not being vague, and avoiding the use of the first-person voice.

Ques: How can I improve my GRE AWA writing score?

Ans: You can improve your GRE AWA writing score by writing at least three practice essays, don't waffle, choose very specific real-world examples, but make sure your examples are relevant to the topic, avoid first-person and self-reference, and make strong, declarative statements.

Ques: What happens if AWA score is low?

Ans: Most of the top universities in USA and worldwide accept GRE AWA scores. If you achieve a low GRE AWA score and are not able to meet the cut-off requirements, then the candidate’s application may be rejected.

*The article might have information for the previous academic years, which will be updated soon subject to the notification issued by the University/College.

GRE Analytical Writing: 2025 Guide and Tips to Write Issue Essays

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