What is the Analytical Writing section like?
The analytical writing section consists of a 45-minute “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” essay and a 30-minute “Analyze an Argument” task. For the Issue essay, you are given two topics from which you choose one to write about, and you are asked to discuss the issue from any perspective. For the Argument essay, you are provided an argument, and your task is to analyze that argument by discussing if it is well-organized and if the reasoning in the provided argument is valid. In the argument essay, your task is to evaluate the provided argument rather than to agree or disagree with it.
• The analytical writing section consists of two analytical writing tasks: a 45-minute “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” task and a 30-minute “Analyze an Argument” task. The “Issue” task states an opinion on an issue of general interest and asks you to address the issue from any perspective(s) you wish, as long as you provide relevant reasons and examples to explain and support your views. The “Argument” task presents a different challenge–it requires you to critique an argument by discussing how well reasoned you find it. You are asked to consider the logical soundness of the argument rather than to agree or disagree with the position it presents. These two tasks are complementary in that the first requires you to construct a personal argument about an issue, and the second requires you to critique someone else’s argument by assessing its claims.
The Analytical Writing section consists of two analytical writing tasks: a 45-minute “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” task and a 30-minute “Analyze an Argument” task. The “Issue” task states an opinion on an issue of general interest and asks you to address the issue from any perspective(s) you wish, as long as you provide relevant reasons and examples to explain and support your views. The “Argument” task presents a different challenge — it requires you to critique an argument by discussing how well-reasoned you find it. You are asked to consider the logical soundness of the argument rather than to agree or disagree with the position it presents. The “Issue and Argument” are complementary in that the “issue” requires you to construct a personal argument about an issue, and the “Argument” requires you to critique someone else’s argument by assessing its claims.
The assessment consists of two Analytical Writing tasks: a 45-minute “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” task and a 30-minute “Analyze an Argument” task. The “Issue” task states an opinion on an issue of general interest and asks test takers to address the issue from any perspective(s) they wish, as long as they provide relevant reasons and examples to explain and support their views. The “Argument” task presents a different challenge—it requires test takers to critique an argument by discussing how well-reasoned they find it. Test takers are asked to consider the logical soundness of the argument rather than to agree or disagree with the position it presents. These two tasks are complementary in that the first requires the writer to construct a personal argument about an issue, and the second requires a critique of someone else’s argument by assessing its claims.
The analytical writing section consists of two analytical writing tasks: a 45-minute “Present Your Perspective on an Issue” task and a 30-minute “Analyze an Argument” task. The “Issue” task states an opinion on an issue of general interest and asks you to address the issue from any perspective(s) you wish, as long as you provide relevant reasons and examples to explain and support your views. The “Argument” task presents a different challenge it requires you to critique an argument by discussing how well reasoned you find it. You are asked to consider the logical soundness of the argument rather than to agree or disagree with the position it presents. These two tasks are complementary in that the first requires you to construct a personal argument about an issue, and the second requires you to critique someone else’s argument by assessing its claims.
