Analysis of An Issue : An IntroductionGMAT-Model Questions Index
In this Analysis of An Issue section, an issue will be presented and you will be asked to analyze it and explain your views on it together with examples from your own experience, observations or reading.
These ISSUES themselves fall into two categories
(i) One in which two opposite views on an issue are presented and you are asked to take a position in favour of one of them and defend that position.
(ii) One in which only one view is presented and you are asked whether you agree or disagree with it and called upon to defend your position.
How You should start : :
Do not start pounding on the keyboard of the computer immediately on seeing the question.
Take a few minutes to think about the issue and plan a response before you begin writing. Be sure to organize your ideas and develop them fully, but leave time to reread your response and make any revisions that you think are necessary.
The thirty minutes you are allowed to write the essay is not a long time and no one is capable of writing a profound, thoroughly developed, well-crafted and technically perfect essay in just half an hour.
And your essay need not have all these qualities to earn you a high score of 5, 5.5 or 6.
The opinion in an Analysis of An Issue essay is stated in such broad and general terms that almost anyone can find something to say either in favour or against it.
The first step in developing your essay is to brainstorm ideas about what to say. There is no pre-set or magic formula for this process.
You should first take about two minutes to understand the issue and think of points both in favour and against what is stated.
Then jot down on a scrap sheet (which will be given to you at the test centre) these points on either side of a centre line.
You will probably find that you have more points on one side than on the other. Adopt the side on which you have more points as your opinion.
Remember that there is no right or wrong opinion which decides the score that you will be awarded. What’s needed is that you should write a cogent and logical essay supporting your opinion.
Then look at your notes and pick the three or four ideas you like best. These should be ideas which you think make sense, relate to the topic and support your point of view reasonably well.
Put a check mark next to those ideas so that you spot them easily when you start composing your essay. Finally, decide on the sequence for the ideas. This can be done in several ways. Often the sequence will be obvious. One idea may be the fountainhead of all others and therefore should clearly come first. Sometimes the ideas may all reflect historic events that took place in a definite time sequence. If there is such an obvious sequence, use it.
The most emphatic parts of any essay the parts that the reader is most likely to remember or be impressed with - are the beginning and the end.
How Your Analysis of An Issue should be : :
Begin the essay with a brief introductory paragraph that sets forth your point of view clearly and, if you like, also suggests the nature of the ideas you will be using to defend it. The side you are proposing to take on the issue should be brought out clearly in the first paragraph itself.
Have three or four middle paragraphs to substantiate your view with examples or illustrations.
End the essay with a brief concluding paragraph which summarizes your point of view in a clear, concise and forceful way.
The last step in the process is a quick revision of your essay to eliminate inadvertent errors in spelling and grammar that you might have committed.
Evaluation of Your Response : College and university faculty members from various subject matter areas, including management education, will evaluate the overall quality of your thinking and writing. They will consider how well you—
organize, develop, and express your ideas about the issue presented
provide relevant supporting reasons and examples and
control the elements of standard written English.
Here is the List of 140 topics ( for Analysis of An Issue ) from which one topic will be chosen for you by the computer when you take your GMAT.
Analysis of An Issue Topics : Page # :
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The List of GMAT Analysis of An Issue Topics (140) issued by ETS. To download the PDF format of the topics, Click Here.
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