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Award-Winning GRE Analytical Writing Tutors
Certified Tutor
6+ years
Jeffrey
Most GRE Analytical Writing prep overemphasizes vocabulary and polish, but the real challenge is spotting logical gaps in an argument prompt and responding with structured reasoning in 30 minutes flat. Jeffrey's PhD training in mechanical engineering at Rice means he dissects assumptions and builds ...
University of Notre Dame
Bachelor of Science
Rice University
Doctor of Philosophy, Mechanical Engineering
Certified Tutor
Jacob
A literature degree from Vanderbilt means Jacob spent years doing exactly what the GRE Analytical Writing section tests — building thesis-driven arguments from textual evidence and defending them in polished academic prose. He teaches students to spot the logical gaps buried in Argument prompts and ...
Vanderbilt University
Bachelors in Literature
Certified Tutor
6+ years
Mimi
Museum education — Mimi's specialty — is essentially applied argumentation: every exhibit label and gallery talk requires building a concise interpretive claim, supporting it with specific visual evidence, and making it persuasive to a skeptical audience in limited space. That discipline maps surpri...
Harvard University
Masters in Education, Education
Dartmouth College
B.A.
Certified Tutor
10+ years
Sherry
Sherry's dual training in psychology and linguistics at UChicago — plus her current speech-language pathology work at Columbia — means she thinks about argument structure the way most people think about grammar: instinctively. For the Argument task, she teaches students to spot hidden assumptions an...
University of Chicago
Bachelor's degree in psychology and linguistics
Certified Tutor
A PhD in American Studies means Tom has spent years doing exactly what the GRE Analytical Writing section tests — pulling apart arguments, exposing unstated assumptions, and defending a thesis with precise evidence. He teaches students to treat the Argument task like a close reading exercise, mappin...
Boston University
PHD, American Studies
Harvard University
Bachelors
Certified Tutor
Evaluating assumptions and crafting persuasive counterarguments are skills Reid sharpened across two disciplines — a sociology honors thesis at Wesleyan and doctoral work in Education at Harvard. For the GRE's Argument task, he teaches students to map an author's reasoning chain and pinpoint where u...
Harvard University
PHD, Education
Wesleyan University
Bachelor in Arts, Sociology
Certified Tutor
Natasha
Engineering training at MIT means writing constantly — defending design choices, critiquing experimental assumptions, translating dense technical reasoning into clear prose on deadline. Natasha applies that same discipline to GRE Analytical Writing, teaching students how to dissect an Argument promp...
Johns Hopkins University
Bachelor of Science, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Certified Tutor
6+ years
Victoria
Graduate-level writing across two master's programs — one in nutrition at Columbia, one in PA studies at Rutgers — trained Victoria to do exactly what the GRE Analytical Writing section demands: stake out a position, support it with precise reasoning, and do it all under a tight clock. She teaches s...
Columbia University
Master's degree in Human Nutrition
Columbia University in the City of New York
Master of Science, Human Nutrition
Rutgers University (New Brunswick)
Bachelor in Arts, Biological and Physical Sciences
Certified Tutor
Years of writing research papers and grant proposals as a PhD chemist at the University of Chicago taught Mary to do exactly what GRE Analytical Writing scores depend on: build a precise argument, anticipate objections, and communicate complex reasoning in clear prose. She applies that scientific ri...
University of Chicago
PhD in Chemistry
Lafayette College
Bachelors, Chemistry/Phyics
Certified Tutor
6+ years
Jessica
Earning two doctoral degrees required Jessica to write — and defend — hundreds of pages of analytical prose, from grant proposals to dissertation chapters. She applies that experience to the GRE's Argument task by teaching students to isolate flawed reasoning the way a researcher critiques a study's...
Vanderbilt University
Bachelor in Arts, Cellular and Molecular Biology
Northwestern University
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)
Vanderbilt University
Undergraduate degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology
Top 20 Graduate Test Prep Subjects
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Frequently Asked Questions
The two essays—Analyze an Issue and Analyze an Argument—require fundamentally different skills that don't come naturally together. Students often struggle with time management, trying to write perfectly polished essays in just 30 minutes each, when the real challenge is demonstrating clear reasoning and structure under pressure. Many also misunderstand what "analysis" means on the GRE; they write opinion pieces instead of examining the logical foundations of arguments, or they fail to identify unstated assumptions and counterarguments that scorers expect to see.
Analyze an Argument requires you to critique someone else's reasoning—identifying logical fallacies, unsupported claims, and missing evidence. You're not stating your own opinion but rather dissecting the argument's weaknesses. Analyze an Issue, by contrast, asks you to take a position and defend it with nuanced reasoning, acknowledging complexity and counterarguments. A tutor can help you recognize these distinct purposes and develop separate strategies: for Argument essays, learning to spot common fallacies and structure a critique; for Issue essays, building the ability to construct a balanced, multi-faceted argument that goes beyond surface-level agreement or disagreement.
The key is planning before you write. Spending 5 minutes on a clear outline—identifying your main points, examples, and counterarguments—actually saves time because you write with direction and avoid false starts. Many students waste minutes mid-essay realizing their structure is weak. A tutor can teach you templates and sentence starters that feel natural but accelerate your writing, plus help you identify which ideas are worth developing versus which are filler. Practice under timed conditions is essential; working through 10-15 full essays with feedback reveals where you're losing minutes and helps you build realistic pacing habits.
Scorers evaluate your ideas, organization, language use, and grammar—but they weight ideas and organization most heavily. A 6-score essay doesn't need perfect prose; it needs clear thinking, logical flow, and specific examples that support your reasoning. This means spending your energy on outlining and developing substantive points rather than polishing every sentence. For Argument essays, scorers specifically reward identifying multiple weaknesses and explaining why they matter. Understanding this scoring rubric helps you prioritize what to focus on during writing, and a tutor can show you real score-6 essays so you see exactly what "good enough" looks like under time pressure.
Generic examples—"for example, in today's society"—weaken your essay because they show you're thinking in abstractions rather than specifics. Strong examples are concrete (historical events, personal observations, research findings) and directly connected to your point with explanation. Many students write an example then move on; scorers want to see you analyze it—explaining exactly how it supports your claim. A tutor can help you build a library of versatile, substantive examples you can adapt across different prompts, and teach you the "example + explanation" framework so you're not just listing facts but demonstrating analytical thinking.
The GRE Argument section repeatedly tests your ability to spot fallacies like hasty generalization (drawing broad conclusions from limited evidence), correlation-causation confusion (assuming two things that occur together have a causal relationship), and appeal to authority (trusting an expert's claim outside their area of expertise). You'll also encounter circular reasoning, false dichotomies, and unsupported assumptions. Rather than memorizing fallacy names, a tutor focuses on teaching you to ask critical questions: "What evidence supports this claim?" "Could there be alternative explanations?" "Who says this is true, and why should I believe them?" Practicing with real GRE arguments helps you internalize these patterns so you spot them quickly during the test.
Reserve 3-5 minutes for revision, but use it strategically. Don't rewrite entire paragraphs; instead, scan for clarity issues (confusing sentences), logical gaps (where you jumped to a conclusion), and obvious grammar errors that distract readers. A tutor can help you develop a personal revision checklist based on your recurring mistakes—if you consistently write run-on sentences, you'll scan for those; if you forget counterarguments, you'll check for that. The reality is that perfect essays don't happen in 30 minutes, so revision is about damage control and ensuring your strongest ideas come through clearly.
Writing practice essays without feedback is like practicing tennis against a wall—you might stay busy, but you won't improve. Each practice essay should be followed by detailed feedback identifying patterns in your thinking (Do you support claims with evidence? Do you address counterarguments?) and writing (Are your sentences clear? Do you vary structure?). A tutor reviews your essays against the actual GRE rubric, showing you exactly why a point earned a 5 instead of a 6, then targets your next practice essay on that specific weakness. Most students benefit from 8-12 guided practice essays spaced over 4-6 weeks, with tutoring focused on analyzing what's working and what needs adjustment.
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