GRE GMAT Writing Skills — Table of Contents

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Following is an expanded Table of Contents for Writing Skills for the GRE and GMAT Tests. This TOC contains links to the supplementary materials and resources referred to throughout the book. (Clicking on a link opens an additional browser window.)   Table of Contents INTRODUCTION (click here for full text) Get Ready for GRE or GMAT Analytical Writing Essay-phobic? You're Not Alone! Some Testing Terminology You Should Know The Official "Pools" of GRE and GMAT Essay Questions What You'll Learn from this Book Additional Resources for GRE and GMAT Analytical Writing PART 1 All the Facts About GRE and GMAT Analytical Writing GRE and GMAT Analytical Writing — At a Glance What's covered Essay topic selection Time allowed Ground rules Skills tested Scoring system The Issue Writing Task What GRE and GMAT Issues look like Types of Issues in the official pools Official directions and guidelines for the Issue writing task The Argument Writing Task What GRE and GMAT Arguments look like Official directions and guidelines for the Argument writing task The Argument writing task is very different from the Issue writing task The Analytical Writing Computer Interface The Analytical Writing computer tutorial Features and limitations of the word processor Essay Evaluation and Scoring Evaluation by GRE and GMAT readers Scoring criteria — GRE Essays (new browser window) Scoring criteria — GMAT Essays (new browser window) Computerized rating of GMAT essays Calculation of your Analytical Writing score Your percentile ranking Score Reporting and Use of Scores Reporting of scores to test takers and to the schools How the schools use Analytical Writing scores Analytical Writing — Diagnostic Test Writing task No. 1 (your perspective on an Issue) Writing task No. 2 (your analysis of an Argument) PART 2 How to Compose a High-Scoring Issue Essay 8 Steps to the Issue Writing Task Developing a Position on the Issue Qualifying an Issue statement Strong agreement or disagreement Supporting Your Position and Refuting Others Using rhetorical techniques to persuade the reader Your supporting examples Brainstorming for essay ideas Organizing Your Ideas (Your Essay's Structure) Your essay's length Rhetorical emphasis and your essay's structure Templates for your essay's structure DOs and DON'Ts for Your Issue Essay Adopting a perspective or position Supporting your position and countering others Organization If You Have More Time Take notes on the Issue statements in your official pool Consult my other two Analytical Writing books Dig even further for ideas and examples Online Resources for Issue Topics Keep your perspective Reinforcement Exercises Outlining (3 exercises) Writing introductory paragraphs (5 exercises) Recognizing an essay's structure (8 exercises) Analytical writing (5 exercises) Composing a full-length Issue essay (1 essay) Reinforcement Exercises — Samples and Comments PART 3 How to Compose a High-Scoring Argument Essay 8 Steps to the Argument Writing Task Organizing Your Ideas (Your Essay's Structure) Number of words Number of paragraphs An Argument's line of reasoning, and your essay's structure Optional elements and your essay's structure Applying structural principles to a sample Argument Recognizing and Handling Flaws in GRE and GMAT Arguments Confusing a cause-and-effect relationship with a mere correlation or temporal sequence Drawing a weak analogy between two things Relying on potentially unrepresentative statistical samples Relying on tainted results from a survey or poll Assuming that a certain condition is necessary and/or sufficient for a certain outcome Assuming that characteristics of a group apply to each group member (or vice-versa) Assuming that all things remain unchanged over time Other reasoning problems with GRE and GMAT Arguments DOs and DON'Ts for Your Argument Essay Content — your critique of the Argument Organization If You Have More Time Take notes on the Arguments in your official pool Consult my other two Analytical Writing books Practice, practice, practice! Reinforcement Exercises False cause (2 exercises) Weak Analogies (2 exercises) Unreliable statistics (2 exercises) Necessary and sufficient conditions (2 exercises) Group-member problems (2 exercises) Time-shift problems (2 exercises) Reinforcement Exercises — Samples and Comments PART 4 Writing Style and Mechanics Your Overall Tone and Voice Developing a Persuasive Writing Style Rhetorical words and phrases — by functional category Avoid empty rhetoric Using irony as a rhetorical device Using punctuation for rhetorical emphasis Connecting Your Ideas Together References to Yourself and to the Statement or Argument Self-references References to the statement or Argument References to the source of the statement or Argument Pronoun references to an Argument's proponent Shorthand references to an Argument's source and evidence Quoting the statement or Argument Your Sentences Sentence length and variety Part of a sentence out of balance with another part Awkward use of the passive and active "voices" Confusing or vague pronoun references Improper placement of modifiers Improper splitting of a grammatical unit Dangling modifier errors Stringing together too many adjectives Using too few (or too many) commas Wordy and awkward phrases Redundant words and phrases Your Facility with the English Language Demonstrating a solid vocabulary Using the language of Critical Reasoning Your diction and use of idioms Your Grammar Error in choice of adjective for comparisons Improper use of reflexive pronouns Error in pronoun-antecedent agreement Error in subject-verb agreement Improper mixing of gerunds, nominatives, and infinitives Faulty parallelism (lists) Faulty parallelism (correlatives) Error in verb tense Error in using the subjunctive mood DOs and DON'Ts for Writing Style and Mechanics PARTS 5-8 Sample Essays for Official Issues and Arguments Updates for sequence of official questions PART 5: Sample Essays for 20 Official GRE Issues PART 6: Sample Essays for 20 Official GRE Arguments PART 7: Sample Essays for 20 Official GMAT Issues PART 8: Sample Essays for 20 Official GMAT Arguments