Hi there, I just finished the issue essay topic and I wanted to know; Can we really make up a whole study in detail like that? It just goes against everything I was taught in college and I just find it almost borderline crazy that ETS wouldn’t penalize you for this. I just wanted to make sure no one has ever had a problem with their grading before I proceed with trying to drill making up stats lol.
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Hi @Hannah_Z,
In an academic or real-world setting, making up evidence would definitely be a bad idea.
However, it’s important to realize that the GRE essay sections are meant to test your writing skills - the position you take and the evidence you cite doesn’t matter!
The ETS confirms this [on their own website] (https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/issue)
The GRE ® raters scoring your response are not looking for a “right” answer — in fact, as far as they are concerned, there is no correct position to take. Instead, the raters are evaluating the skill with which you address the specific instructions and articulate and develop an argument to support your evaluation of the issue.
For this specific task on the GRE, the position you take and any “facts” you include are just there to support your writing.
haha I know, that’s what makes this tough. I started to practice the essay writing and I was wondering, would you recommend using fake schools/people for the case studies or real ones? I’m assuming since the whole study is fake that I should probably make the rest of it as well.
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I don’t think it really matters if they’re real or fake, just whatever reads well in your essay.
I would say that you should keep it professional though, i.e. don’t cite “YOLO Swag University”
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