Why writing GRE essays is an art and a great way to improve your critical thinking
Writing essays can be brutal— especially the ones that get you out of your comfort zone. I have never been a great writer. In fact, I always hated writing anything. I would rather rote-learn everything I need to get the job done. But I need to qualify my statement by saying that the kind of writing I refrained from is called a critical or analytical essay. It is relatively more comfortable, at least in my case, to write about a memorized topic. However, it is equally challenging to write on a random topic that forces you to think critically and creatively. That is precisely what GRE essays test.
Read what you write and write what you read
In my experience, in order to be a good writer, you first need to become an avid reader. My issue with writing relies mostly on this focal point: my lack of interest in reading. Even today, I do not read as much as I need or should. I may be a visual reader who would instead imbibe thousands of YouTube videos rather than pick an article from a magazine to read about philosophy. Being in the technical field doesn’t help the cause either. I know some developers would read fancy books and techie articles online. You can still learn to write decent code even if you are not reading books. Another reason for my lack of interest in writing is that it is a time-consuming activity. Writing essays requires a significant amount of effort: pick a topic, gather your thoughts, prepare an outline, provide supporting ideas and examples, and finish it with a bang. It requires a heck of a lot of practice!
Writing is not everyone’s ball-game. It requires practice, patience, and persistence.
When I put aside time to prepare for the GRE test, I didn’t care much about writing. My main focus was the Quantitative and Verbal sections. I spent a tremendous amount of time expanding my vocabulary, probably way more than required (and not to mention poorly organized); I delayed the AWA section until a week before the test. I admit that it was one of the biggest mistakes I made. Because if you do well in the writing section — and you will know right after finishing up the two essays — it would give you substantial confidence to take on the next two challenges. Also, some people consider writing a leisure activity, so you might find it incredibly relaxing if you practiced and did well in the section.
Overall, the GRE writing section can be intimidating and boring for some of us. However, through determination and practice, you can improve on it. Writing essays would help you to think critically and practice some arcane GRE words in context.
I will be writing some GRE essays on Medium. Stay Tuned!
