Please read the 2023 Winning Essays .


A 100-word text usually takes about 1 page. All the major citation styles assume that an essay will take approximately 250 words per page. The most common format is double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 pt. The details might differ – for instance, in MLA 9 and APA 7, Calibri and Arial are also accepted. However, 12-point Times New Roman remains preferable.


I recycle incessantly and am known to snatch cans out of the trash, wash them, and relocate them to neighboring blue bins. I keep a regular sleep schedule, rarely going to bed past midnight or waking up later than 8:30. I’m averse to gyms, opting instead to go for runs in the morning or follow along to a YouTube workout in the afternoon.

The GRE isn’t expecting that level of style, even for a six. It does expect to see some style, but it’s also looking for how you reason. Don’t just say, technology is bad, or even that it is good or bad, but mostly one or the other. When we try to use technology to supplant skills that are best done by humans (e.g. clinical diagnosis), then we can likely get in trouble. When we allow technology to intrude throughout our day, so that it impairs long term productivity… developing those ideas are what will help you get a high score. And notice no fancy words and syntax :).

Please read the 2022 Winning Essays .

Trust me -- been there, done that. I study three subjects at Sixth Form and luckily for me, all three are essay subjects (English Literature, English Language and History) which means that I have written more essays than I can count in the last two years. I have needed to get this process down-pat until it’s just rinsed and repeat. I can now churn out a 500-word essay in under an hour, and here’s exactly how I do it.

Well, that is me writing at a really elevated style that just screams for a six. The point is that the essay won’t necessarily score a ‘6’ if it only sticks to one example without taking into consideration the prompt: how exactly does technology affect our brains, and in what ways are these changes mostly good, or depending on the essay, mostly bad.

When I read all the sample essays written for the GRE, all I can think is that my writing skills are so elementary and no matter how many essays I’ll read, I will never learn to write like that. The second essay, for example, is so clearly written and the word choice is great. I can’t even think of any challenging words when I write my essays. What do I do?

You’re not J.K Rowling, so stop beating yourself up for it. Your first draft is going to be terrible. Like chocolate chips with ranch dressing terrible. But that’s okay -- the sooner you get over your terrible writing, the easier the rest of the essay will flow.


Order the Book: College Essay Essentials

Movies are probably not the best to use as examples because they aren’t based on real life, and many of the essay prompts focus on reality. That isn’t too say you can’t write a solid essay using a movie examples, but it’d be a little tougher.

Here is the format and structure of a well-crafted 500-word essay.

As a humanities student, I know what it’s like to struggle with the daunting task of writing a 500-word essay. You don’t know where to start, your thesis is nonexistent, you’re dreading the inevitable late-night ahead, and you’re struggling just to turn thoughts into words.

Rumor #1: The topic of your essay should be extraordinary.

Hi Chris,
I have a question about the type of examples to be used in the essay. As I am from India and don’t know much about working of government, cultural values etc. of US, can I use my own examples of which grader may not be aware of.
And can we use examples from good english movies instead of real life examples.
Thanks.

Rumor #2: The essay should sound like a professional wrote it.

I hope, too, one day write a bunch of a different essays of varying scores, and focus on how to improve essays. Of course, that will be some time off since it will be pretty time consuming.

Rumor #3: The admissions committee won’t actually read your essay.

To come up with specific examples, you should read as many GRE practice essays as possible to see what the ‘5’ and ‘6’ essays use. Doing so will give you a better sense of what makes for good examples.

Only the body of the essay is counted.

You know that there just aren’t that many practice essays out there. I have two books by Vibrant Publishers, but I wouldn’t recommend either of them. The essays aren’t necessarily representative of ‘6’, at least not all of them. Most of the samples are weak on analysis and are just rich with examples. And the book never tells you what makes for a good essay.