HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

Kaplan has prepared students to take standardized tests for more than 50 years; longer than the GRE and GMAT have even been around. Our team of researchers and editors know more about preparation for these exams than anyone else, and you’ll find their accumulated knowledge and experience in this book.

The GRE and GMAT are standardized tests, and so, while every test is not identical, every test covers the same content in essentially the same way. This is good news for you; it means that by studying the material in this book, you can prepare for the Analytical Writing tasks you can expect to encounter on test day.

The main focus of this book is reviewing the writing and logic skills you need to get a good score on the Analytical Writing section of the GRE or GMAT. Strategic reviews and practice will help you brush up on all the skills you’ll need for test day.

If possible, work through this book a little at a time over the course of several weeks. Writing is a process and it’s hard to do it all at once.

The GRE & GMAT Exams Writing Workbook is divided into several chapters, each serving its own very important purpose. With careful review and practice, the content and strategies contained in this book will help you to score your best on the GRE or GMAT.

Getting Started

The first thing you need to do is find out exactly what to expect on the GRE or GMAT. In the first chapter of this book, we’ll provide you with background information on the Analytical Writing sections of each test. The next chapter provides all the information you need to know about how your essays are scored and what your scores mean.

Once you know about what to expect on the test, chapters three and four cover essential information for writing a top-scoring essay. We cover grammar, mechanics, and style as well as strategies for writing effective paragraphs and essays. We’ll also review logic terminology (for the Argument essays) as well as the Kaplan Five-Step Method to help you do your best. The final chapters of this workbook cover sample GRE and GMAT prompts. Using these prompts, you can practice the skills you have learned to write strong essays. In addition to sample prompts, we’ve also included sample top-scoring essays so you can review the qualities that earn an essay a high score. You’ll find a word list at the end of the book containing over 500 vocabulary words and definitions to help you craft wining essays.