Analyze an IssueSociety & culture

A society's progress is best measured by how it treats its least powerful members.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning. In developing and supporting your position, consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true, and explain how those considerations shape your view.

Write your response

Give yourself 30 minutes, then get an instant estimate against the official rubric.

Issue prompt

Your essay0 words

An expert estimate against the official rubric, not an official ETS score. ETS scores with a human reader plus the e-rater engine.

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How to approach it

A reliable structure for any Issue prompt.

1Take a clear position in the first paragraph. The reader should know exactly where you stand on the issue before the body begins.
2Develop two or three reasons, each with a specific example. Depth beats a long list of thin points.
3Answer the strongest counter-argument. Engaging the other side is what separates a 5 from a 4.
4Leave two minutes to proofread. A few clean sentences at the end lift the language score.

For the full 0–6 band descriptors and what each score means, see the AWA grader guide.

This prompt

How to approach this prompt.

The key word is "best." You can agree that the treatment of the powerless is a vital and revealing measure while denying that it is the single best one, and argue that progress is multidimensional, with this as one indispensable dimension among several.

Both sides

Points for and against.

A strong essay does not just pick a side. Weigh the best case each way, then explain which considerations shape your own view.

In support

How a society treats those who cannot demand fair treatment, children, the poor, the disabled, reveals its true values, since the powerful can secure good treatment for themselves.
A society advanced in wealth or technology but cruel to its weakest members has arguably not progressed morally at all.

Against, or complicating

"Best" is a strong claim; progress also includes knowledge, health, and freedom, and a single yardstick can hide real gains or losses elsewhere.
Treatment of the powerless is hard to measure and easy to fake through rhetoric, making it an unreliable sole metric.

Evidence

Examples you could use.

Specific, relevant examples are what readers reward most. Here are concrete cases you could adapt for this exact statement. Use them as reasoning, not as facts to recite.

1The expansion of disability access and rights as a marker cited for social progress.
2A wealthy society with deep inequality, where headline prosperity masks how its poorest fare.
3Public health measures judged by outcomes among the most vulnerable rather than the average.

Watch out

A common trap on this prompt.

Defending the claim as simply true and inspiring without testing the word "best." The interesting essay concedes the measure's importance while questioning whether any single metric can capture something as broad as progress.

Questions

GRE essay questions, answered.

There is no required word count. High-scoring Analyze an Issue essays are typically well-developed across four to six paragraphs, roughly 400 to 600 words, but a reader rewards depth of reasoning and specific support, not raw length. A tight, fully developed 450-word essay outscores a padded 700-word one.

The GRE Analytical Writing task is scored holistically from 0 to 6 in half-point steps against the official ETS descriptors. The reported score averages one trained human reader and the e-rater engine; if they disagree by more than a point, a second human reader adjudicates. It is reported separately from the 260 to 340 Verbal and Quant total.

No. This is an original prompt written in the official Analyze an Issue style so you can practise freely. The real ETS pool is published on the ETS website. Practising on same-style prompts builds the exact skills the scored task rewards, since every Issue prompt uses the same task instructions and the same rubric.

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