Analyze an IssueTechnology

As societies rely more heavily on technology, people inevitably lose the ability to think for themselves.

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.

Your estimated score and rubric breakdown will appear here.

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 word to attack is "inevitably." The prompt claims a necessary outcome, so you can concede that some tools can erode certain skills while denying that decline is unavoidable, and argue that technology often shifts what we think about rather than whether we think.

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

Offloading tasks to tools can atrophy underlying skills: constant GPS use is associated with weaker independent navigation, and reliance on autocomplete can dull spelling.
Recommendation and search algorithms can narrow what people encounter, discouraging the effort of forming one's own view.

Against, or complicating

Every major tool, from writing to the calculator, drew the same fear, yet each freed attention for higher-order thinking rather than ending it.
"Inevitably" ignores human agency: outcomes depend on how a tool is used and taught, not on the tool alone, so the loss is a choice, not a law.

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.

1Socrates in Plato's Phaedrus warning that writing would weaken memory, a fear the historical record did not bear out.
2The calculator, which shifted math education from arithmetic drills toward reasoning about problems.
3A GPS-dependent driver who can no longer navigate a familiar city without the app.

Watch out

A common trap on this prompt.

Letting "inevitably" pass unchallenged. Once you grant that the decline is unavoidable, you have conceded the whole prompt, so the single most valuable move is to contest that word directly.

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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