This post is part of the Sunday Series for GRE Prep by TOTAL Learning Results. Enjoy!
To excel at the Issue Task, one needs to have an understanding of rhetorical concepts, and it is similar to knowing the different players in a football game. One can watch a football game without knowing anything about the players, their positions, or their responsibilities, but to be a football player, this knowledge is fundamental.
To that end, I have several important terms below. Then I will use them to break down an Issue Task prompt from the GRE pool of prompts.
Claim: This is the claim we are asking the reader to accept.
Grounds: This is the data and evidence we give in support of the claim.
Warrant: This connects the data to the claim in a way that makes the connection clear.
Rebuttal: This acknowledges the counter-arguments that exist or opposing theories to our claim.
Weighing: This is where the main claim is weighed against the rebuttal, and a conclusion is made.
These are the five logical terms you must be familiar with and able to use properly to earn a 6 on the Issue task.
Here is a sample prompt:
"The study of an academic discipline alters the way we perceive the world. After studying the discipline, we see the same world as before, but with different eyes"
The following terms are used to help define the argument I would make if I were writing an essay on this Issue for the GRE.
Claim: I whole-heartedly agree that studying an academic discipline changes our powers of perceptions, allowing greater meanings and connections to be seen with the same basic set of eyes.
Grounds: I studied Systems Engineering in college and gained a much greater understanding of the interconnectedness of all systems. I have a much greater understanding of the nuclear, coal, and solar energy sectors.
Warrant: I can now follow political discussions regarding energy debates and make informed decisions on energy policies, including the coal and nuclear fields. I see the same issue with much greater clarity and perspective.
Rebuttal: It is also possible to gain increased perspective through non-academic means, such as through life experience. Also, studying a discipline may not change your perspective if it merely strengthens pre-existing notions and prejudices.
Weighing: In the final analysis, studying Systems Engineering helped me gain perspective and see the same world with new eyes.
This is a quick example of how these five terms work together to develop and argument, bring up counter-points, and ultimately conclude in agreement with my initial claim.
That's it for today's Sunday Series
Make it a great day!
-Daniel
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Understanding the Argument Task
This post is part of the Sunday Series for GRE Prep by TOTAL Learning Results. Enjoy!
The argument task is a test of one's ability to read an example argument and find the logical and inductive reasoning problems contained in the argument. GRE Argument tasks are designed to have three errors in logic in the prompt; you (the test taker) need to figure out the overall point of the argument, find the faulty reasoning, and explain why the reasoning is wrong.
The most common flaw is the "arguer" is claiming to understand the motives and reasoning of others, which the GRE considers unreasonable.
Below is the prompt I had when I last took the GRE:
"Claitown University needs both affordable housing for its students and a way to fund the building of such housing. The best solution to this problem is to commission a famous architect known for experimental and futuristic buildings. It is common knowledge that tourists are willing to pay money to tour some of the architect's buildings, so it can be expected that tourists will want to visit this new building. The income from the fees charged to tourists will soon cover the building costs. Furthermore, such a building will attract new students as well as donations from alumni. And even though such a building will be much larger than our current need for student housing, part of the building can be used as office space."
The first two sentences give the overall point of the argument. The school needs to address affordable housing and figure out how to fund it, and the solution is a famous architect. The author then goes into his reasoning (which is supposed to be flawed!).
1) Tourists are willing to pay money to tour some [bold emphasis mine] of the architect's buildings, so it can be expected that tourists will want to visit this new building.
2) The income from the fees charged to tourists will soon cover the building costs.
3) New students will be attracted to the new rooms, and alumni will want to donate money upon seeing the new building.
These three points are all flawed in the following ways:
1) Tourists pay to visit some of the architects buildings, but the author claims they will want to pay to visit this dorm building. How can the author be sure of this? If he is wrong, it will cost the school millions of dollars, and there really is no guarantee people will want to pay money to see something as common as housing unless it is really spectacular.
2) The income from the fees will cover the building costs. A massive housing project will cost $10,000,000 at least. Probably much more. That means a lot of are tourists required to pay the cost, and it won't be "soon". It would take years to pay back the costs. The flaw here is an unfounded financial projection.
3) The author assumes that students will be attracted to the new rooms (claiming to know what others will do) and that alumni will want to donate money (again claiming to know what others will do). Better reasoning would be if the author were the head of the alumni association and claimed to have five million dollars in donations already lined up, or had special insight into the preference of students.
This example is useful in showing how to break down "unfounded knowledge" claims made in the argument. Remember to look for these things during your next Argument Task practice essay!
Make it a great day!
-Daniel
The argument task is a test of one's ability to read an example argument and find the logical and inductive reasoning problems contained in the argument. GRE Argument tasks are designed to have three errors in logic in the prompt; you (the test taker) need to figure out the overall point of the argument, find the faulty reasoning, and explain why the reasoning is wrong.
The most common flaw is the "arguer" is claiming to understand the motives and reasoning of others, which the GRE considers unreasonable.
Below is the prompt I had when I last took the GRE:
"Claitown University needs both affordable housing for its students and a way to fund the building of such housing. The best solution to this problem is to commission a famous architect known for experimental and futuristic buildings. It is common knowledge that tourists are willing to pay money to tour some of the architect's buildings, so it can be expected that tourists will want to visit this new building. The income from the fees charged to tourists will soon cover the building costs. Furthermore, such a building will attract new students as well as donations from alumni. And even though such a building will be much larger than our current need for student housing, part of the building can be used as office space."
The first two sentences give the overall point of the argument. The school needs to address affordable housing and figure out how to fund it, and the solution is a famous architect. The author then goes into his reasoning (which is supposed to be flawed!).
1) Tourists are willing to pay money to tour some [bold emphasis mine] of the architect's buildings, so it can be expected that tourists will want to visit this new building.
2) The income from the fees charged to tourists will soon cover the building costs.
3) New students will be attracted to the new rooms, and alumni will want to donate money upon seeing the new building.
These three points are all flawed in the following ways:
1) Tourists pay to visit some of the architects buildings, but the author claims they will want to pay to visit this dorm building. How can the author be sure of this? If he is wrong, it will cost the school millions of dollars, and there really is no guarantee people will want to pay money to see something as common as housing unless it is really spectacular.
2) The income from the fees will cover the building costs. A massive housing project will cost $10,000,000 at least. Probably much more. That means a lot of are tourists required to pay the cost, and it won't be "soon". It would take years to pay back the costs. The flaw here is an unfounded financial projection.
3) The author assumes that students will be attracted to the new rooms (claiming to know what others will do) and that alumni will want to donate money (again claiming to know what others will do). Better reasoning would be if the author were the head of the alumni association and claimed to have five million dollars in donations already lined up, or had special insight into the preference of students.
This example is useful in showing how to break down "unfounded knowledge" claims made in the argument. Remember to look for these things during your next Argument Task practice essay!
Make it a great day!
-Daniel
Sunday, March 13, 2011
When to Try to Increase Your Vocabulary
This post is part of the Sunday Series for GRE Prep by TOTAL Learning Results. Enjoy!
Increasing your vocabulary for the GRE is a challenging task. There are about 171,000 words in the Oxford English Dictionary currently in use, and nearly all of them are fair game for the GRE. That poses a difficult problem because it is impossible to know where to start, where to end, and if one is even making progress.
So what is the best way to improve?
The answer lies not in a single method, but in how you are studying. Naval flight instructors are faced with a similar problem: how to teach a prospective pilot the hundreds, even thousands, of flight related words, acronyms, and names. The instructors have realized that daily repetition is a must for improvement; students forget as much as 50% of learned material hours after training, and up to 70% in 24 hours. After a week, it is up to 90% of the material forgotten, 10% retained.
If this is true for flight officers, it is true for the rest of us. My personal recommendation is to make it your goal to review words for 15 to 20 minutes each morning. There are two powerful reasons for this:
1) In the morning your mind is clear and fresh; by starting off with vocabulary, you will think about the words more often during the day, for example while driving to work, during a food break, or you might even use them in a conversation.
2) If you miss your daily morning word review, there are many opportunities to make it up during the day during the remaining 15 hours until you are ready to sleep. Compare that to a "night time" person: if he misses the scheduled time, there is no chance to make it up before bed, and the day is lost.
Make it a great day!
-Daniel
Increasing your vocabulary for the GRE is a challenging task. There are about 171,000 words in the Oxford English Dictionary currently in use, and nearly all of them are fair game for the GRE. That poses a difficult problem because it is impossible to know where to start, where to end, and if one is even making progress.
So what is the best way to improve?
The answer lies not in a single method, but in how you are studying. Naval flight instructors are faced with a similar problem: how to teach a prospective pilot the hundreds, even thousands, of flight related words, acronyms, and names. The instructors have realized that daily repetition is a must for improvement; students forget as much as 50% of learned material hours after training, and up to 70% in 24 hours. After a week, it is up to 90% of the material forgotten, 10% retained.
If this is true for flight officers, it is true for the rest of us. My personal recommendation is to make it your goal to review words for 15 to 20 minutes each morning. There are two powerful reasons for this:
1) In the morning your mind is clear and fresh; by starting off with vocabulary, you will think about the words more often during the day, for example while driving to work, during a food break, or you might even use them in a conversation.
2) If you miss your daily morning word review, there are many opportunities to make it up during the day during the remaining 15 hours until you are ready to sleep. Compare that to a "night time" person: if he misses the scheduled time, there is no chance to make it up before bed, and the day is lost.
Make it a great day!
-Daniel
Saturday, March 12, 2011
GRE and Resume Focus
TOTAL Learning Results is evolving into a GRE and Resume service providing company that will be based here in the Santa Clara Valley. Our current areas of expertise are GRE test preparation and resume creation, design, and improvement. It is important to put one's best foot forward and leave nothing to chance; to that effect, this blog will be an extension of the company and try to provide as much information as possible to help you prepare for the GRE and also design an effective resume. Our goal is weekly posts, published Sundays, that develop our overall level of information and help we can provide you.
-Daniel Locke
-Daniel Locke
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