Studying the gre 1 ppt

Fiction should definitely be a required form of reading for all students. Not only does it

provide an opportunity to escape our daily lives, it also presents a different perspective of the

world, one we might never have thought of before, while still informing us about the human

condition. Fiction also has the potential to awaken our interest in parts of the world we may

never have explored and in learning more about science or history in a more engaging way.

Top-Score Sample Argument Essay

Prompt: The following appeared in a letter to the editor in the sports pages of a community

newspaper.

A teacher can’t earn more than $50,000 a year doing one of the toughest jobs in the world.

These saints work a lot harder and deserve to get paid a lot more for the miracles they per￾form on a daily basis. The average salary for professional athletes is $650,000. That’s more

than ten times what the average public high school principal makes. Basketball players can

earn millions in just one season, and football players can earn hundreds of thousands for just

a 30-second commercial. Even benchwarmers make more in a month than teachers make.

Who is more important—the person who taught you how to read and write so that you can

succeed in life, or the jock who plays for a living?

Response:

The author of this piece drives home the idea that professional athletes get paid too much,

especially in comparison to teachers, who help you “succeed in life.” As much as anyone may

believe that teachers deserve to be paid more than they earn or that some professional ath￾letes are grossly overpaid, this author’s argument is not very effective. Much of the evidence

and reasoning the author uses is flimsy and illogically reasoned—there is a shaky conclusion,

counterarguments are not addressed, and the premises the author uses to support the con￾clusion are not reasonably qualified.

The conclusion drawn in this argument is, “These saints work a lot harder and deserve to

get paid a lot more for the miracles they perform on a daily basis.” This sentence raises several

red flags. First, the author draws a comparison between teachers and saints. It is true that

teachers do noble work, and arguably, this work improves individuals and sometimes even

society; however, neither of these duties makes teachers “saints.” Second, the author uses the

word miracles to describe the results of teachers’ work. This word is emotionally charged,

implying that a teacher’s work is amazing and fantastic. The connotation of the word miracle

suggests bias in the author’s opinion of the teaching profession. Juxtaposed to calling the

work of professional athletes “play,” the word “miracles” draws on the reader’s compassion,

appealing to emotion rather than presenting impartial evidence. Finally, this claim is incom￾plete. Teachers work harder than whom? Deserve to get paid more than whom? Although the

answer “professional athletes” is implied, the claim does not explicitly state this.

–THE GRE ANALYT ICAL WR IT ING SECT ION–

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