No sign-up needed
Answer a few real questions.
A quick taste of the GRE Verbal bank — every question below is a real, quality-reviewed item. Answer them, then see how you did.
-
The committee dismissed the proposal as ____, arguing that its reliance on manual data entry was incompatible with the firm’s newly implemented automated systems.
Select the TWO choices that produce sentences alike in meaning. - While traditional art historical narratives often privilege the autonomous genius of the creator, recent scholarship has increasingly scrutinized the collaborative and commercial infrastructures that enabled artistic production in seventeenth-century Dutch society. Critics of this sociological turn argue that it risks reducing aesthetic innovation to mere byproducts of market demand, thereby obscuring the idiosyncratic vision of artists like Vermeer. However, such a dichotomy is largely spurious. The meticulous attention to light and texture in Vermeer’s work, for instance, was not merely a response to bourgeois taste for domestic tranquility but also a function of the expensive optical instruments available to him. Thus, the material conditions of production did not dictate artistic output so much as they expanded the technical vocabulary available to the artist. To dismiss the role of patronage and trade is to ignore the very mechanisms that allowed certain aesthetic experiments to survive and be recognized as masterpieces. The genius of the period lay not in isolation from society, but in the sophisticated negotiation between individual creativity and the economic realities of the art market.
It can be inferred from the passage that the author would most likely agree with which of the following statements?
- Historians have long debated the extent to which early industrial laborers possessed genuine agency in shaping workplace conditions. Traditional narratives often depict nineteenth-century factory workers as passive victims of relentless capitalist exploitation, stripped of any meaningful power. However, recent scholarship challenges this deterministic view by highlighting the subtle yet significant forms of resistance employed by laborers. Rather than engaging solely in overt strikes, which were frequently crushed, workers utilized "everyday forms of resistance," such as deliberate inefficiency, absenteeism, and the strategic manipulation of production quotas. These tactics, though less visible than organized union actions, effectively disrupted the smooth operation of factories and forced management to negotiate implicitly. By adopting these low-profile strategies, laborers maintained a degree of autonomy and influenced the pace and nature of work without inviting immediate retribution. Thus, while the structural power imbalance remained stark, the notion that workers were entirely powerless is untenable. Their capacity to resist, however constrained, demonstrates that labor history is not merely a chronicle of oppression but also a record of persistent, albeit quiet, negotiation between capital and labor.
The passage implies that the term "agency" in the context of labor history refers to:
-
Although the initial reports suggested that the economic downturn was merely a ______ fluctuation, subsequent data revealed a deeper structural crisis.
- The historiography of the late nineteenth-century labor movement has traditionally emphasized the heroic individualism of union leaders, portraying figures like Samuel Gompers as the sole architects of American unionism. This narrative, however, obscures the crucial role of informal networks and community-based solidarity among working-class women and immigrants, who often organized outside formal union structures. Recent scholarship suggests that these 'hidden' actors were not merely supportive auxiliaries but were central to sustaining labor resistance during periods of intense employer repression. By focusing exclusively on male-dominated, bureaucratic unions, earlier historians inadvertently marginalized the very strategies—such as consumer boycotts and neighborhood mutual aid—that proved most resilient against capital's power. Consequently, the current revisionist trend seeks not to discard the importance of formal unions but to integrate these grassroots efforts into a more holistic understanding of labor power. This integration reveals that the strength of the labor movement lay less in centralized command structures and more in the decentralized, adaptive capacity of its most vulnerable members. Thus, recognizing the agency of these marginalized groups is essential for a complete historical account.
It can be inferred from the passage that the author would likely agree with which of the following statements?
-
Although the professor’s lectures were notoriously ______, her written works were celebrated for their concise precision and brevity.
Select the TWO choices that produce sentences alike in meaning.
🖋 See the AI essay grader
GRE · Analyze an Issue Governments should invest more heavily in public transportation than in new highways.
Whether to prioritize public transportation over new highways is ultimately a question of what kind of future a city wants to build. While highways promise immediate relief from congestion, governments should indeed invest more heavily in public transportation, because it addresses the root causes of urban gridlock rather than temporarily masking them.
The strongest case for transit is that highways tend to create the very demand they aim to satisfy. Planners call this 'induced demand': when a city widens a road, the extra capacity draws more drivers until traffic returns to its former crawl. Los Angeles, despite decades of highway expansion, remains among the most congested cities in the world. A dollar spent on a new lane often buys only a few years of relief, whereas a dollar spent on reliable rail removes cars from the road permanently.
Transit also distributes opportunity more fairly. A household that cannot afford a car is effectively cut off from jobs in a highway-dependent city, and efficient transit reconnects those residents to the economy while lowering emissions per passenger.
None of this means highways are worthless. In sparsely populated regions, and for freight, roads remain essential. The claim is not that highways should be abandoned, but that, at the margin, the next public dollar does more good on rails than under asphalt.
Sample response · scroll to read
AWA score
- Position5/6
Takes a clear, appropriately qualified stance and holds it throughout.
- Development4/6
A strong central idea (induced demand) with a concrete example; the equity and environmental points are asserted more than developed.
- Organization5/6
A logical arc from claim to reasons to concession; transitions guide the reader well.
- Language4/6
Fluent and largely precise, though a few sentences run long and could be tightened.
- Conventions5/6
Solid command of grammar and mechanics, with only minor slips.
Strengths
- Clear, nuanced thesis that avoids overclaiming
- The 'induced demand' argument is well-chosen and genuinely persuasive
- Concedes the strongest counterpoint (rural roads, freight) rather than ignoring it
To improve
- Develop the equity/environment paragraph with a specific example or figure
- Trim wordy sentences to sharpen the prose
- Address a likely objection to transit (cost, ridership risk) head-on
A focused, well-structured response with a persuasive core argument and a fair concession. Deepening the supporting evidence and tightening the language would lift it toward the top of the scale.
Write a GRE Issue, SAT, or ACT Writing essay and get feedback like this — free, on every essay.
🎧 Hear the vocabulary podcast
lasting for a very short time; temporary
This is just a taste.
A free account unlocks a full timed diagnostic, an adaptive study plan built around your weak spots, AI essay grading, spaced-repetition vocabulary with an audio podcast, and 1,400+ more reviewed questions.