Award-Winning GRE Analytical Writing
Tutors
Award-Winning
GRE Analytical Writing
Tutors
Private 1-on-1 tutoring, weekly live classes for academic support, test prep & enrichment, practice tests and diagnostics, and more to elevate grades and test scores.
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Hi, really nice to meet you! I have 10 years experience teaching GRE. I taught GRE and GMAT as an Adjunct Professor at American University for 3 years, which enhanced my ability to create a standardized GRE itinerary for the classroom. I have taught GRE at Varsity Tutors for 5 years, in person and virtually to individual students, and I was rated in the top 10 percent of tutors by students. Prior to working at Varsity, I taught at Princeton Review for 2 years, teaching the GRE in a classroom setting. I received a score of 730 on my Verbal Section and a score of 770 on my Quantitative Section. I use the ETS GRE text, as the Educational Testing Service (ETS) creates and administers the exam, and I find it the most realistic indicator of how the questions will appear on test day. I hand out guides for the Quantitive section (with formulas and hints for the Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Data Analysis chapters) and the Verbal and Essay sections (with tips for learning vocabulary and guides for Sentence Equivalence, Reading Comprehension, and the Issue Essay). I received my BA in English Literature and U.S. History from Vanderbilt University in 2005, my MA in U.S. History from The George Washington University in 2010, and my MBA in Medical Policy Management from the University of Minnesota in 2024.

Having earned three bachelor's degrees and a master's in biology, Thomas has written his way through an unusual volume of academic argumentation — from lab reports defending experimental conclusions to humanities essays building interpretive claims. That range matters for GRE Analytical Writing, where the Issue task demands persuasive thesis-building and the Argument task demands the kind of evidence scrutiny a scientist applies to a flawed study. He teaches students to identify the specific logical weakness a prompt is designed around, then organize their response before they start writing.
My teaching philosophy is focused on a single objective - that students learn. I have a Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from Temple Law School. My GRE score was a 326, and my LSAT score was a 173. I've tutored over 60 students through Varsity Tutors. I'm committed to helping students reach their full potentials.
Teaching high school English and science in the Peace Corps — then producing research-driven writing for an MPH at Emory — gave Irina firsthand practice in the exact skill the GRE Analytical Writing section tests: building a clear, evidence-based argument from scratch under constraints. She teaches students to dissect the Argument task's hidden assumptions before writing a single sentence, which prevents the unfocused responses that keep scores below a 4. Her biochemistry training at NYU adds a logical rigor to essay structure that liberal-arts approaches sometimes miss.
Hello, my name is Destiny and I graduated from Howard University. I majored in Psychology with a minor in Biology and Administration of Justice. One of the most important lessons I've learned from school is the value of asking for help. This can be the difference between simply memorizing some facts and truly understanding the material given to you. In many cases, learning in a traditional school setting is not effective and students should feel free to reach out for extra guidance. I strive to be that source of guidance for all students who need it. I believe that everyone learns in their own way and that the key to helping someone else lies in finding their unique style of learning. I take great pleasure in finding those styles and using them to enrich students minds. My main areas of expertise are Psychology and English. Ive been reading at a college level since middle school and scored 5s on both AP English tests. I also scored a 5 on the AP Psychology exam in addition to receiving As in all my psychology classes. I have extensive experience with essay writing, essay editing, and researching. Other subjects I can assist with include Algebra I and II, Geometry, and SAT/ACT prep. Outside of class, I like to stay busy with school activities and hobbies. I spend most of my time playing the trumpet in my schools marching band or studying. But when I have free time, I typically catch up with my shows or read.
I am a graduate of Grinnell College, a private liberal arts college located in Grinnell, Iowa. I have a Bachelor of the Arts in Computer Science from Grinnell's Department of Math and Computer Science. Since graduation I have tutored students of a wide variety of ages and background in a number of subjects. I have tutored middle school students in the Chicago area in Math and science and high school students in advanced Math, chemistry, writing, and helped them prepare for standardized tests for college admittance. I have also tutored adults preparing for academic proficiency tests for their jobs and with GRE prep for those interested in going to graduate school. Additionally I have taught English grammar, reading, and conversational skills to ESL students in Chicago, Ecuador, and Colombia. While I tutor a number of subjects, I particularly enjoy helping students with standardized test strategy and following their scores as they increase towards their goal. When I tutor, I aim to lead students to an answer by example so that they can see the reasoning involved themselves, rather than me just telling them the answer. The more the students can come to their own solutions, the more memorable the lessons will be. In my spare time I enjoy reading, playing skill games like scrabble, bridge, and poker, and outdoor activities like biking, camping, and canoeing when the weather is nice.
Reviews from students: "I loved how you explained math. You were able to explain formulas so they made sense and it was engaging. Thank you for making math interesting." - Ferol Conklin "I have published over 20 articles, and no one has ever edited my articles as thoroughly or as helpfully as you did." - Mark Ragel "The instructor was the best I had at this university." - Spanish student, University of Illinois "Elle was kind, patient, and funny. She seemed to really enjoy teaching." - Spanish student, University of Illinois I have three years professional teaching experience and several years of tutoring experience. I have always been a teacher at heart. I feel my biggest strength as a tutor is looking at material from the perspective of the student. I have also been described as a calm, patient, passionate, and fun tutor. I think lesson plans should be interesting to motivate students to care about the subject and engage in the process of learning. I worked as a Spanish TA at the University of Illinois for two years as as the main instructor for over 200 students. I have also worked as a middle school teacher. I have experience tutoring a variety of subjects, including test prep, reading and writing, and various levels of math. My degrees are in Linguistics, Spanish, and Journalism, with a minor in Math.
I'm not tutoring or buried in my textbooks, you will either find me rock climbing at the Triangle Rock Club, playing Ultimate Frisbee, working on my car, or enjoying the great outdoors (beaches, mountains, forests--you name it, I love it). On rainy weekends I enjoy tinkering with computers and old electronics, playing Pokemon, or picking at my guitar.
I am an interdisciplinary educator with an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. from Dartmouth College. My background is primarily in integrated arts learning and museum education and I specialize in visual arts, history and art history, and object-based learning. In all subjects, I take a creative, inquiry-based and learner-centered approach, designing opportunities for each unique individual to meet their learning goals.
I am a recent graduate from a masters program in biostatistics at Columbia University. I received my Bachelor of Arts in biological sciences, with a focus in neurobiology at Northwestern University. In August, I will be starting a doctoral program in biostatistics at NYU. I was a teaching assistant at Columbia University in my department and also have tutored graduate students and undergraduates privately as well. My primary areas of tutoring are math and statistics coursework in addition to math sections on standardized tests such as the GRE and GMAT. I am very passionate about helping students feel more confident and excited about math. In my spare time, I enjoy running, playing piano, and spending time with friends and family.
I am a graduate of Wesleyan University, where I received my Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with High Honors. With eight years of experience working in education, I've tutored students in math, science, history, and English, as well as helped students prepare for standardized tests. I've guided adults towards passing the US Citizenship Exam and taught English in India, where I lived for six months. Whenever I work with a student I personalize the lessons to fit their particular learning style, since I know every student is unique and having the right fit can make all the difference in making learning fun and effective. My strengths are tutoring the social sciences and humanities, as well as making math and standardized tests approachable to students that normally don't like those subjects. In my spare time I like traveling, spending time in the outdoors (climbing & backpacking), meditation, and playing soccer. Next fall I will be beginning my PhD in Education at Harvard University.
I am a junior Mechanical Engineering major at Yale, and I hope to become a Naval Aviator after college. I am also a varsity sailor, and enjoy playing music with friends when I can get some free time. I have been tutoring my fellow students throughout my entire academic career, and I would best describe my tutoring style as one that adapts to each students' needs. For example, I have always tried to frame questions in a different way so that the student can better understand the question. Some students need visual representations of numbers and systems to understand them, and others benefit more by understanding the concepts behind each formula. I prefer to tutor in math and physics, and especially with real world application problems. I hope to help students improve their standardized test scores and their understanding of the math and sciences so that they can achieve their academic goals!
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Frequently Asked Questions
The two essays—Analyze an Issue and Analyze an Argument—require fundamentally different skills that don't come naturally together. Students often struggle with time management, trying to write perfectly polished essays in just 30 minutes each, when the real challenge is demonstrating clear reasoning and structure under pressure. Many also misunderstand what "analysis" means on the GRE; they write opinion pieces instead of examining the logical foundations of arguments, or they fail to identify unstated assumptions and counterarguments that scorers expect to see.
Analyze an Argument requires you to critique someone else's reasoning—identifying logical fallacies, unsupported claims, and missing evidence. You're not stating your own opinion but rather dissecting the argument's weaknesses. Analyze an Issue, by contrast, asks you to take a position and defend it with nuanced reasoning, acknowledging complexity and counterarguments. A tutor can help you recognize these distinct purposes and develop separate strategies: for Argument essays, learning to spot common fallacies and structure a critique; for Issue essays, building the ability to construct a balanced, multi-faceted argument that goes beyond surface-level agreement or disagreement.
The key is planning before you write. Spending 5 minutes on a clear outline—identifying your main points, examples, and counterarguments—actually saves time because you write with direction and avoid false starts. Many students waste minutes mid-essay realizing their structure is weak. A tutor can teach you templates and sentence starters that feel natural but accelerate your writing, plus help you identify which ideas are worth developing versus which are filler. Practice under timed conditions is essential; working through 10-15 full essays with feedback reveals where you're losing minutes and helps you build realistic pacing habits.
Scorers evaluate your ideas, organization, language use, and grammar—but they weight ideas and organization most heavily. A 6-score essay doesn't need perfect prose; it needs clear thinking, logical flow, and specific examples that support your reasoning. This means spending your energy on outlining and developing substantive points rather than polishing every sentence. For Argument essays, scorers specifically reward identifying multiple weaknesses and explaining why they matter. Understanding this scoring rubric helps you prioritize what to focus on during writing, and a tutor can show you real score-6 essays so you see exactly what "good enough" looks like under time pressure.
Generic examples—"for example, in today's society"—weaken your essay because they show you're thinking in abstractions rather than specifics. Strong examples are concrete (historical events, personal observations, research findings) and directly connected to your point with explanation. Many students write an example then move on; scorers want to see you analyze it—explaining exactly how it supports your claim. A tutor can help you build a library of versatile, substantive examples you can adapt across different prompts, and teach you the "example + explanation" framework so you're not just listing facts but demonstrating analytical thinking.
The GRE Argument section repeatedly tests your ability to spot fallacies like hasty generalization (drawing broad conclusions from limited evidence), correlation-causation confusion (assuming two things that occur together have a causal relationship), and appeal to authority (trusting an expert's claim outside their area of expertise). You'll also encounter circular reasoning, false dichotomies, and unsupported assumptions. Rather than memorizing fallacy names, a tutor focuses on teaching you to ask critical questions: "What evidence supports this claim?" "Could there be alternative explanations?" "Who says this is true, and why should I believe them?" Practicing with real GRE arguments helps you internalize these patterns so you spot them quickly during the test.
Reserve 3-5 minutes for revision, but use it strategically. Don't rewrite entire paragraphs; instead, scan for clarity issues (confusing sentences), logical gaps (where you jumped to a conclusion), and obvious grammar errors that distract readers. A tutor can help you develop a personal revision checklist based on your recurring mistakes—if you consistently write run-on sentences, you'll scan for those; if you forget counterarguments, you'll check for that. The reality is that perfect essays don't happen in 30 minutes, so revision is about damage control and ensuring your strongest ideas come through clearly.
Writing practice essays without feedback is like practicing tennis against a wall—you might stay busy, but you won't improve. Each practice essay should be followed by detailed feedback identifying patterns in your thinking (Do you support claims with evidence? Do you address counterarguments?) and writing (Are your sentences clear? Do you vary structure?). A tutor reviews your essays against the actual GRE rubric, showing you exactly why a point earned a 5 instead of a 6, then targets your next practice essay on that specific weakness. Most students benefit from 8-12 guided practice essays spaced over 4-6 weeks, with tutoring focused on analyzing what's working and what needs adjustment.
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