GRE Sample Essay 14

The following appeared in a newsletter published by the Appleton school district.

"In a recent study, more than 5,000 adolescents were asked how often they ate meals with their families. Almost 30 percent of the teens said they ate at least seven meals per week with their families. Furthermore, according to the same survey, teens who reported having the most family meals per week were also the ones least likely to have tried illegal drugs, tobacco, and alcohol. Family meals were also associated with lower rates of problems such as low grades in school, low self-esteem, and depression. We, therefore, recommend that families have as many meals together as possible. We predict that doing so will greatly benefit adolescents and turn troubled teens away from bad behaviors."

Write a response in which you discuss which questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

Response for GRE Sample Essay 14

The argument presented on the website Science News Today says that those adolescents who have more meals with their families are less likely to be engaged in illegal and harmful activities such as consuming alcohol, smoking and taking illicit drugs. There is another side of the issue that is missing in this argument.

The first thing is that there are only 5000 adolescents in the survey that was conducted to conclude the above-said statement. Here, the full data set regarding family meals should have been mentioned for better clarification. Since the available information is limited, we can't conclude that less number of meals is the cause for adolescents developing harmful habits. Proper data flow with valid reasons could be better in proving the assumptions stated in the argument and thus result in a reasonable conclusion.

The information that 30% of adolescents had a minimum of seven meals with their family is raw data which fails to mention the link between the meals consumed in a week and the use of drugs and alcohol. So, the general question which arises is how to get some definite results from the available data? Because there may be some adolescents whose number of meals with families in a week exceeds seven, but they would still be indulging in drugs. Therefore, some supporting statistics are needed here.

Another thing that can be considered here is the inverse relation of drug and alcohol consumption among adolescents with the number of meals with families. Families maintain their moral ethics and teach their kids to inculcate good habits in them, but children do not stay with their families all the time. They have their friends' circle in school and outside, who also influence them. So, there is a high chance that the adolescents get bad habits from their peers, which the parents might not even be knowing.

It is a fact that spending more quality time with the family can help adolescents stay away from stress and remain happy, but how meals impact this relation is still unclear, as stated in the argument. Besides this, the grades of a student depend on the efforts he/she puts in the subjects rather than the number of meals taken with the family. There is a good chance that many of the adolescents from the remaining unsurveyed, 70% would be having a very less number of meals with families and yet excelling in academic performance. So, there seems to be no relationship between these two parameters.

Since the available data is insufficient, assumptions have been made in the argument to support the flaws in it. Instead of concluding anything from the limited available data, following a practical approach to address the issue seems to be more reasonable. No matter what the number of meals is, the parents and teachers must be vigilant about the activities of adolescents, guide them well and maintain a friendly relationship with them. Counseling is required when adolescents are identified to have stated any harmful habits. This will help the adolescents to discuss their issues with the parents/teachers and get them resolved. Thus, they will be able to leave such habits in the early stages without harming themselves to a greater extent. Now, this approach is something that will help them to avoid entering into depression and instead live a life with self-confidence and self-esteem.

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GRE Essay Score

This article scores a 5.5 because:

The article provides a plausible explanation of the central idea using appropriate vocabulary. It shows good control of language and a coherent flow of ideas. The article provides an insightful analysis of the argument and suggests counseling as an option to deal with the toxic habits of teenagers.

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