Historically, admissions committees haven’t given much weight to the Essay section. Even graduate programs for which essay writing is crucial tended to de-emphasize GRE essay scores. It’s not that these programs didn’t care about your writing ability—far from it—but they typically used your application essays to assess this ability.

But increasingly, grad schools have begun relying on the GRE essays to make high-stakes decisions about admissions and funding. Not only will most admissions committees look at your Essay score, but they’ll likely also be reading your essays.

That said, the Essay section is neither the time nor the place to be sarcastic or controversial. It’s not the place to espouse random views about life or death or hot fudge sundaes. Save all that for your blog. The Essay section is your chance to show admissions committees and essay graders that you can thoughtfully and articulately construct two written argumentative essays in 75 minutes. You may include evidence from your personal life, but only such evidence that’s relevant to the topic. On test day, you’ll want to be clear and direct and always follow the directions. Now let’s see how your essays will be graded.