GRE Diagnostic test... BooHoo!
Monday, July 17, 2006 by simpleblob
This is an essay I wrote for the GRE Diagnostic test.
Now I know that my brain is rusty beyond recognition, and if you disagree, just take a look at most of my old articles here..
Task 1: Issue Exploration (45 minutes)
“A person who does not thoroughly comprehend the technical side of a craft is incapable of judging it.”
Many craftsmen spent a lot of time honing their skills to make the finest products possible, so it is not surprising that they took great pride in their work. While most of us aren’t as skillful, we are still compelled to judge the quality of their work, and rightly so. This might sound unfair, but let me explain.
There are 2 types of skill needed to be a successful craftsman. One is making product, and the other is judging the quality of it. The first one is difficult to obtain, however, the latter can be learned much more easily -- sometimes we are born with it.
With that reason, someone who never cooks at all in his life can tell if the food is delicious or not. Or, in the same vein, many of us can judge about the quality of shoes, hammers, or a haircut. This mostly happens in the crafts that make functional products for people to use.
Also, there are other kinds of related skills, such as between an architect and a carpenter. An architect must design a building, but a carpenter has to build it. So, does an architect know more about carpentry than the carpenter? The answer is no, but they know enough to design it.
However, there are also exceptions, which is mostly in the field of art. One piece of art can generate a lot of different opinion, even from artists themselves. As someone has said, “the picture is worth a thousand words.” -- Unfortunately, the words are not the same for each person.
All in all, the person that can judge the craft correctly depends on which craft he’s judging. We should be careful to criticize something.
Now I know that my brain is rusty beyond recognition, and if you disagree, just take a look at most of my old articles here..
Task 1: Issue Exploration (45 minutes)
“A person who does not thoroughly comprehend the technical side of a craft is incapable of judging it.”
Many craftsmen spent a lot of time honing their skills to make the finest products possible, so it is not surprising that they took great pride in their work. While most of us aren’t as skillful, we are still compelled to judge the quality of their work, and rightly so. This might sound unfair, but let me explain.
There are 2 types of skill needed to be a successful craftsman. One is making product, and the other is judging the quality of it. The first one is difficult to obtain, however, the latter can be learned much more easily -- sometimes we are born with it.
With that reason, someone who never cooks at all in his life can tell if the food is delicious or not. Or, in the same vein, many of us can judge about the quality of shoes, hammers, or a haircut. This mostly happens in the crafts that make functional products for people to use.
Also, there are other kinds of related skills, such as between an architect and a carpenter. An architect must design a building, but a carpenter has to build it. So, does an architect know more about carpentry than the carpenter? The answer is no, but they know enough to design it.
However, there are also exceptions, which is mostly in the field of art. One piece of art can generate a lot of different opinion, even from artists themselves. As someone has said, “the picture is worth a thousand words.” -- Unfortunately, the words are not the same for each person.
All in all, the person that can judge the craft correctly depends on which craft he’s judging. We should be careful to criticize something.
Hi! I'm taking the revised test in like 10 days and I have just started working on my writing coz it's not that bad.But I always thought writing for the GRE is gonna be far more harder and takes a lot of courage.I belive I was wrong.Because I have read the writing samples in Kaplan and Barrons and ETS and let me tell you that the key is to be convoluted in your discussion.your essay transmits the general idea and even the conclusion part is clear enough but I believe it's kinda too informal for a such a test.but all in all I believe it's good and I liked the vocabularies that you used :) good luck :)