GMAT in 4 days: Please rate this issue essay

AbhishekGakhar

Please give some tips for what all I could improve in the issue essay. Thanks a lot!

Issue:

The best way to give advice to other people is to find out what they want and then advise them how to attain it.”

My response:

The statement made by the author says that the best way of giving advice to other people is to first find out what they want and then advice them how to attain it. I second the author's opinion because I think a person can be helped only if his problem is first heard and then the circumstances leading to the problem and possible shortcomings on part of the person asking for advice are analyzed.

Whereas some might say that universal advices that are valid for everybody need no input from the listeners and work just as well, for e.g., advising people to be good citizens etc., they fail to realize that a majority of situations where people need advice depends upon many factors such as the personality of the individual and the circumstances surrounding him. Advices of universal natural are too trivial in such cases. In these cases, people need personalized advice dealing especially with their specific problems. A good doctor, for example, treats each case in a personalized manner and always has an ear to what his patient has to say.

Besides, listening to an individual often gives the person giving him or her advice a chance to analyze what the drawbacks on the part of the person asking for advice are i.e. whether the goal of the person is incorrect or the methodology used to achieve the goal is incorrect. For example, academic advisers try to analyze whether a student appearing for an exam has set his goal to an unattainable level or is he not working in the right way to attain his goal.

It can be argued that not everybody knows what he wants and therefore trying to find that out might be a fruitless endeavor but in such cases it is all the more important that such an individual gets the opportunity to find out his goals for himself and use the advice being provided to set the method he needs to use to attain these goals.

To sum it up, I agree with the author's opinion that the best way to advice someone is indeed listening to his or her problems and then offering advice because in this way the need of the seeker to be heard is fully satisfied. Moreover, both the seeker and the giver of the advice have a chance to review the situation in a better light.

VP_Jim · Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 8:20 am Post subject:

You're on the right track with this. You make some good points, but make sure you back them up with specific, real world examples. Avoid general or hypothetical examples. A good rule of thumb is that you should have one example per paragraph, and each should be a proper noun (e.g., a person, place, company, work of literature, etc.).

Also, avoid using "I" in your essays. It's not a big deal, but try to fix it!

I'll give you a 4 on this, though it would be higher with some examples.

AbhishekGakhar · Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 11:18 pm Post subject: