Gre analytical Writing issue essay Topic 101

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GRE Analytical Writing ISSUE Essay Topic - 101 
"Students should memorize facts only after they have studied the ideas, trends, and concepts that 
help explain those facts. Students who have learned only facts have learned very little." 
GRE AWA Analytical Writing ISSUE Essay Sample 
Solution - 101 
Why is understanding a particular concept always given preference over mugging it up? This is 
because once you have understood a concept, it is unlikely that you will forget it that easily. On 
the other hand, something that has been memorized by cramming it up will last in your memory 
for a couple of days only. The education system stresses a lot on the explanation of concepts and 
teaching the ideas and trends that are behind the facts which have to be learnt. If understanding 
the basic concepts was not all that important, then there would be no requirement of teaching in 
schools. Students could be given a long list of facts and they could be told to just memorize 
them. However, this is not the case. This is because students will not be able to learn anything by 
merely memorizing the facts. They should study the concepts that explain the facts before they 
attempt to memorize those facts. 
Acquiring knowledge and the application of that knowledge are two different aspects of learning. 
It is easy to acquire knowledge by reading and memorizing facts. This way you cannot become 
learned as you would be unaware about the concepts that have led to the establishment of these 
facts and you will not be able to apply the knowledge that you have acquired by memorizing. 
Moreover, you will not be able to analyze other related aspects on your own as you would have 
learnt very little by memorizing facts. For example, simply memorizing the speeds of light and 
sound are not as important as understanding the difference between these two speeds and how 
they are related to each other. Unless you are clear about this concept, you will not be able to 
either understand or explain the reason behind the lightening phenomenon wherein one sees the 
lightening first and hears the thunder later; whereas both these events have occurred 
simultaneously. Being able to explain this phenomenon would mean that you have actually learnt 
something rather than just being able to rattle out the figures related to the speeds of light and 
sound. 
Children studying in kindergarten are taught the shapes and sounds of the alphabets before they 
are taught the spellings of common words. There is no school in the world which would advocate 
memorizing the spellings of words before understanding the phonetics related to the alphabets. 
Even if a child does memorize the spellings of words without understanding the phonetics 
involved, how long will he be able to retain those spellings? Even if he does remember those 
spellings for an unusually long time, will he be able to work out the spellings of more difficult 
words on his own? The answer to this question would be a definite 'no'. This means that the child 
would have learnt almost nothing by memorizing the spellings without understanding the 
concepts of alphabets and phonetics. On the other hand, if he has understood the sounds and 
shapes of the alphabets, then he will have no difficulty either in memorizing the spellings of 

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common words or in reading and writing difficult words later on in life. Hence, it is obvious that 
memorizing facts after studying the explanations to those facts will help the students to learn in a 
better way. 
Understanding the system that sustains life and allows us to grow and develop in this technically 
savvy world is not very easy. However, you have to make all efforts to understand these concepts 
if you want to be well educated in life. It cannot be said that you have learnt something if you 
have merely memorized the facts as you are likely to forget these facts when you are no longer in 
touch with your studies. Therefore, the better option would be to gain an in-depth understanding 
of whatever is being taught and you are bound to retain the knowledge gained for the rest of your 
life. 

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