Sample GMAT Essays - San Perdito Mayor Prompt

The following is taken from a sample essay prompt (Analytical Writing Assignment Section) of the GMAT:

The following appeared in the editorial section of a local newspaper. 

“In the first four years that Montoya has served as mayor of the city of San Perdito, the population has decreased and the unemployment rate has increased. Two businesses have closed for each new business that has opened. Under Varro, who served as mayor for four years before Montoya, the unemployment rate decreased and the population increased. Clearly, the residents of San Perdito would be best served if they voted Montoya out of office and reelected Varro.”

You would often see the following instructions after reading the essay prompt:

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

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Written below are some sample essays that would help you in your preparation: 

Sample Essay #1

In this conclusion, the argument endorsed by the author is that the residents of San Perdito would be best served if they voted Montoya out of office and reelected Varro. Adducing grounds to buttress his argument, the author cites the facts that the unemployment rate increased and populationhas decreased when Montoya has served as mayor in the first four years, whereas the situations reversed when Varro served as mayor for four years before Montoya. The author, therefore ,maintains that the mayor Varro will provide citizens with better services than mayor Montaya does. However, careful consideration of these facts reveals that the argument is problematic in several respects.

To begin with, the author's conclusion that the mayor Varro will provide better services than mayor M does relies on the unjustifiable assumption that all conditions remain unchanged in the city of San Perdito during the eight years, which, however, are sufficient for a significant change to take place in the overall economy and social condition. Without taking these possibilities into account, the author can not convince me that the mayor V can do a better job than mayor M.

Moreover, even with the assumption stated above, the forecast that the residents will be best served if the voted for the mayor V is still open to uncertainty. The author fail to consider and rule out other criteriafor determining the best service people can get, such as the safety of neighborhood, the quality of the environment, etc. Lacking the evidence to substantiate the population and unemployment rate are the only factors to determine the level of mayor's service, it is possible that mayor M will serve people better with his contribution to other fields.

In conclusion, the argument is not compelling and not undeniable as it stands. Only with more solid confirmation, along with more concrete evidences, can the argument be viewed as rational and verifiable. To bolster the argument, the author would have to consider that influences brought by the changeable environment during the four years. In addition, the author would also have to present the justification to demonstrate more respects that can reflect the life level instead of just presenting the changes in population and unemployment rate.

Sample Essay #2

The argument concludes that the residents of San Perdito would be best served if they voted current mayor Montoya out of office and reelected the former one Varro. The author bases his conclusion firstly on the observation that during the first four years that Montoya has served as mayor of the city of San Perdito, the population has decreased and the unemployment rate has increased, moreover, that two businesses have closed for each new business that has opened. Also the author points out that the during the 4 years when Varro served as mayor , the unemployment rate decreased and the population increased. Although, at the first glance, the conclusion is somewhat reasonable, actually it suffers from several flaws .

Firstly, the “decrease” and “increase” author mentions in the argument is a vague description. We don’t know from the given information the nature of the compared data is. If the author is comparing the current economy with the most booming period of city San Perdito, the results are of course not appealing. If the data employed as the indication of current economic situation actually is not updated -  the “decrease” and “increase” are doubtful as well.

Secondly, the author assumes that whether the city is best served can be fully illustrated in number of population, unemployment rate and business thriveness. It is true that the mentioned aspects are very important indicators in terms of the economy, but there are still some important ones which should be taken into consideration such as benefits of the residents, public facilities and public security etc. It is possible that different mayors have different focuses during their incumbencies. It is very likely that the mayor Montoya has impressed the residents on better environment harness, less crime rate and better public facilities, which in long run will benefit the residents.

Even if the above mentioned flaws are cleared, the argument still has a serious flaw. The author based his conclusion on a critical assumption: the mayor should be solely responsible for the results happened during his/her incumbency. That assumption is questionable, since we know there are a lot of other factors that need to be ruled out. For incidence, the decreased population may be caused by a unexpected nature disaster such as hurricane happened during the mayor’s incumbency, which is nothing with his administration. The increased unemployment rate maybe is a structured unemployment caused by the precedent mayor’s mistaken investment policy.

And it is possible that the close of some businesses is also due to the wrong investments in the previous terms. An assumption is something that needs to be true in order for the argument to be established with the given evidences. Since the assumption is not the case, the argument is not well established.

In conclusion, the line of the reasoning in this argument is problematic for the above flaws. To strengthen this argument, the author should provide more relevant information including the updated data and comparison base concerning population, unemployment and businesses as well as other more indicators on benefits, crime rate and environment. Besides, the author should rule out other factors other than the responsibilities of mayor that affect the turnout of the economic situation of the city.

Sample Essay #3 

The recommendation endorsed in this argument is that residents of San Perdito vote current mayor Montoya out of office, and re-elect former mayor Varro. The reasons cited are that during Montoya's four years in office the population has decreased while unemployment has increased, whereas during Varro's term unemployment declined while the population grew. This argument involves the sort of gross oversimplification and emotional appeal typical of political rhetoric.

First of all, the author assumes that the Montoya administration caused the unemployment in San Perdito as well as its population loss. The line of reasoning is that because Montoya was elected before the rise in unemployment and the decline in population, the former event caused the latter. But this is fallacious reasoning unless other possible causal explanations have been considered and ruled out. For example, perhaps a statewide or nationwide recession is the cause of these events. Or perhaps the current economic downturn is part of a larger picture of economic cycles and trends, and has nothing to do with who happens to be mayor. Yet another possibility is that Varro enjoyed a period of economic stability and Varro's own administration set the stage for the unemployment and the decline in population the city is now experiencing under Montoya.

Secondly, job availability and the economic health of one's community are issues that affect people emotionally. The argument at hand might have been intentionally oversimplified for the specific purpose of angering citizens of San Perdito, and thereby turning them against the incumbent mayor. Arguments that bypass relevant, complex reasoning in favor of stirring up emotions do nothing to establish their conclusions; they are also unfair to the parties involved.

In conclusion, I would not cast my vote for Varro on the basis of this weak argument. The author must provide support for the assumption that Mayor Montoya has caused San Perdito's poor economy. Moreover, such support would have to involve examining and eliminating other possible causal factors. Only with more convincing evidence could this argument become more than just an emotional appeal.