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23rd February 2016, 09:33 AM
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Join Date: May 2012
Re: GMAT Write

Hello, here I am providing you the analytical writing question of the GMAT exam as under:

Argument
A folk remedy for insomnia, the scent in lavender flowers, has now been proved effective. In a recent study, 30 volunteers with chronic insomnia slept each night for three weeks on lavender-scented pillows in a controlled room where their sleep was monitored. During the first week, volunteers continued to take their usual sleeping medication. They slept soundly but wakened feeling tired. During the second week, the volunteers discontinued their medication. As a result, they slept less soundly than the previous week and felt even more tired. During the third week, the volunteers slept longer and more soundly than in the previous two weeks. This shows that over a short period of time lavender cures insomnia.

Essay
Everybody wants to have sound sleep, whether it is an over-worked person or a person affected from a disease called chronic insomnia.

This argument is about the cure for the same sleeping disorder called chronic insomnia. The persons suffering from this disease find difficulty in sleeping. The basis of this argument is a study of 30 volunteers who were suffering from chronic insomnia. The results of this study show that insomnia can be cured over a period by using lavender. However, the author has not offered enough evidence to support this conclusion. He has not even considered many possibilities.

In the beginning, the author has mentioned that the usual medication of 30 volunteers allows them to sleep soundly but they feel tired when they get up. However, the author has not considered many other insomniacs who are taking medications and not feeling tired on waking up. Therefore, there is also an option of these volunteers going to their doctor and telling him about their problem of feeling tired. Their problem might be corrected by a change in their medicines.

The author has also mentioned about discontinuing the medication of the volunteers. According to him, even in the absence of any medicine, patients have responded to lavender therapy. However, he has not taken the factor of controlled room environment into consideration. The controlled room environment and the normal environment of the volunteers might yield different results when their medication is discontinued.

Moreover, this study is done in a controlled room. This factor cannot be ignored. The author has not checked the results of using lavender scent in their normal sleeping place. You cannot ignore the role of controlled environment in the sound sleep of the volunteers. The author has ignored the effect of peace provided by the controlled room along with the lavender scent. There is also possibility of there being a highway or a railway line close to the residences of the volunteers, which might be a big factor in their problem of chronic insomnia. Hence, the same study should have been done in their normal circumstances. It would have provided stronger evidence regarding the study of lavender curing insomnia.

One more thing that goes against this argument is that now a days medical science has developed largely. If, according to this study, lavender was so successful in curing insomnia, then doctors would have used lavender in their treatment of insomniac patients. However, until now, no doctor has used it in his or her medication nor does any medicine related to insomnia contain lavender.

The most important factor is that this study is done only on a small group that contains only 30 persons while there are millions of people who are suffering from the same problem. It is not feasible to think that the same results will work for all the patients suffering from chronic fatigue. Hence, the study should have been based on a larger group.

Hence, we can say that although the author's argument might be true, he should have collected more evidence in his favor. A study of just 30 volunteers cannot be considered enough proof for use of lavender as a medicine.


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