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The AWA's Two Components
The GMAT's Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) has two 30
minute components: the analysis of an argument and the analysis of an
issue. These 2 essays can appear in either order when you take the GMAT.
A Warning About the
Downloadable GMAT Essay Questions
The test writers at ETS have published the list of essay
questions stored in the CAT's software. You can download these questions
for free from the GMAC website. Be warned, however that you do not want to
spend the time to practice each of these 280 questions. Reviewing the list
and thinking about a few of them is a good and efficient practice
technique, however.
How the Essays are Graded
Your essays are graded by a college professor who likely
works in an English department. This evaluator will assign your essay a
grade from 0 to 6. A computer program will then assign a grade as well. If
there is a difference of more than one point between the two grades, then
a second human reader will grade your essay and your score will be the
average of the two humans' scores. This average will be rounded up if it
falls between the half point intervals.
The following 4 qualities are examined by the graders
under a holistic view of your essays:
- Critique of the argument or analysis of the issue
- Ideas developed in a rational, persuasive manner with
relevant examples
- Organization
- Grammar and syntax
Due to the economics of this test, the graders are not
given much time to spend on each essay. It is estimated that they spend an
average of 2 minutes per essay. As you will see below, this impacts the
strategies that you can employ on the AWA.
The Overall Importance of the
Writing Assessment
Quite simply, the AWA is not given the same importance by
the admissions committees as the verbal and quantitative scores. This
written assessment is simply another way, in addition to the admissions
essays and interview, for the business school to assess your communication
skills. As a result, we recommend that you spend more time preparing for
the verbal and quantitative sections of the GMAT.
Managing Your Time
You will have 30 minutes for each section. Before you
begin writing we suggest that you spend 3 to 5 minutes preparing a rough
outline on your scrap paper of how you intend to attack your essay.
Consider this your "brainstorming" time and just throw as many
ideas down on the paper as you can. At the end of this 3 to 5 minutes,
look at what you have written. Scratch out anything you now know you do
not want to include. Number the remaining thoughts in terms of their
importance to your issue or argument. Congratulations, you now have a
logical outline around which to structure your essays!
You should spend only the next 20 to 22 minutes actually
writing the essay.
We suggest you try to finish writing the essay with 5
minutes remaining on the GMAT CAT's clock. At this point, close your eyes,
stretch, and try to re-read your essays with fresh eyes. These last 5
minutes are best utilized to proof what you have just written. Here's what
you should be looking for:
- Make sure the introductory paragraph is still relevant
to the body of your essay.
- Read the essay line by line and look for omitted words,
typographical errors, and grammatically-incorrect sentences.
- Make sure your thoughts have come across clearly.
- Check for use of appropriate transition words.
- Most importantly, do not allow yourself to begin a
drastic overhaul of your essay.
Giving Your Essays the Proper
Structure
You will only be using approximately 20 of the allotted 30
minutes towards actually writing your essays. As a result, you will
probably only be able to write about 350 words which translates into 5 or
6 paragraphs. Since this must include an introduction and conclusion, you
will have 3 or 4 paragraphs in which to express 3 or 4 ideas.
This is the winning formula. Express a few ideas
(take the top ones developed during your initial brainstorming session) in
a few interesting sentences. Keep the essay structure simple. Remember,
you only have a short amount of time to write the essay and the graders
have an even shorter amount of time to evaluate them. You certainly don't
want to confuse the graders.
As a result, you will be best served by using an
introductory paragraph that explains what you are going to say in the
essay. You then want to develop your 3 or 4 ideas in their own separate
paragraphs. Make sure your opinions are clearly stated. This is probably
the most common mistake made on the writing portion of the GMAT exam.
Because the AWA topics are not extremely controversial, you should not
worry about offending the grader with your opinions and analysis. Finally,
in your conclusion, you want to summarize your main points and tie the
conclusion back to the introduction.
This is not always a good structure to follow in writing
-- and particularly your admissions essays -- but it works extremely well
for the AWA.
Other General Tips for the
GMAT's AWA
Your grader will spend an average of 2 minutes reading and
grading your essay. As a result, clever metaphors and the like will not be
noticed or appreciated. You need to seem smart to make the critical first
impression to achieve a high score on this writing assessment. The
following tips were conceived with just this objective given the inherent
structure of the grading process:
Use transitions generously. Phrases like
"for example", "consequently", or "first, second,
... lastly" will help the reader follow your essay's structure more
easily. Words such as "because", "consequently", and
"however" can also be used to demonstrate your analytical
abilities. You should favor the use of these words because they are very
succinct and very difficult for your time-pressed grader to miss.
Be specific. One of the key criteria the
graders consider is your ability to present clear and persuasive arguments
and ideas. Many times, writers tend to be vague when pressed for time. Do
not let this happen to you. Please note, however, that it is OK to
acknowledge the limitations of your arguments and concede the validity of
the opposing point of view. This should be done once or twice in the body
only of the essay. Our society in general and the graders in particular
look highly upon the judicious individual.
Do not use big words just for the sake of using them.
Despite the popular myths to the contrary, this is really not a test
section designed to judge your vocabulary. Your grader will form the first
impression -- which is the only impression he or she will be able to form
in 2 minutes -- that you simply used the big words to mask the weaknesses
in your analysis.
Grammar is important. Once again, there is a
natural bias towards grammar. If an essay is grammatically incorrect, most
people -- graders included -- will conclude that the essay's logic,
structure, etc are also incorrect. Do not allow this natural bias to
hamper your essay grade.
Vary the length of your sentences. This will
make your essay easier for the grader to read. It also signals that you
are a smart and effective writer as well.
The Analysis of an Argument
Essay
You will be given a one-paragraph argument to critique.
You are not supposed to give your own opinion on the
subject. Instead you are supposed to find fault with the argument's
reasoning.
Think of some thoughtful and perceptive analyses to
include during your brainstorming session. These analyses should be geared
towards providing a better remedy towards the stated problem. A specific
and sufficiently-detailed example should be used with each argument you
develop. As stated above, you should have 3 to 4 paragraphs in the body of
the essay. Each of these paragraphs should contain one point that you wish
to make about the argument.
The graders like to seek specifics used in your essay. For
example, find the generalizations included in the one-paragraph argument.
(We guarantee this will not be difficult to do.)
The Analysis of an Issues
Essay
You will be given a one-paragraph reading that will
contain some pros and cons on an issue. You will be asked to select the
position with which you agree. The graders will have no preference towards
which position you ultimately decide to support.
During your initial 5 minutes of brainstorming and
outlining, try to come up with points for each side of the argument. If
you do this, you will be certain that you do select the position you can
best support. As above with the arguments essay, be sure to include a
specific example for each point you wish to make in the body of this
essay.
We encourage you to acknowledge the issue's complexity of
the issue in your introduction. It is a good practice to concede 1 or 2
points to the other position in the body of the essay. (This will not make
you appear indecisive to the graders. Recall what we stated about the
judicious test taker above.)
Be careful with your language on this essay. Many test
takers make the mistake of adopting language about which position
"you" or the test grader should adopt. The test grader will
react far more favorably to a persuasive argument that does not require
him or her to take any immediate action.
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