GMAT Preparation Techniques and Tips
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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