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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