Tips and Strategies for the AWA

The following section offers specific tips and strategies to use on the AWA during the exam. Practice these strategies as you complete the sample essay prompts that follow.  General Writing Strategies ■ Remember the general guideline for dividing your time on an essay exam: use about one-fourth of the time to plan, one-half of the time to write, and one-fourth of the time to revise and edit. ■ Look for key words in the essay prompt to be sure you address all aspects of the assignment. ■ The key to brainstorming is to avoid censoring yourself. Keep an open mind and write down whatever ideas come to you. You do not have to use everything in your essay. ■ Remember that your brainstorming and outline are for your eyes only. Use whatever brainstorming and outlining techniques you find most useful. ■ On an essay exam, every minute counts. Don’t wait around for ideas to come to you. If you are having trouble coming up with ideas, use brainstorming techniques such as listing and freewriting to get ideas down on paper. CHAPTER Tips and Strategies for the AWA 16 267 ■ A good thesis makes an assertion about the topic; it does not just repeat the topic or ask a question. Make sure your thesis takes a clear position on the issue or argument. ■ Your planning time is probably the most crucial part of an essay exam. Create a detailed outline to organize your ideas. Revise your outline before you begin writing to make sure you have sufficient sup- port and specific examples and that you have addressed all of the elements in the prompt. ■ Make sure you have at least two or three supporting ideas for your thesis. If no other organizational pattern makes sense, put them in order of importance, with your most important idea last. ■ Remember, it’s important to get going and keep moving. If you can’t think of the exact word or phrase you are looking for, approximate. You can come back to fix it later if you have time. For now, writing something that is close enough must be good enough so you can get the rest of your ideas down. ■ Remember to keep it simple. Your time is limited, and your readers will be looking for basic structural and organizational elements. Don’t worry about impressing your readers with sophisticated organiza- tion or style; you don’t need anything out of the ordinary to impress your readers. A formulaic but clear essay will do better than one that is overly complex. ■ Remember that first impressions are important, but it’s more important to finish your essay. Don’t get hung up trying to write a perfect introduction. Simply summarize the argument or issue and state your thesis. If you have time later, you can come back and write a catchier introduction. ■ Signpost, signpost, signpost. Use strong transitions throughout your essay to make the relationships between ideas clear. Remember that both your human reader and E-rater® will be looking for these guides. ■ A specific fact or detail has more power than a general statement. Include specific examples whenever possible. ■ In general, unless you have less than five minutes left, revise first and then edit. Save your grammar and spelling check until after you have made “big picture” changes to your essay. If you are nearly out of time, read through your essay quickly and make any revisions or editorial changes. ■ If a sentence seems unclear to you, it may be that you are trying to do too much in one sentence. Try breaking it up into two simpler sentences that are more clear. ■ Remember the guidelines for effective style: be precise, be concise, use the active voice, vary the sen- tence structure, and avoid jargon and pretentious language. Make sure you use an appropriate level of formality and a serious, respectful tone throughout your essay. ■ Correct punctuation is important, but don’t get hung up on trying to determine whether you need a comma or a semicolon. Make your choice quickly and move on to the next issue. ■ If you are unsure about capitalization, ask yourself whether the word in question is something specific or general. If it is a specific person, place, or thing, then it probably should be capitalized. Remember, in this regard, specific means particular or individual, not detailed. For example, a poodle is a specific type of dog, but it is not capitalized because it doesn’t refer to a specific (individual or particular) dog. Rover, however, should be capitalized because Rover is a specific (individual or particular) dog. ■ If you have the time, read your essay backward line by line. This will enable you to spot errors that you might miss reading straight through. – TIPS AND STRATEGIES FOR THE AWA – 268  Analyzing the Issue ■ Remember that in the Analysis of an Issue essay, there is no correct answer. A good essay will take a clear position and support that position. Don’t be afraid to say what you think. Just be sure to back up your opinion. ■ A strong issue essay will address counterarguments. Take a minute to imagine how someone taking the opposite point of view would support that position. Acknowledge key concerns and then show why your position has more merit.  Analyzing the Argument The argument you are presented with on the GMAT exam may have many different problems. To address all of the different possibilities, break down your analysis into two steps: (1) what the argument has and (2) what it might be missing: 1. What is already there? Check the premises and conclusion. Are the premises (stated and unstated) logical? Do they lead logically to the conclusion? Is the evidence strong and convincing? Are there any fallacies in the argument? 2. What might be missing? What alternative explanations or counterarguments are missing from the argument? What evidence would strengthen the conclusion? What missing information would help you better evaluate the argument? – TIPS AND STRATEGIES FOR THE AWA – 269 The following practice section contains ten prompts for the Analysis of an Issue section and ten prompts for the Analysis of an Argument section. Use these prompts to practice your timed writing skills for the AWA. Give yourself 30 minutes for each essay. Sample essay responses are provided after the sample prompts. To create a realistic testing scenario, it is important that you do not read the prompts until you are ready to begin your timed session. Even a quick glance at the topic will give you the opportunity to start develop- ing ideas for an essay. Remember, you will not have any incubation period on the GMAT® exam; you will only receive your topic when your timed writing session begins. You will have to write two essays in a row on the GMAT exam, so practice doing one of each kind of essay consecutively. The first few times you may find that you lose steam on the second essay; after all, writ- ing two essays in just one hour is hard work. But the more you practice, the easier it will become, and the more comfortable you will be with pacing yourself through the writing process. It is also critical that you use a computer with a basic word processor to practice writing the essays. You will not have the option of writing the essays by hand on the AWA, so you must be comfortable composing and revising on the computer. Be sure to turn off the spell check and grammar check; the word-processing program on the GMAT exam will not include either of these features. Have several sheets of scratch paper available so that you can brainstorm and outline your essays. CHAPTER AWA Practice 17 271  Analysis of an Issue Sample Prompts 1. A leader who is respected is more powerful than one who is feared. Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with this opinion. Support your position with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading. Complete your essay in 30 minutes. – AWA PRACTICE – 272 2. The main goal of education should be to teach students to be good citizens, not to prepare them for the workplace. Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with this opinion. Support your position with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading. Complete your essay in 30 minutes. – AWA PRACTICE – 273 3. One of the problems with our society is that we have created such a large divide between the home and the workplace. Even if people bring their work home from the office, their professional life has little connection to their home life. Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with this opinion. Support your position with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading. Complete your essay in 30 minutes. – AWA PRACTICE – 274 4. Every employee deserves a certain amount of privacy in the workplace, whether that means a private office or cubicle or the ability to make private phone calls or send personal e-mails. Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with this opinion. Support your position with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading. Complete your essay in 30 minutes. – AWA PRACTICE – 275 5. Without competition, people stop trying to improve and become complacent. Competition is therefore good for individuals and businesses alike. Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with this opinion. Support your position with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading. Complete your essay in 30 minutes. – AWA PRACTICE – 276 [...]... workforce preparation Economic stability is not the only factor in a society’s success For people to want to live and work in a society, they must learn about and value the core beliefs of that society Likewise, they must understand and participate in the workings of that society They must also respect and value their fellow citizens and their environment They must, in short, be good citizens, and. .. letters to form a word or someday preparing her to enter the workforce, teachers of all subjects and at all levels should be valued for the expertise they provide But they should not be paid equally The more their education and experience, and the more challenging their subject, the higher their salaries should be Analysis of an Argument Sample Essays Prompt #1: Because of the increasing diversity of the. .. the phonics program was the only tool the Hansons used to help Jimmy learn to read, then the father’s argument would have more merit But even if this is the case, there are still other important factors to consider For one thing, would Junior’s parents purchase the same phonics program as the Hansons? The argument doesn’t specify Junior’s father only states that they should by “a” phonics program There... point or another, need to make or receive personal calls during business hours, whether it is to make a doctor appointment or to assist a family member, and they should be allowed to make these calls in private Of course, the number and duration of these calls should be limited, and if they interfere with work or abuse the privilege, the employee deserves to be reprimanded, but the 294 – AWA PRACTICE... grammar ■ ■ ■ Forms a thesis ■ statement that reveals an in- Develops ideas Maintains the Exhibits a mature, Shows control of clearly and fully ■ focus of the thesis sophisticated use the conventions Provides a wide statement of language that of standard Eng- Uses a logical and is precise and lish coherent structure engaging depth under- range of relevant standing of the dence to support ment the thesis state-... pair of socks The store reaped large profits, and the staff enjoyed bonuses for increased sales Of course, it is true that some people have an overdeveloped sense of competition For them, everything is a contest, and they can make life difficult for themselves and everyone around them It is also true that some people simply do not do well in competitive situations, while others have lost the will to compete... jury or in the military, understand their duty to pay taxes, vote to elect officials, and develop projects and programs that support and improve their communities For the United States to maintain its success and achieve its goals in technological growth, space travel, military operations, environmental issues, and hundreds of other areas, we need educated citizens who are well prepared for the workplace... efforts as commendable Certainly, it makes good business sense to offer nonprofit donations, not just from a tax standpoint but for the positive image it promotes for the company Consumers may feel an even greater loyalty to the store if those contributions are made on a local level, so the consumers see their money benefiting their own community On the other hand, product pricing is almost always the. .. another survey, Aberdeen Manufacturing should explore the administrative costs and implications of implementing the option for the sake of the 46% who were “very interested.” The human resource professionals would find it valuable and inexpensive to consult with human resource peers at other companies that use the four-day, 40-hour schedule, and there is likely to be a good deal of literature on the. .. skilled workforce bolsters the economy and keeps money circulating—money that funds our government through taxes Without financially successful citizens, the country’s sources of revenue would soon diminish Thus, the main goal of education should not be primarily to prepare students for the workforce or teach them to be good citizens but rather to prepare students for the workforce while teaching them to . The following section offers specific tips and strategies to use on the AWA during the exam. Practice these strategies as you complete the sample. as listing and freewriting to get ideas down on paper. CHAPTER Tips and Strategies for the AWA 16 267 ■ A good thesis makes an assertion about the topic;