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Ah, Business School.

It’s finally time to apply, and you’ve got the works: corporate experience, GMAT skills from night school, and charisma -- you got this from the two dapper blue suits you bought along the way, and a single pair of cufflinks:

Two silver squares, slightly turned inward; a sharp, geometrical border around them.

You’re twenty or thirty-something, and everything is in the leather briefcase.

Well, almost.

Ah, Business School.

It’s finally time to apply, and you’ve got the works: corporate experience, GMAT skills from night school, and charisma -- you got this from the two dapper blue suits you bought along the way, and a single pair of cufflinks:

Two silver squares, slightly turned inward; a sharp, geometrical border around them.

You’re twenty or thirty-something, and everything is in the leather briefcase.

Well, almost.

The AWA section:

That small, writing part of the GMAT test you thought about for a moment, before you folded it into a napkin, and put it in your breast pocket, next to a maroon ballpoint pen.

Business-bound students always underestimate the AWA component of the GMAT exam, because it seems simple enough. But this isn’t always the case: polished AWA essays are structured, concise, insightful, and eloquent; you need to hone your writing skills to do this in a timely fashion, under exam pressure.

Not to mention, your writings tells a lot about your ability to communicate. You want business schools to know that you are fully capable of self-expression and deep, critical thought. You also don’t want to have to justify a low AWA grade during a business interview.

Which could come up.

Strikingly, you don’t have to fret too much: the AWA section is important, and therefore requires some effort on your part; but, it isn’t content-intense, or highly stressful, like the verbal and quantitative sections. A small amount of preparation can yield phenomenal results, boosting your overall GMAT score. So how’s that for simple enough?

Take a look at the breakdown of the AWA, and then read through the following 4 sections, designed to help you prepare for the GMAT writing section.

The Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) is composed of two 30-minute essays:

·  The Issue Essay –A short text will outline the pros and cons of some controversial issue. You will be asked to align with one side of this issue, and provide supporting arguments. You may pick whatever side you want, at no penalty to you.

·  The Argument Essay – A short, argumentative text will be given to you. You will be asked to critique this text, and identify the flaws within its logical reasoning. You are not to provide your own opinions on the subject matter.

Your essays will be marked by a human grader and a computer program called the E-rater. The human grader will be affiliated with the English department of some university. This person will give you a grade from 0 to 6. The E-rater will then scan your essays, and also provide you with a grade in the 0 to 6 range. Due to time constraints, the graders will spend an average of 2 minutes marking each essay.

Your final score will be an average of the marks given to you by the human grader and the computer generated program.

Time Management

·  Before you write your essays, take 4-5 minutes to make outlines. These drafts will get your brain juices going, which will then make your essays easier to write. During this time, think about how you want to approach the question, and brainstorm all of your ideas. Then, arrange your points in an orderly fashion. Make sure all of your ideas are pertinent to the question.

·  Write your essays in the next 20 minutes or so. Make sure your writing is concise and organized.

·  Use the last 5 minutes to edit your essays. Read through your writing carefully and analytically; look for misspellings, grammatical errors, and awkward phrasing. Make sure your ideas are developed and organized; aim for varied sentences, key transition words, and eloquent vocabulary. Do not make any drastic changes to your essays; remember, they are due in 5 minutes!

Structure

• Structure is essential to your AWA success; your thoughts must be developed, and your writing needs to be visibly organized. You need the graders to follow your ideas easily, without any confusion. To do this, each of your essays needs to have 5 sections: an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. These should be clearly divided on the page: indent the first word of each paragraph, and put one line of space when you are starting a new section.
• Each paragraph should embody a different idea. The introduction needs to express your thesis, or major argument of the essay.  Your three body paragraphs should each present one supporting idea and evidence for your overall claim. Finally, you conclusion should summarize your main points, and connect back to the introduction.
• Remember, you have around 20 minutes to write each essay. So do not get carried away with any one section; aim to write 5-6 lines per paragraph, and a total of 300-500 words per essay.

What to Leave out

• Half of your marks are going to be determined by a computer program– so witty word plays and metaphorical conceits are not going to be detected very well. Do not bother making your essays beautiful or clever; use your time wisely -- write directly, and succinctly.
• The essay questions often deal with current political, social, and economic issues. While it is important to convey unique ideas, do not get too opinionated, or personally involved in your writing. The graders do not want to read your impassionate criticisms of American foreign policy; they want to know whether you have a good business mind or not. Be persuasive and intelligent with your words; not revolutionary.

 Vocabulary and Grammar

• Transition words are very important in your essays, because they help the graders to follow your ideas. The E-rater is in fact programmed to detect these words, so use them as often as you can. Popular and effective choices include: therefore, accordingly, moreover, and for instance.
• In your writing, you must demonstrate an excellent command of the English language. So, brush up on your grammar school skills if you need to. Subject/Verb agreement and Singular/Plurals are often troublesome for non native speakers; make sure you can fully understand and apply these rules.
• To produce effective essays, you need to have varied sentences.  Lines that are one length are boring and repetitive; they are also unconvincing. Your sentences should be long and short; interesting and complex. Make use of colons, semi-colons, commas, and dashes whenever you can. But, do not overwhelm your language; too many devices can make your writing confusing. Also, make sure you use all of your punctuation marks correctly; misuses will lower your points.
• Contrary to popular belief, the E-Rater is not programmed to detect “big words.” So you do not need to have an SAT vocabulary to write well for the exam. Still, make sure you diction is formal and appropriate. And, if you do choose to put in some impressive words, make sure you use them properly.

Keep these tips in mind, as you pull your life together over the next few months. 

Good Luck!