This Writing Assessment is used by graduate schools to evaluate your
writing skills. The AWA section has two essay questions evaluated by GRE essay graders (usually graduate students). Each of the
two essays require a completely different strategy
- Present Your Perspective on an Issue (30 minutes)
Present your opinion on a controversial issue.
- Analysis of Argument (30 minutes)
Analyze the reasoning in an argument and find its logical
flaws.
Students tend to under-prepare for the AWA section. This is ironic, because
it is the one GRE section where a small amount of preparation can make
a large difference on test day. You don't want an embarrassing AWA grade
coming up in a graduate school interview.
To beat the AWA, you must learn how to write in a highly disciplined
and concise manner.
1. Be particularly concerned with structure. Clearly divide your essay into the introductory paragraph, two to three content paragraphs and a conclusion. Our Essay Guide includes sample essay templates to help you with this.
2. Save it for your blog. The Issue essays are often fraught with political implications, but don't go on a rant or a long diatribe about your own opinions. Also, try not to delve too deeply into your own personal life. Be restrained when writing your essay and keep it professional and balanced. When we interviewed GRE essay graders about their biggest complaint, they asked us to tell you: please save it for your blog.
3. Use transitional phrases such as "first", "therefore" and "because" to help the computer identify concepts between and within the paragraphs.
4. Be a conformist. Overworked GRE graders may not be in the mood to appreciate your eccentric humor or poetic inspiration. Don't be annoying. Play it safe.
5. Clearly state your critique in the Analysis of Argument essay. The Analysis of Argument question will show you an essay loaded with logical fallacies, such as the unwarranted assumption or fallacy of equivocation.
6. Know the essays and how to answer them. The Essay Section Guide shows you all of the approximately 500 actual GRE essay questions with selected sample answers to 20 of those essay questions. This will give you a feel for the essay questions and how they should be answered.
7. Practice, Practice, Practice. The best preparation is practicing under real conditions within the 30/45-minute time frames. 800score offers 10 free practice timed essays with complete explanations and an additional 10 timed essays in our prep course. If you need personalized feedback and scoring, 800score has graded thousands of practice
essays through our Essay Grading Service.
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