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to add to chineseburn, veritas tells you in paragraph #5 (before conclusion and after 3rd point) to add what would have made the arguement issues stronger (analyze the arguement) or to criticize your own arguement (issues question). They say to write 6 paragraphs.
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navy01 wrote:
to add to chineseburn, veritas tells you in paragraph #5 (before conclusion and after 3rd point) to add what would have made the arguement issues stronger (analyze the arguement) or to criticize your own arguement (issues question). They say to write 6 paragraphs.



I include this in the conclusions.
5 or 6 paragraphs doesn't matter as long as the word count is there.
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Re: How to get 6.0 AWA on GMAT ....my guide [#permalink]
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Here is an essay I wrote for a PR Test - Graded a 6.0 (normally they grade harder than real thing)

Prompt: “The autonomy of any country is based on the strength of its borders; if the number of illegal immigrants entering a country cannot be checked, both its economy and national identity are endangered. Because illegal immigrants pose such threats, every effort must be made to return them to their country of origin.”

Assignment: Discuss how well-reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion, be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.


"This argument relies heavily on unverified assumptions and has a very extreme conclusion. The author fails to make logical connections between the evidence provided and the conclusion that all illegal aliens must be returned to their country of origin.

The first problem with the argument is that it suffers from multiple unsubstantiated claims. The first evidence that is given to support the extreme conclusion is that the autonomy of any country is based on the strength of its borders. This statement is also extreme because it infers that every countries autonomy could be ranked by the strength of its borders. There are many European countries that have very little strength exerted at the borders, but still maintain autonomy. The author should clarify this statement by grouping countries together or using a more vague statement that would include most countries but not all.

The next statement in the argument is conditional phrase stating that the more illegal immigrants that enter a country the worse off the economy and national identity will be. While this statement might be true for some countries it is certainly not true for all countries. The very foundation of early US society was based on immigrant labor and culture that brought from over the sea. There are still many countries whose economy is heavily dependent on immigrant labor. Even though many economist feel this statement is true in the US today, most would disagree that this statement is true of all countries.

The final portion of the author's argument is the conclusion. The conclusion states that the because of disadvantages mentioned earlier all illegal immigrants must be returned to their country of origin. Although this statement might appear to be a logical conclusion of this extreme argument it fails to take extra information into account. The author doesn't give any indication on how extreme these problems will be or how costly it will be to return the amount of illegal aliens to their home country. What if the cost to the economy was half the amount that it would cost to send all of the immigrants back to their country of origin? The author could use some monetary figures to prove that some savings would be incurred if all illegal immigrants were deported.

In conclusion, the argument suffers from logical flaws and makes an extreme conclusion based on unproven assumptions. The addition of hard examples and connections between the statements would prove to strengthen the argument."


*This just shows you how you don't have to write great to get a good score*
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navy01 wrote:
to add to chineseburn, veritas tells you in paragraph #5 (before conclusion and after 3rd point) to add what would have made the arguement issues stronger (analyze the arguement) or to criticize your own arguement (issues question). They say to write 6 paragraphs.


I used verita for the essays, too....
In fact, I was most nervous about the AWAs then anything else.
I skipped paragraph #5 in the verita guide since the it leaves me too little time to proof read.
Anyways, just received my score today and got a 5.5, good enough.

I'd say probably the only good thing verita guide for is the AWA.....
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The only addendum I would add here is that you do not necessarily need to make 3 points. I made 2 points on an essay and still got a 6. If you don't make 3 points, though, make sure you write a lot about the 2 points. Word count is important, i think.
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Thanks mate. The structure part of your guide was very helpful.

I didn't read past section 3, and it was good enough to take me from a 4.5 in late 2003 to a 6.0 a few days ago (I'm surprised they churned out a score that fast!). Unfortunately, that is only an 87% now... :(

My conclusion paragraphs were very short too, and my intros weren't that long either. My three body paragraphs were very long though. Therefore, if I have anything to add to this for other test takers, it is literally restate the argument/issue and take a position and move on. Don't bother with fluff and save that for the body, as that seems to be what they are looking for. Same with the conclusion. A couple sentences seems to suffice (i.e., don't restate anything, just say for the reasons stated above).
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typhoidX wrote:
Hi everyone,

I'm new here & I'm glad I finally found an AWA thread. My appreciations to the author of this guide, it is very helpful. However, I have a few questions about AWA that was not covered:

1. Does anyone have suggestions on the use of common abbreviations and acronyms (as a time saving method)? Would the computer rater grade such usage as spelling errors?

Example 1: I want to replace the word "and" with the symbol "&".
Example 2: If I am writing about small and medium enterprises, instead of writing out the whole phrase "small and medium enterprises" every time I refer to them, I would like to write out the complete phrase the first time, followed by an acronym in parentheses, and write ONLY the acronym in future uses.
Preferred usage - "An effective strategy for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would be... Therefore, by doing..., SMEs can successfully..."


Good questions!
Do not use & instead of and and do not use "don't" - these are not considered proper writing rules.
The safe approach is not to use any contractions on the GMAT, even such as I'm, and instead write I am.

typhoidX wrote:
2. Does AWA affect the overall score (on the 200-800 scale) in anyway? How important is the AWA section?

If these questions were already asked/answered in other threads, it would be great if someone pointed me in that direction. Thanks for advance for any help given.


No, AWA has its own grading scale - 0 - 6 on a 0.5 scale.
It does not affect your GMAT Score and is reported separately.

Hope this helps!
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You mentioned to type at least 500 words per text. On the test it is shown the number of words or characters I typed or do I have to estimate that?
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murdoc wrote:
You mentioned to type at least 500 words per text. On the test it is shown the number of words or characters I typed or do I have to estimate that?


You have to estimate it on the test. The interface is very basic.
However, during your practice you can use Word's word count feature to get an idea where 500 words gets you.
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Re: How to get 6.0 AWA on GMAT ....my guide [#permalink]
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How long after we write the GMAT do we receive the AWA mark?
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Can someone use the exact words of the example above, or a little modification must be made?
In other words, if 100 people put the same templates, is there some kind of constraint from GMAT to do this? Will the scores be low? Or at least If I create my own template, can I use it over and over the same if I retake the test? Will the later scores be low? How the raters see that?
Are my essays send to business schools? Or just the score?
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boxx0r wrote:
How long after we write the GMAT do we receive the AWA mark?

Usually 2-3 weeks.
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murdoc wrote:
Can someone use the exact words of the example above, or a little modification must be made?
In other words, if 100 people put the same templates, is there some kind of constraint from GMAT to do this? Will the scores be low? Or at least If I create my own template, can I use it over and over the same if I retake the test? Will the later scores be low? How the raters see that?
Are my essays send to business schools? Or just the score?


I don't think there are any issues with using the same template over and over by everyone. Why not? It does not say anywhere you can't do that.
The essays are sent to the business schools but they are used rarely and only to verify that your application essays have been written by you. Few of the schools outside of top20 review them.
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Thanks chineseburned.
My AWA score went 4.0 to 5.5..
Thanks. you rock
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Great guide! I used the tips in the guide presented and I scored 5.5 on the AWA.

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We recommend that students write 5 paragraphs.

Here is the breakdown:

1) Intro paragraph. State succinct thesis with specific perspective. Introduce 3 independent points/ideas/examples that bolster thesis. Intro paragraph should be at least 3 sentences.

2) First body paragraph. Introduce paragraph with topic sentence. Unpack first point/idea/example bolstering thesis.

3) Second body paragraph. Introduce paragraph with topic sentence. Unpack second point/idea/example bolstering thesis.

4) Third body paragraph. Introduce paragraph with topic sentence. Unpack third point/idea/example bolstering thesis.

5) Conclusion paragraph. Restate thesis using new language. Quickly touch on three supporting points/ideas/examples. Conclusion paragraph should be at least 3 sentences.

Obviously, this is not the only template that will help improve your score. But it is the one most preferred by GMAT essay-readers—so you would be best served by running your essay through this framework.

I hope this is helpful; please let me know if you have more questions.

Best,

Josh@knewton
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THANK YOU! got a 6.0 and didn't study very much for AWA which was key considering i needed every second to study for verbal. all thanks to your guide!
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