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How many words in AWA?

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krishan
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How many words in AWA? [#permalink] New post   21 Mar 2009, 01:30
Hi, any suggestion on how many words would be good to put in AWA (Issue and argument). I normally go for an Introductory passage stating that "there are two main reasons for my view.."

Then comes the main body..

Firstly,....


Secondly/In addition,..

To sum up,......

I normally have 320 to 350 words in my essay. Is it good enough to get a 6 (I know the content is important and I am good at that , just wondering if the number of words matters)?

Also, should I give a 1 line break after each passage to make it more readable or not?
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NC2CHI
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Re: How many words in AWA? [#permalink] New post   22 Mar 2009, 12:43
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krishan wrote:
Hi, any suggestion on how many words would be good to put in AWA (Issue and argument). I normally go for an Introductory passage stating that "there are two main reasons for my view.."

Then comes the main body..

Firstly,....


Secondly/In addition,..

To sum up,......

I normally have 320 to 350 words in my essay. Is it good enough to get a 6 (I know the content is important and I am good at that , just wondering if the number of words matters)?

Also, should I give a 1 line break after each passage to make it more readable or not?


Krishan,

These are great questions...I just took the GMAT and got a 6.0 AWA with the help of chineseburned's incredible AWA guide. Refer to it here ( 1-t64327 ) if you haven't already.

1) How many words - I am under the impression that the more words you can fit into your argument the better. Shooting for ~500 words is probably a good goal. Use as many examples and counter arguments as you can in order to strengthen your statements.

2) Line after each paragraph - I think this is a good idea and I did it on my essays. I think it makes your statement look more organized/well structured. This section just depends on your preference.

I hope this helps to answer your questions and, again, refer to Chineseburned's summary if you want a 6.0 on AWA!
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highhopes
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Re: How many words in AWA? [#permalink] New post   22 Mar 2009, 19:44
I just picked one of the formats from either PR or Kaplan (I can't remember which), I had a 6 as well. I think if you go for structure rather than number of words you'll be fine. I would also be sure to use easily identifiable words, especially because of the computer grading (like first, second, finally, etc). Also make sure to restate things so it's clear that you're answering the question.
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Re: How many words in AWA? [#permalink] New post   24 Mar 2009, 15:48
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I think I will look at the Kaplan template a few days before, then prepare to BS as much as possible in 25 minutes..I think Princeton says size does matter for 5-6s per their research.
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JoshKnewton
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Re: How many words in AWA? [#permalink] New post   11 Nov 2009, 14:17
I would shoot for more than 300 words but fewer than 500.

Essay readers often grade on the perception of effort, and effort is often, for better or worse, correlated with length.

That said, you don't want to write too much and alienate the reader (not that you really have time anyway).

Hopefully helpful,

Josh
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Re: How many words in AWA? [#permalink]
11 Nov 2009, 14:17

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