ahmed2502 wrote:
Hi All,
I am planning to write GMAT in a month and I have recently started practising AWA. Though I am using the ChineaseBurned's Template, of late I am having serious trouble in AWA and urgently need guidance.
1. I am having trouble summerzing long cases in introduction paragraph.
For example the below argument:
Quote:
In a recent citywide poll, 15 percent more residents said that they watch television programs about the visual arts
than was the case in a poll conducted five years ago. During these past five years, the number of people visiting our
city’s art museums has increased by a similar percentage. Since the corporate funding that supports public television,
where most of the visual arts programs appear, is now being threatened with severe cuts, we can expect that
attendance at our city’s art museums will also start to decrease. Thus some of the city’s funds for supporting the arts
should be reallocated to public television.
I was unable to frame the introductory paragraph concisely and ended up writing the whole text. My introductory paragraph looked bulky, oversized and unfocused.
The argument claims that for maintaining the attendance at the city's art museum, the funds for supporting the arts should be reallocated to public television . To Support the claim, the argument provides a poll result which shows that there has been 15 percent increase in viewership of the visual arts televsion programs over five years and the argument corelates this to similar increase in number of people visiting the city's museum. The line of reasoning is: since the attendance of the city's art museums is dependent on public televison, which shows visual art programs, the cuts in the funding that supports the public telivision will lead to plunge in the attendance of the City's art museum....Please help to make me understand what to include and what to exclude. Particularly for this argument.
2. Since most of use follow the same template, how successful is this formulaic approach ?
3. Certain cases like this, It is difficult to come up with real life examples. How does this affect score ?
4. Sometimes I run out of time, What is the penalty for an incomplete essay ? (Generally, I miss the last one or two sentences in the conlusion paragraph.)
I have already read bunch of materials about effective writing for AWA, still I am confused.
Looking for some help.
Thank You.
Hi ahmed!
1. I don't see a problem in terms of what to include and exclude--your explanation of the data looks good. The issue here is wordy language. "The argument provides a poll result which shows that there has been a 15% increase...." can be reduced to "The argument cites a poll that shows a 15% increase..." Cut down on unnecessary auxiliary verbs, complex constructions, and complicated verb tenses to maintain your quality of ideas while lowering word count!
2. Templates are successful and reliable. I can't tell you about the particular template that you're using, but the Kaplan template I teach has helped literally hundreds of my students get 5s and 6s.
3. Real life examples are not very important for the AWA. As long as you can provide clear hypotheticals (If A were true, the assumption would be false--the author is only right in cases B and C), you're set!
4. There is no fixed penalty for an incomplete essay, but it is very, very bad. you are much better off leaving out one of your flaws or assumptions than running out of time before you hit your conclusion!
Good luck, and let me know if I can answer any more questions.
Regards,
close
01 Aug 2012, 02:02
