{"id":15206,"date":"2012-11-05T09:00:12","date_gmt":"2012-11-05T16:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=15206"},"modified":"2012-10-30T13:11:16","modified_gmt":"2012-10-30T20:11:16","slug":"brainstorming-for-gmat-awa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/brainstorming-for-gmat-awa\/","title":{"rendered":"Brainstorming for GMAT AWA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"How do you begin the AWA?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, as of June, 2012, there is\u00a0only one essay<\/a>, the Argument essay, on the GMAT.\u00a0 Suppose you are faced with the following AWA Argument prompt (this is the very last prompt listed in the OG13):<\/p>\n

The following appeared in a memorandum written by the chair of the music department to the president of Omega University.<\/em>
\n\u201cMental health experts have observed that symptoms of mental illness are less pronounced in many patients after group music therapy sessions, and job openings in the music-therapy field have increased during the past year. Consequently, graduates from our degree program for music therapists should have no trouble finding good positions. To help improve the financial status of Omega University, we should therefore expand our music-therapy degree program by increasing its enrollment targets.<\/em><\/p>\n

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 underline 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 sounds, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusions<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This last paragraph is, of course, the standard\u00a0directions<\/a>\u00a0paragraph that you will find appended to each and every GMAT AWA Argument prompt.\u00a0 You should know this paragraph inside-out by the time you sit for your GMAT.<\/p>\n

We are going to approach this AWA prompt with\u00a0strategy<\/a>.\u00a0 We know that whatever argument the GMAT presents will probably be rife with\u00a0flaws<\/a>, so we are going to look for those flaws.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brainstorming<\/h2>\n

By way of preparation for the AWA, you need the directions thoroughly, so there's no need to spend time on those on test day.\u00a0 The first thing you do when you sit down to the AWA, at the very outset of your GMAT, is to brainstorm.\u00a0 We know ahead of time that the prompt will contain a flawed argument, and we want to consider the flaws.\u00a0 Start by making a list of flaws of the argument.\u00a0 In the real GMAT, you might jot these notes down on your dry-erase pad.<\/p>\n

Flaw #1<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Mental health experts have observed that symptoms of mental illness are less pronounced in many patients after group music therapy sessions\u2026<\/em>\"\u00a0 So, the mentally ill folks are not quite as bad when we play music.\u00a0 Is this effect strong or subtle?\u00a0 For example, it seems unlikely that music would have the kind of sustained effect that medication has.<\/p>\n

Flaw #2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do we need someone specially trained to conduct a \"group music therapy session\", or is this a matter of just putting folks in a room and playing relaxing music for them?\u00a0 Do we need folks with particular expertise to run these sessions?\u00a0 Couldn't any group therapist just pop in an Enya CD and have more or less the same effect?<\/p>\n

Flaw #3<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\u2026\u00a0job openings in the music-therapy field have increased during the past year<\/em>\u2026\" A vague numerical word: \"increase.\"\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 Does it mean that there are thousands of openings in every major city for music-therapy specialists?\u00a0 Unlikely.\u00a0 Keep in mind, this increase could be extremely modest --- say, an increase from 7 full time positions nationwide last year to 11 this year.\u00a0 That's certainly an increase, but it's not indicative of a burgeoning employment opportunity.<\/p>\n

Flaw #4<\/strong><\/p>\n

Notice the wildly overconfident conclusion.\u00a0 \"\u2026\u00a0graduates \u2026. should have\u00a0no trouble\u00a0<\/strong>finding good positions.<\/em>\"\u00a0 For the past few years in the US, in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, unemployment has been quite high: in September 2012, it dropped below 8% for the first time in four years!\u00a0 This has been a job market in which highly qualified people have struggled to find employment.\u00a0 Maybe there are a few new positions for music therapy, but the idea that graduates will have \"no trouble\" finding a job is unreasonably optimistic.<\/p>\n

Flaw #5<\/strong><\/p>\n

Omega University's music department apparently already has a \"music therapy\" program, so the surest sign that there are jobs galore and the opportunity for expansion would be the field-related jobs that recent graduates of this program found.\u00a0 This would see a highly pertinent piece of information, and it is conspicuously absent.<\/p>\n

Flaw #6<\/strong><\/p>\n

Something is fishy about the fact that we are talking about helping mental health patients, but this program is in the music department.\u00a0 Presumably, anything in the music department first and foremost would educate people about music.\u00a0 It's less than clear that a music professor would have the expertise to give folks the kind of training that would actually qualify them to work with the mentally ill.\u00a0 Perhaps there are special requirements for this unusual field, but something seems incongruous, because normally, the government wisely sets incredibly rigorous requirements for the kinds of professionals who can work closely with the mentally ill.<\/p>\n

Flaw #7<\/strong><\/p>\n

Expending the program will \"improve the financial status of Omega University\"?\u00a0 When alums make mega-billions, and then donate a sizeable chunk of that money to their\u00a0alma mater<\/em>, that can have a major impact on a university's balance sheet.\u00a0 But, these jobs, music-therapists, are clearly middle class jobs.\u00a0 It's hard to imagine these folks making $100K --- for the sake of argument, let's say, they are definitely not making more than $200K.\u00a0 That's not an income level at which people are poised to give multiple millions to their university.\u00a0 How is it that having a few more upper middle class graduates will \"improve\" the university's \"financial status\" in any noticeable way?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Evaluation<\/h2>\n

Don't spend a great deal of time on brainstorming.\u00a0 Here, I found seven objections, which is much more than you will need.\u00a0 Also, notice the relatively informal language: when you are brainstorming, you can use slang, abbreviations, symbols --- anything that makes sense to you.\u00a0 You need be formal only in the essay itself.<\/p>\n

You really only need a few powerful objections to the argument.\u00a0 Once you have a short list, decide which ones are most powerful.\u00a0 On this list, #2 & #6 seem most tenuous, so we will simply drop those.\u00a0 Flaw #5 would be worth a mention. \u00a0Points #1 & #3 can be combined under the theme of \"ambiguity.\" Overall, the argument should be organized around (#1 + #3), #4, and #7.\u00a0 OK, now we are ready to write.\u00a0 The\u00a0next post<\/a>\u00a0will feature a full essay response to this prompt, organized around those objections.<\/p>\n

This post was written by Mike McGarry, GMAT expert at Magoosh<\/a>, and originally posted here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you begin the AWA? Of course, as of June, 2012, there is\u00a0only one essay, the Argument essay, on the GMAT.\u00a0 Suppose you are faced with the following AWA…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,783,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-magoosh-blog","category-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15208,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15206\/revisions\/15208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}