{"id":22710,"date":"2014-01-27T07:00:27","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T14:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/writing-the-gmat-argument-essay\/"},"modified":"2014-01-27T07:00:27","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T14:00:27","slug":"writing-the-gmat-argument-essay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/writing-the-gmat-argument-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing the GMAT Argument Essay"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\"Writing<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

As you probably know by now, with the inclusion of the\u00a0Integrated Reasoning (IR) section<\/a>\u00a0came the exclusion of the one of the previously required essays.\u00a0 Before the test change, GMAT test takers built the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) score on the backs of two essays: Analysis of an Argument and Analysis of an Issue.\u00a0 These two essays would be scored independently\u2014by one human and one computer\u2014then those two scores would be averaged for a total AWA score on a 0-6 point scale in \u00bd-point increments.\u00a0 In order to keep total testing time at 3.5 hours, test makers decided to cut the thirty-minute Analysis of an Issue essay and insert a thirty-minute Integrated Reasoning section. Now, only the GMAT Argument essay remains.<\/p>\n

So what can you make of this decision? \u00a0Are you better off with the Argument essay over the Issue essay?\u00a0 And, if so, is there a way we can ensure a\u00a0top-scoring essay<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0test day<\/a>?\u00a0 Good news:\u00a0yes<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0yes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

First, writing the GMAT Argument essay over an Issue essay is preferable because of all the work you do studying\u00a0GMAT Critical Reasoning<\/a>\u00a0(CR) questions.\u00a0 Seventy percent of CR questions you will see on test day will come from what is known as the\u00a0Assumption Family of question types<\/a>\u00a0(aka<\/em>, the Argument Family).\u00a0 In each of these question types\u2014Assumption, Strengthen, Weaken, and Flaw<\/strong>\u2014you always approach in the exact same way.\u00a0 That is, you identify the Conclusion, then the Evidence, and then tease out the author\u2019s primary Assumption(s).\u00a0 You see, a\u00a0GMAT argument<\/a>\u00a0will always state both a conclusion and evidence for the conclusion.\u00a0 What you will never be given, what the author will never state explicitly, are the underlying assumptions that allow this evidence to lead to this conclusion.\u00a0 But, in order to answer Assumption Family questions you\u00a0must<\/em>\u00a0identify what those unstated assumptions are.<\/p>\n

The good news about the Argument essay can be summed up by \u201cThe Four Truths\u201d present in every single essay prompt created:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. There will be a Conclusion.<\/li>\n
  2. There will be Evidence.<\/li>\n
  3. There will be Assumptions linking the Conclusion and Evidence.<\/li>\n
  4. Those Assumptions will be flawed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Beautiful, right?\u00a0 The better you get at Critical Reasoning, the easier deconstructing the AWA essay prompt will be.\u00a0 In the Issue essay, you had to come up with your own ideas, reasoning, and support for taking a particular position on an issue provided.\u00a0 However, in the Argument essay, all you need is tucked away within the prompt itself.\u00a0 Sure, you have to do some detective work to sniff it out, but it is comforting to know it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n

    OK, so what about the other question: Is there a sure-fire way to churn out a top-scoring essay no matter what the given argument is?<\/em>\u00a0 You bet.\u00a0 Quite simply, you\u2019ll open by restating the conclusion and evidence in your own words.\u00a0 Then, you\u2019ll identify at least two flawed assumptions and explain why they are flawed\u2014one assumption per paragraph.\u00a0 After that, you\u2019ll talk about how the argument could be strengthened (here, you can just feed off of what you said was wrong with it), then you\u2019ll wrap up with a conclusion.\u00a0 That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

    As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, your GMAT essay is going to be scored by one human and one computer.\u00a0 I suggest reading my previous post:\u00a0GMAT essays:\u00a0Computers score your work, and they are really good at it<\/em><\/a>\u00a0to learn more about those computers.\u00a0 But just in case you\u2019re running short on time, I\u2019ll give you the gist\u2026<\/p>\n

    When that human grader gets to your essay\u2014you know, the one you toiled over for half an hour\u2014what do you think that human had been doing right before your essay popped up on their screen?\u00a0\u00a0Grading essays<\/em>.\u00a0 And what do you think that human is going to do after they finish with your essay?\u00a0\u00a0Grade more essays<\/em>.\u00a0 And how much time do you think they will devote to evaluating your little essay baby that you worked so hard to compose?\u00a0\u00a0Under two minutes, even as little as one<\/em>.\u00a0 So, then, what is that human trying to do?\u00a0\u00a0Emulate a machine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    The aforementioned structure of an Analysis of an Argument might seem formulaic, but you need to appreciate that you are writing for a machine and someone trying their darndest to act like one.\u00a0\u00a0Feed the machine<\/em>\u00a0and you will be rewarded.<\/p>\n

    Questions about the argument essay or the test change? Talk to us in the comments!<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The post Writing the GMAT Argument Essay<\/a> appeared first on Kaplan GMAT Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As you probably know by now, with the inclusion of the\u00a0Integrated Reasoning (IR) section\u00a0came the exclusion of the one of the previously required essays.\u00a0 Before the test change, GMAT test…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,558,243,940],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-kaplan-blog","category-blog","category-gmat-prep-gmat","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22710","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\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}