aiflavus
Hey Everyone!
When writing the AWA essay, I had trouble on my first one. However, I took the MCAT and SAT II writing so I had no idea that the essay was about critiquing the prompt rather than supporting it.
For many non-native essay writers, I would suggest being able to identify assumptions, and then identify false conclusions. The essay isn't really about supporting a point, but rather refuting one.
Once you get the hang of it, your scores should rise drastically on the essay component. The ChineseBurned AWA guide was incredibly helpful. I made PDF flashcards to elucidate his points. I didn't include everything he said. I didn't follow his guidelines exactly, but he did provide a very strong framework. At the end of the day, your word choice has to be varied, your logic has to be sound, your sentence structure should be varied.
Again, this is a shoutout thanks.
Thanks for posting this -- I also found this incredibly helpful!