How do you prepare for AWA?

the only all out practice AWAs I did was from GmatPrep, I wrote them out as if it were the real thing.

I only got 5.0 on mine though, as I was writing I was sure it would be 5.5 or 6.0. Who knows? I'm not gonna ask for a regrade though.

It's all structure and length. What your write isn't that important, just expand upon what you're saying and give real examples. I read a brief chapter in a PR book and stuck to the tips for a 5.5 AWA.

First aim for about a 4.0, 4.5. If you get higher than this congrats. But this really isn't worth much of your time.

Bout a couple weeks before the test just flip to back of the OG 11 and take about 10 min each night. 5 min for each essay. Think about how you would go about writing out the essay: make a thesis, list some examples you would use to support your thesis. Conclusion, well this isn't too hard, just a restatement of your these but reworded differently and leading to a broader outlook etc.. standard Paper. Id def do a couple practice essays.

If your lucky enough like me, you got the GMAC email to write 2 awa's for 30$ woohoo! btw where is that stupid check anyway...

What's that all about? I wouldn't mind doing that...can you provide a link?

I'm not sure if I truly understand the significance of the AWA if you are given your score upon completion of the exam...

Is this something that is looked at carefully when you send your scores to the schools you select?

the awa only matters if you do really bad on it. IMO, having a score of 4.5 versus a 6 doesn't make a difference to your candidacy.

i think the main thing to keep in mind as you're doing the essays is that a computer will be grading you.. so your score will in large part be determined by the grammar, spelling and length of your essay rather than the opinions or eloquence you convey.

I did the two sets of 2 practice AWAs on the official GMAT software. Also, look at the sample AWAs in the Official Guide and figure out what they consider important (things like varied sentence structure).

When you write your essays think about the e-rater, not the human rater. You know what the e-rater expects and can get 6.0 there even if writing crap. If you are lucky and the human rater does not give you a score lower than 5.0, you got yourself at least a 5.5.

Prepare only to the extent to increase stamina.

A useful topic, esp when combined with Chinese Burnt's strategy for AWA:
how-to-get-6-0-awa-my-guide-64327.html

I did not take any practice lessons (got a 5). However, make sure that you know exactly how the Argument and the Issue question differs in what the GMAT expects you to write in each.