Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Apr 2212:30 AM EDT
-01:30 AM EDT
At one point, she believed GMAT wasn’t for her. After scoring 595, self-doubt crept in and she questioned her potential. But instead of quitting, she made the right strategic changes. The result? A remarkable comeback to 695. Check out how Saakshi did it.
Apr 1612:00 PM EDT
-11:59 PM EDT
You’re first to know: Save $200 on GMAT prep starting tomorrow, 4/13. Get 6 official practice tests and study with real questions. Be ready to save!
Apr 2301:30 AM EDT
-02:30 AM EDT
Struggling with GMAT Verbal as a non-native speaker? Harsh improved his score from 595 to 695 in just 45 days—and scored a 99 %ile in Verbal (V88)! Learn how smart strategy, clarity, and guided prep helped him gain 100 points.
Apr 2308:00 PM PDT
-09:00 PM PDT
Video explanations + diagnosis of 10 weakest areas + 150+ short videos + study plan!
Apr 2610:00 AM EDT
-11:00 AM EDT
The Target Test Prep course represents a quantum leap forward in GMAT preparation, a radical reinterpretation of the way that students should study. Try before you buy with a 5-day, full-access trial of the course for FREE!
Apr 2711:00 AM EDT
-12:00 PM EDT
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors
Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
-11:00 AM PDT
Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
22 Feb 2021, 07:15
Kudos
Bookmarks
PROMPT
“This year, despite HomeStyle’s move to new office space, we have seen a decline in both company morale and productivity, and a corresponding increase in administrative costs. To rectify these problems, we should begin using a newly developed software package for performance appraisal and feedback. Managers will save time by simply choosing comments from a preexisting list; then the software will automatically generate feedback for the employee. The human resources department at CounterBalance, the manufacturer of the countertops we install, reports satisfaction with the package.”
RESPONSE
In this passage, which argues that a performance and feedback software will rectify problems that the company is seeing after a move to a new office space, the author makes several weak assumptions to support the use of the described software package. There are weak points in the causation/ correlation of the problems the company is seeing and performance appraisal and feedback, false association between high administration costs and feedback automation, and wrongful comparisons between dissimilar bodies.
The first implication the author makes is that the software proposed will truly rectify the issues seen with morale, and productivity. While the managers may be saving time in generating performance appraisal and feedback, this does not account for both manager productivity outside of reviews as well as the morale and productivity of the individual contributor. A manager may save time with performance reviews under the automated system, but performance reviews are typically only a small fraction of a managers job. The impact from this system to the overall productivity of the manager is likely to be rather negligible in comparison to other aspects that their role would require, showing that the conclusion of improved productivity from this software alone is largely overstated. Additionally, the morale and productivity of the individual contributor is not considered in the passage at all. Even if the productivity of the management was improved by the proposed software, managers as a percentage of total company staff is likely under 10% (assuming no more than one manager per 10 employees) and will not likely see a great increase in overall company productivity at this level. To strengthen their argument, the author could provide examples of how the automated feedback and appraisal from the software would impact the morale and productivity of other employee types that represent a greater percentage of the company’s population.
Automation of the software does not necessarily equate to lower administrative costs as the author claims. This argument is weak as it does not take into consideration where the administrative costs are coming from; the software package would reduce costs by automating one area of the company’s day-to-day operations, but there would likely be a plethora of administrative costs that were associated with the company’s recent move. This shows that the solution considers the company operations, rather than considering the one-time event that would have likely driven up the administrative costs. The author would best offset this argument by providing information on how much the software would save the company in administrative costs and the amount of time it would take to offset the associated cost of the move.
Finally, the author compares to dissimilar entities to draw a conclusion that their company will also see satisfaction with the software. The fact that the human resources department at their countertop company saw satisfaction with the software does not equate to its success at HomeStyle. HomeStyle and CounterBalance are similar entities in that their titles suggest that they support a similar industry, but different employee make-up, size, and preferences are all factors that can make these two entities different and alter success of the software from one to the other.
The passage has many weak arguments, and several opportunities for improvement to strengthen the conclusion for this passage.
“This year, despite HomeStyle’s move to new office space, we have seen a decline in both company morale and productivity, and a corresponding increase in administrative costs. To rectify these problems, we should begin using a newly developed software package for performance appraisal and feedback. Managers will save time by simply choosing comments from a preexisting list; then the software will automatically generate feedback for the employee. The human resources department at CounterBalance, the manufacturer of the countertops we install, reports satisfaction with the package.”
RESPONSE
In this passage, which argues that a performance and feedback software will rectify problems that the company is seeing after a move to a new office space, the author makes several weak assumptions to support the use of the described software package. There are weak points in the causation/ correlation of the problems the company is seeing and performance appraisal and feedback, false association between high administration costs and feedback automation, and wrongful comparisons between dissimilar bodies.
The first implication the author makes is that the software proposed will truly rectify the issues seen with morale, and productivity. While the managers may be saving time in generating performance appraisal and feedback, this does not account for both manager productivity outside of reviews as well as the morale and productivity of the individual contributor. A manager may save time with performance reviews under the automated system, but performance reviews are typically only a small fraction of a managers job. The impact from this system to the overall productivity of the manager is likely to be rather negligible in comparison to other aspects that their role would require, showing that the conclusion of improved productivity from this software alone is largely overstated. Additionally, the morale and productivity of the individual contributor is not considered in the passage at all. Even if the productivity of the management was improved by the proposed software, managers as a percentage of total company staff is likely under 10% (assuming no more than one manager per 10 employees) and will not likely see a great increase in overall company productivity at this level. To strengthen their argument, the author could provide examples of how the automated feedback and appraisal from the software would impact the morale and productivity of other employee types that represent a greater percentage of the company’s population.
Automation of the software does not necessarily equate to lower administrative costs as the author claims. This argument is weak as it does not take into consideration where the administrative costs are coming from; the software package would reduce costs by automating one area of the company’s day-to-day operations, but there would likely be a plethora of administrative costs that were associated with the company’s recent move. This shows that the solution considers the company operations, rather than considering the one-time event that would have likely driven up the administrative costs. The author would best offset this argument by providing information on how much the software would save the company in administrative costs and the amount of time it would take to offset the associated cost of the move.
Finally, the author compares to dissimilar entities to draw a conclusion that their company will also see satisfaction with the software. The fact that the human resources department at their countertop company saw satisfaction with the software does not equate to its success at HomeStyle. HomeStyle and CounterBalance are similar entities in that their titles suggest that they support a similar industry, but different employee make-up, size, and preferences are all factors that can make these two entities different and alter success of the software from one to the other.
The passage has many weak arguments, and several opportunities for improvement to strengthen the conclusion for this passage.
22 Feb 2021, 10:59
Kudos
Bookmarks
hazelnut383 - Overall, your essay attempt is decent. However, it could get better with the appropriate usage of structural keywords. You may also need to focus on certain areas of grammar and style. As written, the essay could get you a score of 4-5 on a good day. Please remember that the AWA section is scored quite leniently, and hence you should always target to score a perfect 6.
23 Feb 2021, 09:52
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi. That's a pretty long essay. Impressive!
I tried to run in through the automatic grader on gmatawa an old but free tool. Not sure if it crapped out or if that's indeed the score but it gave 3.5 out of 6 as the score.
Coherence and connectivity: 2 out of 5
Paragraph structure and formation: 3.5 out of 5
Vocabulary and word expression: 4.5 out of 5
I also tried to generate a summary and here is what came of it:
See if this makes sense on its own.
In this passage, which argues that a performance and feedback software will rectify problems that the company is seeing after a move to a new office space, the author makes several weak assumptions to support the use of the described software package.
There are weak points in the causation/ correlation of the problems the company is seeing and performance appraisal and feedback, false association between high administration costs and feedback automation, and wrongful comparisons between dissimilar bodies.
While the managers may be saving time in generating performance appraisal and feedback, this does not account for both manager productivity outside of reviews as well as the morale and productivity of the individual contributor.
Even if the productivity of the management was improved by the proposed software, managers as a percentage of total company staff is likely under 10% (assuming no more than one manager per 10 employees) and will not likely see a great increase in overall company productivity at this level.
To strengthen their argument, the author could provide examples of how the automated feedback and appraisal from the software would impact the morale and productivity of other employee types that represent a greater percentage of the company’s population.
This argument is weak as it does not take into consideration where the administrative costs are coming from; the software package would reduce costs by automating one area of the company’s day-to-day operations, but there would likely be a plethora of administrative costs that were associated with the company’s recent move.
The author would best offset this argument by providing information on how much the software would save the company in administrative costs and the amount of time it would take to offset the associated cost of the move.
I tried to run in through the automatic grader on gmatawa an old but free tool. Not sure if it crapped out or if that's indeed the score but it gave 3.5 out of 6 as the score.
Coherence and connectivity: 2 out of 5
Paragraph structure and formation: 3.5 out of 5
Vocabulary and word expression: 4.5 out of 5
I also tried to generate a summary and here is what came of it:
See if this makes sense on its own.
In this passage, which argues that a performance and feedback software will rectify problems that the company is seeing after a move to a new office space, the author makes several weak assumptions to support the use of the described software package.
There are weak points in the causation/ correlation of the problems the company is seeing and performance appraisal and feedback, false association between high administration costs and feedback automation, and wrongful comparisons between dissimilar bodies.
While the managers may be saving time in generating performance appraisal and feedback, this does not account for both manager productivity outside of reviews as well as the morale and productivity of the individual contributor.
Even if the productivity of the management was improved by the proposed software, managers as a percentage of total company staff is likely under 10% (assuming no more than one manager per 10 employees) and will not likely see a great increase in overall company productivity at this level.
To strengthen their argument, the author could provide examples of how the automated feedback and appraisal from the software would impact the morale and productivity of other employee types that represent a greater percentage of the company’s population.
This argument is weak as it does not take into consideration where the administrative costs are coming from; the software package would reduce costs by automating one area of the company’s day-to-day operations, but there would likely be a plethora of administrative costs that were associated with the company’s recent move.
The author would best offset this argument by providing information on how much the software would save the company in administrative costs and the amount of time it would take to offset the associated cost of the move.
