GMAT AWA Format and Directions — Issue Analysis

Are you taking the GMAT on or after June 5, 2012? Important exam changes relate to some information on this page. Read more »

The Issue essay section — officially termed Analysis of an Issue — is one of two essay sections that constitute the GMAT AWA (Analytical Writing Assessment). Here are the key "specs" for the GMAT Issue writing task:

How many: 1 essay question, or prompt

Where: Either the first or second timed GMAT section

Time Limit: 30 minutes

Testing format: You use the built-in word processor to compose an essay response to an Issue statement. (The test does not allow you to choose your topic from a list.)

Skills tested:

• Your ability to communicate your ideas effectively and in an organized manner through sound reasoning and relevant supporting examples

• Your control of the English language (word choice and usage) and the conventions of standard written English (grammar and sentence structure)

What a GMAT Issue-Analysis Prompt Looks Like

• A quoted statement of opinion on an issue of general interest. The quote may be real or fictitious, but in any case the source will NOT be provided.

• A directive (instruction) for responding to the Issue statement. The directive may ask the extent two which you agree with the statement, or it may ask how accurate you think the statement is. In either case your task is essentially the same: take a position on the issue at hand, and support that position with relevant reasons and/or examples.

Here's an Issue prompt that is similar to many of the ones in the official pool. The directive follows the statement.

Common Themes for GMAT Issues

The official pool of more than a hundred Issue statements embrace a broad range of topics that are of general intellectual interest. Many of the topics are especially germane to the field of business management. Here's a sampling of the general themes represented among the official GMAT Issue topics:

• individual initiative vs. conformity and teamwork
• the qualities of an effective leader
• the comparative value of formal education vs. practical experience
• personal privacy issues in the new information age
• the merits and drawbacks of corporate accountability
• the social duties of government vs. private enterprise
• the importance of innovation vs. tradition and convention
• weighing public interest against self-interest
• the virtues and drawbacks of the profit-maximization motive
• the role of humanities vs. the role of science and technology

Keep in mind that this is only a partial list, and that several different Issue topics might cover the same general theme — but from different angles.

Directions for the Issue Writing Task

Here are the directions that will appear on your screen when the timed Issue section begins. You'll dismiss these directions and move ahead to the writing task by clicking on the DISMISS DIRECTIONS button.