Top GMAT Tips — the AWA Argument Writing Task

1. Spend 4-5 minutes brainstorming and jotting down the logical problems you intend to identify and discuss in your essay. Then number these problems — from most serious to least serious. Present them in that order in your essay.

2. Each argument in the official test bank contains 2-4 major logical fallacies or other logical problems. (That's how the test-makers design them.) To score high you must identify and discuss each major logical problem. Here are the ones that appear most frequently among the arguments in the official test bank:
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   • Generalizing from particulars (relying on a small number of particular cases — too small to reach a reliable general conclusion)
   • Confusing chronology with causation (because one event occurs after another, the earlier event caused the later event)
   • Drawing an unfair analogy (ignoring relevant dissimilarities between two things when comparing them)

3. Go for breadth, not depth. Try to cover every major logical problem with the argument. Don't dwell on one point! (This is the #1 essay blunder committed by GMAT test-takers.) As a rule of thumb you shouldn't devote more than 3 or 4 sentences to discussing any one point of your critique.

4. Avoid Intro-itis. Do NOT begin your essay by rehashing the argument that you intend to critique. A brief introduction — in which you indicate the thrust of the argument and that it is problematic for several reasons — will suffice. Your time is far better spent delving directly into your critique of the argument. (Just as with the Issue essay, intro-itis will wave a "red flag" to the GMAT readers who will assume from the outset that you lack ideas of your own.)

5. In addition to identifying each major logical problem with the argument, always discuss
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   1. what additional information is needed to better evaluate the argument, and/or
   2. what additional evidence (facts) would serve to strengthen the argument.
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   Include these points in your essay's final paragraph.

• The GMAT AWA Argument Writing Task — Format, Directions, Sample Essay
• GMAT Essay Practice Questions — the Argument Writing Task  
• Your GMAT Scores — How to Evaluate Your AWA Essays 
• How GMAT Essays are Evaluated — and How to Earn a High Score with Yours