Scoring:
You are scored on a scale of 0-6 in increments of 0.5. Please note that the AWA scores are calculated separately from the Quant and Verbal sections, and have no effect on the final scores of GRE. Most students who appear for GRE score between 2-5 in AWA, with the average score being 4.2.
Time Duration:
You have 30 minutes per essay. That's 60 minutes total for this section.
How to Structure your Essays:
Since both essays are supposed to analyze different things, their contents will be slightly different. However, there are a few tips that apply to both. They are as follows:
- Spend 5 minutes reading the statements and understanding them. As you understand and analyze what is given, you will get a lot of ideas, which need to be then structured. Spend the first 5 minutes doing all this, as you will need the remaining 25 minutes to actually write and proofread your essay.
- Structure your essay in a manner that has a natural, logical flow. A basic rule of writing an essay is to divide it into 3 parts:
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- Introduction: A summary of your arguments will be made in the subsequent paragraphs. This includes you reiterating the given issue, and providing your argument in brief.
- Body: The body of your essay is further divided into different parts, which include you explaining both sides of the issue, your stance, and a relevant example. Make sure you separate all these with paragraphs, but with appropriate paragraph breaks. Don’t break a paragraph just because you feel it's right. If an example is short and supports your argument strongly, then it doesn’t need its own paragraph. On the other hand, if your example is strengthening your argument while adding something new to the argument, then it deserves its own paragraph.
- Conclusion: Summation of your essay, with closing remarks. All justifications are done and dusted. There needs to be a logical conclusion to your essay.
Now for the specifics:
- Analyze An Issue
- Organize your arguments properly. This essay is about how you are able to understand the given complex issue.
- Be precise and use good vocabulary.
- The better your structure, the easier it is to convey what your idea is.
- Express your opinion with as much clarity as possible. In addition to understanding this given issue, the essay is also about how you can express yourself.
- Read up on enough of current affairs and other general interest topics to be able to add relevant examples to your essay.
- Analyze An Argument
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- More than expressing your opinion, this essay is about how good you are at analyzing a given text.
- You are expected to present a counter-argument. To be able to make a good counter-argument, you have to be able to understand the given argument.
- Read op-eds and other argumentative essays to be able to understand how arguments are structured. Get used to identify different elements in an argument.
- Read and watch debates to understand how counter-arguments are made. This will give you perspective on how to identify fallacies and therefore craft a counter-argument.
That’s all for today, folks! Did we miss anything? Have you taken GRE, or are planning on taking it soon? Share your prep strategies in the comments below.
Have you also read:
All You Need To Know About The GRE Structure
Understanding The Four Sections Of GRE
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