All CoursesAWA section is a very important part of the GRE exam. Your score in AWA section will play a vital role in your selection into the course of your interest. Analytical Writing section analyses the critical thinking and writing skills. It tests the ability of a candidate to articulate and support complex ideas, construct and evaluate arguments, and sustain a focused and coherent discussion. It doesn’t test any subject related knowledge of the candidate.
AWA also is used by admission committee to see if your SOP score is comparable to your AWA score. If not, you are considered to have committed plagiarism, which significantly reduces your chances of selection. Analytical writing is scored on a scale of 0 to 6, in 0.5 increments. This section has two tasks, namely analyse an issue task and analyse an argument task.
- Issue analysis task
This task gives the candidate an idea about a general issue. Candidates are also provided with instructions about the way, in which they can respond to that issue. You must analyse the issue, evaluate its shortcomings and provide reasons to support your argument.
- Argument analysis task
In this task, a candidate has to analyse the given argument as per the instructions. The candidate has to check the aptness of the given argument and determine if it is logically apt or not. He will have to take a stand whether he agrees or disagrees with the argument.
Sample topics
The topics asked in the test will be based on the lines of these topics which are mentioned on the ETS website. ETS has published both Issue topics and Argument topics on its website.
Syllabus
The tasks given in the analytical writing section can be based on any topic. So the gre analytical writing syllabus for this section is quite vast, The topics could be related to fine arts, social sciences etc. The candidates need to be thorough in their preparation for Analytical Writing section. They must be socially aware. You should read editorials in newspapers and magazines related to current affairs. It will not only improve your understanding of current issues, but will also boost your analytical abilities.
Get the basics right
The students are provided with a basic software in the exam, which they can use to type in their answers. The software does not support spell check and grammar check options. These features have not been provided, to ensure that the offline test takers do not face any disadvantage. So, it is very important that candidates get used to typing without any help from spell check software.
Getting the grammatical skills right is very important. It will help you to score good marks in GRE Verbal Reasoning section as well. You must study the eight parts of speech (nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections). But, in order to form sentences with a right structure, you must also learn proper usage of these basic rules. By doing so, your ability to analyse the given passages will also get better.
Here are a few books, which can help you to be ready for the analytical writing in GRE and get the maximum score.
1. Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis
You can create an exceptional article if you have a good vocabulary. Writing an essay is all about proper usage of words. This book will introduce you to some new words. The words listed in this book are based on the etymology of the words. Hence, playing with words will become easier and fun as you would know the parent words.
2. GRE Analytical Writing: Solutions to the Real Essay Topics
This book contains over 25 samples for both analyse an issue and analyse an argument topics. There are also prewriting activities, which will help you to understand a writer’s point of view and the facts provided to support the clause. Expert strategies and scoring guides for both the Issue and Argument tasks, make this a must buy for any GRE aspirant.
3. Read lots of standard Novels
These novels will help you in understanding the correct way of presenting your ideas and thoughts.
Things to remember –
Strategize
Having a proper strategy in place for tackling this section can be quite beneficial. Go through the sample topics provided on ETS website. Check out GRE mock test to analyse your preparation strategy. It will also enable you to understand the aspects, on the basis of which the essays are rated. Check your progress by making some changes to your writing style. Make sure that you incorporate any rewarding changes in your writing. Do more practise to refine your writing style. The mock test will also help you to analyse your level of preparation in other sections as well.
Efficient time management
The time management factor also needs to be assessed before you take the actual test. You will get 30 minutes to complete each task. Therefore, it is very important that you manage your time properly. Analysis of an issue and formation of an opinion takes some time. Improve upon your typing speed through rigorous practise, in order to ensure that you able to express your ideas in an efficient manner.
Review
Save some time at the end of both tasks, to review the articles that you have written. Doing so will prevent you from committing any silly mistakes. Avoid doing any spelling and obvious grammatical errors, as they could lower your score.
It is also important to have a good mentor, who can bring a certain ease to the entire learning process. Experts at BYJU’S come up with innovative ways of learning, through years of experience. These methods aim at making learning easy and fun. Take mock tests provided by BYJU’S and get an in-depth analysis of your performance. Find out your weak sections and go through the video lessons delivered by the experts to improve upon your weak areas.
BYJU’S will be glad to help you in your GRE preparation journey. You can ask for any assistance related to GRE from us by just giving a missed call at +918884544444, or you can drop an SMS. You can write to us at gre@byjus.com.
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