Now the notification works! I am really happy that my posts are helping you and others! I want everyone to beat the GRE/ETS at their own game!
Analytical writing is another “beast” altogether. I learned the Kaplan template for essay writing; basically you need to know what they are asking and what they are looking for.
Briefly, in the Issue essay, you need to argue ONE side only; don’t sit on the fence. List 2-4 reasons why you agree/disagree, then put in a rhetorical question/answer for extra points. A conclusion to wrap up and that’s it.
In the Argument, you just have to critique the awfully one-dimensional argument that they give you. There will be obvious flaws in the author’s arguments and its your job to locate those and also to provide helpful suggestions as to how the argument could be improved. That’s really it!
I didn’t do much prep - when I felt like it during mock tests, I’d write the outline out and that’s it. I am pretty confident in my writing skills - I am a literature major - so I thought it would be enough prep for me. Your case could be different from mine, and I would say if you are not so confident then you need to practice more. Getting advice from Ms Prachi on the group could be useful for you. It seems like she is willing to read essays too.
What other information I can give you is as follows:
the AW section was originally intended to assess the English level of English 2nd Language students. If you are one such student, then you may want to impress.
sometimes schools just don’t really care about this section so please contact your school to check; also ask for what score they want - they are obliged to tell you apparently.
if you can write well and even if your arguments aren’t that great, I have heard that you will get at least a 4. Ms. Prachi has said that 3, however, is no good.
I actually haven’t gotten my scores for AW yet. They should be here Friday. I wonder how I did - let me share my funny (?) experience with you. When I was writing the essay, I felt awfully bored, no joke. I was just going along, following the template and it was just not challenging at all. So I ended up giving these outlandish examples - Issue essay I had dealt w/ the necessity of technology and I started writing about rice cookers and comparing that to the hand made process which I learned from my grandma; I also started to pun a lot - my argument essay was about a town called Clearview and the argument was written so badly that I started talking about how the author had “muddied” Clearview’s name. I don’t know if you found these things funny but it sure was funny for me! What was great about what happened though was that the essays calmed me down a lot before the real “meat” of the GRE. After laughing to myself I was pretty relaxed when I began the next section! Of course, I panicked halfway into that next section but at least I had 15 mins of calm, rational thinking!
hello dakini,
judging by the way you write ,u definately didnt need any prep for the essay writing!
i did find the information useful.
about ur experience with the essay…i think it was very practical approach to mention about the rice cooker…
abt the argument essay…i wish i could think of such a brilliant idea n relate the whole essay to the name of the essay !!!
i am from india ,so i guess i belong to the group who definately need to impress
i definately need to work on all 3 sections…am waiting for the notification from the yahoo grp…will then start posting my essays there…have also posted my 1st essay here…
thank you again for ur time n effort
regards
I didn’t realize you had an essay up here. Tell you what, after I get my score and if I do decent I’ll try to help you - I mean, if I end up getting a decent score I would feel like I am somewhat “qualified” (?) to give you an opinion that could actually help you with your prep. If I messed up, then my opinion wouldn’t be worth anything anyways. What do you say? I’ll contact you again after I get my score. There may be a slight delay though, since I am moving cross country next week but I’ll really try my best!
hello Dakini,
my name is Pooja,u can call me that
its nice of u to offer to help by reviewing my essay…though at this stage i feel it would be a torture for any one to read it
am sure you will get a grt score n the score is not something that would qualify you to judge n rate my essay or any ones for that matter.
i understand you r buzy now…you go through it when ever you have time
thank you again
another good resource for AWA is the ETS prep material for AWA. They have given examples of the different kinds of essays based on how they would score. Its a good way of finding out what an essay that scored 6 or a 5 reads like.
also i found it more useful to do tests along with learning the words. its a great way of testing yourself on words that you have learnt. also, it helps to test the words in an actual test format, so for instance, you may know the meaning of a word in islolation but its important to be able to take its meaning and build a relationship with another word for analogies.
hello suchi,
thank for getting back
what tests r u doing along with ur learning?as if ur doing say alphabet A today,do u have tests that have questions for just that alphabet?
is that how ur doing
u can test yourself alphabetically with the exercises listed in barron’s but, i test myself for all types of gre words through prac tests in barrons, ms. prachi’s site (the analogy list is a great way to test for vocab) and through ETS tests. i feel that works better for me, but i have been preparing for a little while now so, if you have recently started then you may find it more useful to test yourself alphabetically. later on, you can switch to randomized exercises.
i guess the idea is to supplement learning with testing so we know how our preparation is coming along… at least that’s what i have read…learning new words is imp but its equally imp to test our selves too- u will see that the more u come across a word the better it registers. also for me, i know that i won’t be able to learn all the words given in the barron’s word list so i decided to learn the 200 words from kaplan, the high freq. words from barron’s ( a lot of them overlap with the kaplan list) and other words that i come across in prac exercises and tests. i keep a set of blank flashcards with me and i jot down a new word each time i see one.
I have a question about the yahoo fourm- what’s the quant thread on the forum? i see one for july and one for aug- its a big list of quant questions but where are they coming from?
How are you? Ahh, that is a question that I can’t answer … I was never fussed about the math so I never checked that out. Perhaps you can ask Ms. Prachi about it. However, from what I have gleaned, it seems that it is like the vocab blog; my impression is that it also contains recent questions from the real GRE. I am really not sure though. How is your studying going? I am getting quite stressed now since the movers are coming on Monday; my car is being shipped tomorrow! OMG, I am really moving! Oh, and perhaps I may get my official results tomorrow … now I am beginning to wonder if I read my scores wrong in the excitement of finishing the GRE!!!
I am sure you will do great on the AWA and there’s no way that you would have read your sccores incorrectly:)!!!
So you are really moving, huh?? well, since we both live in boston i was wondering if you would like to meet before you leave. It would be very helpful for me if we could discuss your prep techniques in person:)
about the quant thread, thank you again for your reply. I think you maybe right about the questions being from the real gre- i was suspecting that which is why i checked:)) and even if they are not i will just practice them - like you said its still beneficial to do them:)!
my prep is coming along okay- i had gone out of town for a few days which is why i was MIA on the forum but now i am back with a bang- i mean it i have to spend the rest of aug really focusing on the gre, especially, the quant- i have to get that down pat - i am sick of this paranoia around it - btw, your insights are really helping
so let me know if you would like and can meet- i know you must be crazy busy with the move so i would completely understand if its not possible.
for the awa, i wrote out a few essays to get comfortable with the format but now, i just go through the prompts to see if i will be able to tackle them. sometimes i will write out the major points especially, if i come across an interesting prompt.
there’s a technique to answering the awa’s- look through the ETS powerprep material. i also found barron’s helpful for the awa section. what really helped me was looking at the prompts with a critical eye. for instance, for the argument analysis section- i start looking for loopholes right from the minute that i begin reading it. similarly, the issue section also requires thinking abt the prompt critically, deciding on your position on the given issue and finding 2- 3 good points to substantiate your position. i found that thinking abt it this way doesn’t let me get as overwhelmed with the whole thing.
i really hope this is helpful. ms. prachi has some great ideas for improving on the awa too so, pls do look at them!
Hi abhi_86,
1 month is quuite a lot of time…& you can make it.
Just be confident and practice hard. Take another powerprep about a week before your exam. This one can indicate your score TO SOME EXTENT.
Good luck.
i have heard the same abt gre scores. they are a pretty good indicator of your current preparation level but don’t lose hope - i am sure you can pull up that verbal score. just read through the suggestions that have been made prevoiusly on this post. i am sure they will help you a lot and keep your confidnce intact. r’ber we are all going through it:)
I’m in the process of moving … just got off a plane and nearly wound up homeless tonight >< but all is good. Its going to be hard for me to respond to msgs this week; I need to find a flat so next week should be better. Hope this won’t inconvenience any of you. I’ll be in touch again soon! Take care and study hard!
