Chapter 9
Present Per fect Paragraphs: How to Write a GMAT Essay
IN THIS CHAPTER
Writing the right way: Errors to avoid
Boosting your score with writing strategies
Knowing what to expect from the analytical writing assessment (AWA) gives you an advantage on the GMAT, but if you want to earn a high score, you need to know what you’re expected to do and how to do it. To perform well on the analytical writing task, you have to combine good analysis with a good writing style. If you lack either of these key components, your score will suffer. In this chapter, we start with common writing errors that you should avoid and then discuss the steps to writing your analysis.
Avoiding Grammar, Punctuation, and Mechanics Errors
One of the aspects of the analytical writing assessment that causes the most trouble for test-takers is the requirement that they demonstrate a good control of standard written English. Standard written English isn’t so standard anymore, and it doesn’t mirror the way most Americans speak (or text and email, for that matter!). Emailed messages are often sentence fragments, and you don’t have to worry about things like spelling and punctuation when you text. Because you can’t always rely on what sounds right to you, you have to know the writing rules.
In the following sections, we identify a few common mistakes that plague GMAT test-takers. Writers everywhere seem to repeat these same writing errors. The essay readers will notice these errors, and their presence in your essay will affect your score. If you identify the errors you make most often, you can begin to eliminate them now. Don’t wait until test day to isolate your writing issues! In addition to the information we give you in this chapter, you can find more info on applying the rules of grammar and punctuation and on correcting writing problems in Chapter 4 and in English Grammar For Dummies by Geraldine Woods (Wiley).
Punctuation errors
The role of punctuation is to guide the reader through sentences and paragraphs. Without proper punctuation, your reader won’t know where one thought ends and another begins. Punctuation errors are among the most common mistakes test-takers make on the essay portion of the GMAT, and we’re not talking about simply ending a sentence with a period.
Many people confuse colons and semicolons. Semicolons join independent clauses when the thoughts they convey are related enough to keep them in the same sentence: It’s almost test day; I need to write a practice essay this weekend. (Independent clauses can stand alone as complete sentences. For more information on the difference between independent and dependent clauses, see Chapter 4.) You can also separate two independent clauses with a colon when the second independent clause expands on or specifies the idea conveyed in the first. Jenny learned a very important lesson: Never leave a chocolate bar on the front seat of the car on a hot day. Independent clauses don’t have to follow a colon, however. A colon can be followed by a list of examples or a pertinent phrase or clause as long as the colon is preceded by an independent clause. Before leaving for the exam, Saul made sure he had all of his supplies: admissions voucher, photo ID, and a bottle of water to gulp during the break. If the colon doesn’t follow an independent clause, you’ve used it improperly, as in this incorrectly punctuated sentence. Before leaving for the exam, Saul made sure he had: his admissions voucher, photo ID, and a bottle of water.
The most common punctuation errors involve commas. You use commas to separate items in a series, to replace omitted words, and to set off nonessential phrases and clauses and parenthetical expressions. You also use them to separate parts of the sentence:
- Insert a comma before the coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, or so) that joins two independent clauses: Bailey thought she had remembered her admissions voucher, but she discovered she had left it on the printer. (But don’t place a comma before a conjunction if it joins elements that aren’t independent clauses: Bailey remembered her admissions voucher but forgot her photo ID.)
- Include a comma between a beginning dependent clause and an independent clause: If Bailey had printed the voucher the day before, she could have placed it in her car. (But you don’t need a comma between the clauses if the independent clause comes first: Bailey could have placed the admissions voucher in her car if she had printed it the day before.)
Two comma errors GMAT essay-writers often make are comma splices and run-on sentences:
- Comma splices occur when you join two independent clauses with just a comma and no coordinating conjunction, like this: Harold made several errors in his GMAT essay, one was a comma splice. To correct a comma splice, do one of the following:
- Make the independent clauses two separate sentences. (Harold made several errors in his GMAT essay. One was a comma splice.)
- Substitute a semicolon for the comma. (Harold made several errors in his GMAT essay; one was a comma splice.)
- Add a coordinating conjunction after the comma. (Harold made several errors in his GMAT essay, and one was a comma splice.)
Run-on sentences result when you join together two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction and no comma: Harold made several punctuation errors in his GMAT essay and one was a run-on sentence that made his writing seem needlessly wordy.
To correct a run-on, you just add a comma before the conjunction: Harold made several punctuation errors in his GMAT essay, and one was a run-on sentence that made his writing seem needlessly wordy.
Sentence-structure problems
GMAT essay-readers focus on more than how you punctuate your sentences. They also notice how you form your words. To avoid a negative critique, steer clear of these two problems with sentence structure:
- Sentence fragments: You may be able to blame your propensity for sentence fragments on technology, but you can’t translate your email and texting style to the GMAT essays. A sentence must have a subject and a verb and convey a complete thought. Watch out for dependent clauses masquerading as complete sentences. Even though they contain subjects and verbs, they can’t stand alone as sentences without other information. Here are some examples:
- A sentence and a fragment: I will return to the workforce. After I earn my MBA.
- A complete sentence: I will return to the workforce after I earn my MBA.
- Modifier errors: Modifiers are words and phrases that describe other words. The rule of thumb is to place modifiers as close as possible to the words they modify:
- Sloppy: The assistant found the minutes for the meeting held on Saturday on the desk.
- Better: The assistant found Saturday’s meeting minutes on the desk.
Faulty forming of possessives
One writing element that you may overlook when you’re frantically composing a 30-minute essay is forming possessives. Although your training in putting together proper possessives likely began in elementary school, you may appreciate this refresher:
- Standard-issue nouns: Use the possessive form of a noun when the noun is immediately followed by another noun that it possesses. Most possessives are formed by adding an apostrophe and an s to the end of a singular noun: Steve’s boss. This practice is usually true even if the singular noun ends in s: Charles’s test score. If the possessive noun is plural and ends in s, you just add an apostrophe to the end of the word: The brothers’ dogs; many clients’ finances.
- Pronouns: The possessive forms of personal pronouns are my, his, her, your, its, our, and their for pronouns that come before the noun and mine, his, hers, yours, its, ours, and theirs for possessive pronouns that occur at the end of a clause or that function as a subject.
None of the possessive personal pronouns contains an apostrophe. It’s is a contraction of it is, not the possessive form of it. As opposed to proper pronouns, possessive indefinite pronouns do contain apostrophes: Somebody’s dog has chewed my carpet. For information on indefinite and personal pronouns, see Chapter 4.
Spelling issues
If you’re like most people in America, you’ve come to rely on your word-processing program to correct your errors in spelling. The spell-check feature is one of the most popular and useful tools because it allows you to take your mind off of spelling and concentrate on what you’re writing. And if you use an autocorrect feature on your word-processing program, you may not even realize how often your computer corrects your misspelled words.
The bad news is that you won’t have a spell-check function available when you write your essay on the GMAT. This means that when you take the GMAT, you’ll be responsible for correcting your own spelling, perhaps for the first time in years! One or two spelling errors may not be enough to lower your score, but in conjunction with any of the other errors we discuss in this chapter, a few spelling mistakes can make the significant difference between one score and the next half-point higher.
A good way to avoid potential spelling errors is to steer clear of unfamiliar words. If you’ve never used a word before and have any doubt about its meaning or how it’s spelled, avoid using it. If you use unfamiliar words, you risk not only misspelling the word but also using it inappropriately. Stick to what you know when you write your analytical essay. If you have enough time before the test, you can always broaden your vocabulary. Developing an extensive vocabulary will pay off in your career as well as on the GMAT.
More dos and don’ts
Here are a few more things to keep in mind when preparing for your essay:
Use simple, active sentences. To increase your score, keep your sentences simple and active. The more complex your sentences, the greater your chances of making mistakes in grammar. You may think that long sentences will impress your readers, but they won’t. Furthermore, they may cause you to make writing errors more easily.
Another important characteristic of strong, persuasive sentences is the use of active voice. Active voice is clearer and more powerful than passive voice.
- Provide clear transitions. Use transitions to tell the reader where you’re going with your argument. You need only a few seconds to provide your readers with words that signal whether the next paragraph is a continuation of the previous idea, whether it refutes the last paragraph, or whether you’re moving in a new direction. Transitions are key to good organization.
- Use precise descriptions. Use descriptive words to keep your readers interested and informed. If you use specific, well-chosen words to clearly illustrate your points and examples, your writing will have more impact and you’ll earn a higher score.
- Avoid slang expressions. Stick to formal English, and avoid contractions and slang. Your readers are professors and should be familiar with formal English, so they expect you to use it in your essays. Using sentence fragments and slang is okay when emailing a friend, but on the GMAT, employ a more professional style.
Practice makes perfect!
You can practice writing in GMAT style in creative ways. For example, if you write a lot of emails, practice writing them more formally. When your friends send you unpunctuated emails full of misspellings and grammatical errors, respond with proper punctuation, superior spelling, good grammar, and perfect paragraphs.
You can’t prepare for the GMAT with emails alone, so here are some things to think about when writing practice essays:
- Write your essay under test conditions. Give yourself a 30-minute time limit and study in a quiet environment.
- Use only those items you’ll have available on the test. Type on your word processor but disable your automatic spell correction, use an erasable board or a single sheet of paper for scratch, and don’t use reference books.
- Take your practice essays seriously (practice the way you want to perform).
Building a Better Essay: Ten Steps to a Higher Score
If you’re going to write well, you need something to write about. Remember that your analytical writing score is based on the quality of your argument as well as the quality of your writing. Even though you’ve been writing for years in college or in the workplace, you probably haven’t had to produce very many analytical essays in just 30 minutes. In this section, we take you through a ten-step process to help you create better essays in less time.
With a plan in mind, you can use your essay time more efficiently and earn a better score. Using part of your 30 minutes to develop a plan means you’ll be more organized than someone who just starts writing whatever comes to mind. In fact, you’ll likely type for only about 20 minutes during the 30-minute task because you’ll spend 5 minutes outlining your argument and 5 minutes proofreading what you’ve typed.
Work out your timing during your practice tests and note the amount of time you generally need for each part of the task. Remember that you have only 30 minutes, so you’ll never have all the time you want for any of the three stages, but with practice you’ll find the formula that fits your strengths. For example, you may be an excellent typist who can write very fast when you get started. In that case, you can afford a little more time for pre-writing and will need additional time for proofreading all that text you typed. If, on the other hand, you write or type fairly slowly, you’ll need to spend at least 20 minutes to get your great ideas on the computer screen and saved for posterity. Here are the ten steps you should follow during your 30-minute analytical writing task:
Read the analytical writing prompt carefully before you begin writing.
Although this step may seem obvious, you may hurry through reading the prompt in your rush to start the essay and may miss important elements of your assignment. Take enough time to truly understand the argument you’re to analyze. Read the prompt more than once; read it quickly the first time to get an idea of the subject matter and then read it more slowly to catch all the details. Some of your best arguments and examples will come to you when you’re reading the prompt carefully.
Don’t waste time reading the directions.
You can make up some of the time you spend carefully reading the prompt by skimming over the directions that follow. We’ve paraphrased the instructions for the essay in Chapter 8 and on the practice tests, so you know what you’re supposed to do. The most you need to do is skim the directions to make sure nothing has changed and move on.
Plan your essay format ahead of time.
Knowing how to structure your essay can help you plan it. Make sure you have an introduction that discusses and presents your position (or thesis), supporting paragraphs that use examples and arguments to persuade others to see your way of reasoning, and a conclusion that briefly summarizes what you’ve said in the previous paragraphs. The length of your essay isn’t as important as the quality of your analysis. Use as many paragraphs as you need to make your point in the allotted time. Just be sure that you know what you’re going to write about before you begin writing.
Use the erasable noteboard.
Brainstorm and write down your thoughts so you don’t forget them. Don’t rely on your memory; that’s what the noteboard is for. Jotting down a word or two can preserve your idea until you’re ready to write about it.
Write a brief thesis statement.
Write a brief thesis statement indicating the main points of your evaluation of the argument and why you think that way. We recommend that you actually type this statement on the computer because it’s the key sentence of your introductory paragraph.
For example, say you’re asked to evaluate the strength of this argument: “Corporations exist to make a profit for shareholders; therefore, the primary duty of the corporation is not to employ workers or to provide goods and services but to make as much money as possible.” Your thesis may be that the argument errs in simplifying the role of corporations and failing to provide adequate support for making the simplistic assertion that corporations exist primarily for shareholder profits.
Create a quick outline based on your thesis.
After you’ve created your thesis and have typed it into the computer, return to your notepad and make a brief outline. Because your ideas are already on the noteboard, outlining is a very simple process. Select the best arguments and examples to support your thesis. Decide in what order you want to address these ideas and number them for use as the topic sentences for the supporting paragraphs of your essay. Under each topic, list several examples and anecdotes that you’ll use to support your topic.
For example, your main topics in the evaluation of the purpose of corporations argument may be that (1) the conclusion is too simplistic, and (2) the argument fails to provide adequate support for its position.
Write your introduction.
Move from a general statement to more specific ones and end with your thesis. In fact, your introduction may consist of only two sentences: a general introduction to the topic and your thesis statement. A complete introduction for the shareholder duty argument could consist of an introductory sentence or two that restates the conclusion and premises of the original argument. Then you’d lead into the thesis statement with a statement of the problems with the argument.
Write your supporting paragraphs.
After you’ve put together an outline and written the introduction, you’ve completed the hardest parts of the task. Then you just need to write your supporting paragraphs clearly with as few errors as possible. Begin with the idea you designated as your first topic in Step 6 (“the conclusion is too simplistic”). Introduce the paragraph with a topic sentence, provide a few supporting examples, and conclude your point. The first supporting paragraph could point out other important considerations for corporations, such as “a duty to care for the consumer and an obligation to perform research, that supersede the dangerous desire to make as much money as possible.”
Repeat the process for your remaining points.
Write a brief conclusion.
End your essay with a simple summary of the points you’ve already made. Provide a synopsis of the conclusions you reached in each of your supporting paragraphs and end with a restatement of your thesis. Move from specific statements to more general ones. Many people try to make too much out of their conclusions, but this paragraph isn’t the place to introduce new ideas or argue your position. Instead, just remind the reader of your supporting points and thesis.
Proofread.
When you’ve finished writing, make sure you have time left over to read through what you’ve written. Look for spelling and punctuation errors and other careless mistakes that you may have made in your rush to complete the assignment on time. Concentrate on errors that you can correct in a few seconds; don’t try to rewrite entire paragraphs.
If you follow these steps in your practice writings and on test day, you’ll come away with an analytical writing assessment score to be proud of.