A GMAT essay is part of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) in mathematics and the English language to assess the aptitude of students wanting to start graduate business studies. The graduate admission essay test basically tests verbal, mathematical, and analytical writing skills of students. The essay section is the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) section of the test. Students are required to complete two essays; the first is an analysis of an argument, while the second is the analysis of an issue. Total time allocated is 30 minutes for each essay. Scoring is done on a scale of zero to six. Software is used in addition to human readers or assessors in evaluating the test. In each section, students would compile the essay in response to a specific essay question presented. The response would be entered and logged into an inbuilt word processor.

Many students are daunted by the thought of writing a graduate school essay. When it’s time to get admission, they are usually geared up to complete an application form with vigor. Academic achievements can be easily included as per instructions. The graduate essay provides a great opportunity for students to provide additional credentials. Test scores may be the same for several students. How then would an admission panel identify the best candidates? It would invariably be through the essay, as they need to know the candidate better. The test is to answer questions without much guidance.

A Winning Graduate Essay

A graduate essay would be written by students who have had a strong grasp over the essay writing process. Students are expected to be well versed in essay writing after they have passed high school. Their vocabulary would have expanded over the years. Communication skills would have been honed to the extent that putting ideas into writing would be a routine exercise. Not many students can boast of complete mastery over the process, but following a method that works helps. What is needed is for students to use their experience of writing essays in school and combine it with skills developed to write on college topics. Some may have to use those skills to write a college admission essay. Getting into a college of their choice would be a major challenge, as several thousand students would also be trying to get admission to the same college or university

Writing a graduate essay is a challenging task. You are expected to have developed an advanced level of writing skills. It many cases, this might not be the case. You may not be native English or may be in the process of learning the intricacies of the language. In any case, you may have to cover a lot of specialized topics that may require a great deal of your time. Projects would have to be completed and submitted in time. Research is another area where you would have to spend a great deal of your time. It is therefore imperative that you understand and know the how to write essays quickly and in a professional manner.