Hi jags2899,

It's true that the importance of your scores on the AWA essays varies from school to school, and it's certainly safe to say that your scores on GMAT quant and verbal are much more improtant.

However, that doesn't mean that the AWA doesn't matter at all--a high score always looks good, and a low score could raise doubts about your ability to perform in b-school. Additionally, admissions officers might check your personal statement against your AWA essay, to be sure that they were authored by the same person.

So, on to your second question: What's considered a "good" score for the AWA? Well, obviously a 6 is the best score you can achieve, so aim for that! For a detailed guide of what each score signifies, check out the GMAC's guide to understanding the AWA Assessment Score (both Analysis of an Issue and Analysis of an Argument are covered). A 6 is considered "outstanding, a 5 is "strong," a 4 is "adequate," 3 is "limited," 2 is "seriously flawed," and a 1 is considered "fundamentally deficient." You'll be golden with a 5 or 6, and can probably get away with a 4. Anything below that might raise a red flag, especially for top business schools, and is probably a sign you should do some extra AWA practice. Looking for tips? Visit the Knewton blog to learn 5 easy steps to getting a 6 on your GMAT essay.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

Hi Chris, thanks for responding to my post. I was just curious about the importance of the essay because my tutor never mentioned it at all and told me the night before the exam to read over a few samples before the exam, which kinda threw me off-guard. I ended up getting a 5.5 and I wasn't sure how important it was to get a 6. Also, I wanted to see if the essay was something that could help applications, or only hurt my chances if I had a high gmat and a low awa score. Thanks again!