AWA Topics not from the list!!

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sravanth: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 6; Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:41 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by sravanth » Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:08 pm

Hello,

I gave my GMAT exam on 26-04-11. First, I would like to thank 'beatthegmat' community, which is the major source of my preparation.

I knew that essays were my weak spot and I spent close to 40 hours on AWA section. I reviewed each and every AWA topic in GMAT Review 12th edition and jotted down my points. The obvious reason behind this exercise was to get a familiar feeling when see the essay topic in an exam.

But, to my surprise, both the Issue and Argument topics that I received in the exam were not from the essay pool in the GMAT Review. I was very surprised and this, to some extent, might have even affected my later sections.

Can someone please let me know if it's just a MYTH that the essays appear only from the GMAC pool of topics?? Or did I miss any updated set of topics from 13th edition?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Essays (AWA) | Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:08 pm

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Brent@GMATPrepNow: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 16207; Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pmFollowed by: 1268 members; Location: Vancouver, BC; Thanked: 5254 times; GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:24 am

sravanth wrote:Hello,

I gave my GMAT exam on 26-04-11. First, I would like to thank 'beatthegmat' community, which is the major source of my preparation.

I knew that essays were my weak spot and I spent close to 40 hours on AWA section. I reviewed each and every AWA topic in GMAT Review 12th edition and jotted down my points. The obvious reason behind this exercise was to get a familiar feeling when see the essay topic in an exam.

But, to my surprise, both the Issue and Argument topics that I received in the exam were not from the essay pool in the GMAT Review. I was very surprised and this, to some extent, might have even affected my later sections.

Can someone please let me know if it's just a MYTH that the essays appear only from the GMAC pool of topics?? Or did I miss any updated set of topics from 13th edition?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Are you sure that you saw new prompts? There are a lot of prompts on the official site.

Under the heading of "Current Analytical Writing Assessment Topics," the official site (www.mba.com) tells us that:

You may download the complete list of current Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) Analysis of an Argument Topics and Analysis of an Issue Topics used during the administration of the GMAT exam

The links are as follows:

Issue: https://www.mba.com/the-gmat/test-struct ... 00606.ashx

Argument: https://www.mba.com/the-gmat/test-struct ... 00606.ashx

I don't know why the GMAC would say this and then turn around and then add extra prompts to the test. You might consider contacting them to dispute your score (if you're unhappy with it)

Cheers,
Brent

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

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nimi_vora: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 7; Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:41 am

by nimi_vora » Thu May 10, 2012 6:48 am

I have the same question. I have not given the GMAT yet but have 16 days to go. I havent prepared anything about the essays yet. It will be great to know whether I should prepare only the topics given in the list or should be prepared to answer on any topic other than the list.

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GMAT/MBA Expert

Brent@GMATPrepNow: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 16207; Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pmFollowed by: 1268 members; Location: Vancouver, BC; Thanked: 5254 times; GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Thu May 10, 2012 7:12 am

nimi_vora wrote:I have the same question. I have not given the GMAT yet but have 16 days to go. I havent prepared anything about the essays yet. It will be great to know whether I should prepare only the topics given in the list or should be prepared to answer on any topic other than the list.

The official GMAT site (www.mba.com) says that those are the complete lists of current topics used during the administration of the GMAT exam.

If you're still not 100% convinced that the lists are complete, you should contact the test-makers.

Cheers,
Brent

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

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nimi_vora: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 7; Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:41 am

by nimi_vora » Thu May 10, 2012 1:39 pm

Thanks Brent. The suspicion arose because I have never given an exam where I know the essay topics in advance except in my early years of school

Too good to be true

But I believe this is the beauty of the GMAT

Thank you once again for the clarity.

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GMAT/MBA Expert

Brent@GMATPrepNow: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 16207; Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pmFollowed by: 1268 members; Location: Vancouver, BC; Thanked: 5254 times; GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Thu May 10, 2012 1:47 pm

nimi_vora wrote:Thanks Brent. The suspicion arose because I have never given an exam where I know the essay topics in advance except in my early years of school Too good to be true But I believe this is the beauty of the GMAT

Thank you once again for the clarity.

The only glitch is that there are over 100 essay prompts for each section

Cheers,
Brent

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

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sravanth: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 6; Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:41 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by sravanth » Fri Jun 01, 2012 7:53 am

thank you Brent.

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