My terrible AWA let me down D-day

[minhminh7884]

I took the GMAT on 25 November and got 680 (Q49, V34) - 85 percentile. It was a total disaster as I scored from 720-750 in all my practice tests (MGAT, GMATPrep, Veritas), and I aimed 700+ to get scholarship. However, I didn't put enough time for AWA. Although I've just finished IELTS with score 8 a month before, I find writing in GMAT totally different from that of IELTS. In IELTS, I try to keep my essay as short as possible. However AWA in GMAT seems to be much longer, I do not like the way of sample essays I saw and I do not have a teacher to guide me in this issue. Therefore, on the test day, AWA passed by very terribly, I couldn't finish it on time, and my writings seemed to be short. This caused me stress when came to Quant and Verbal.

Now I plan to retake the GMAT in one month but do not know how to start with AWA and improve my Verbal score. It is noted that CR and SC on the real test seemed to be unfamiliar with me. May be I was not lucky on my test day. But I know I need to practice CR and SC more.

Please help me with the plan to improve my AWA and Verbal in a month.

Thank you.

[chieftang]

I took the GMAT on 25 November and got 680 (Q49, V34) - 85 percentile. It was a total disaster as I scored from 720-750 in all my practice tests (MGAT, GMATPrep, Veritas), and I aimed 700+ to get scholarship. However, I didn't put enough time for AWA. Although I've just finished IELTS with score 8 a month before, I find writing in GMAT totally different from that of IELTS. In IELTS, I try to keep my essay as short as possible. However AWA in GMAT seems to be much longer, I do not like the way of sample essays I saw and I do not have a teacher to guide me in this issue. Therefore, on the test day, AWA passed by very terribly, I couldn't finish it on time, and my writings seemed to be short. This caused me stress when came to Quant and Verbal.

Now I plan to retake the GMAT in one month but do not know how to start with AWA and improve my Verbal score. It is noted that CR and SC on the real test seemed to be unfamiliar with me. May be I was not lucky on my test day. But I know I need to practice CR and SC more.

Please help me with the plan to improve my AWA and Verbal in a month.

Thank you.

It's disappointing and disheartening to hear about the gap between practice and the real thing. You got rattled. It happens. Maybe give Knewton a shot at raising your score "50 points or your money back." Chances are you'll walk out of there with a 730+ next time. I suspect that with a score in the low to mid 700s the AWA section will largely be ignored even by top schools.