Whats the deal with the essays?
The first part of the test will be an Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA). This will consist of two separate thirty-minute essays on a topic you will be given. You will be scored on a scale of 1.0 to 6.0 in half point increments. This score will not be a part of your total GMAT score but will be reported to schools. Although there is some disagreement on this, the admissions committees may also view the actual essays that you wrote. Although the AWA is not usually a big factor in determining admission, it may make more of a difference in students with below-average Verbal scores.
