AWA grade received

pgclt

Just received my grade report yesterday. AWA is 5.0, better than what I had expected considering I only prepared for about 6 hours in total for AI and AA.

even though the grade is so so, still want to share some thoughts with friends here:
1. The time and efforts you spend on SC and RC will greatly help your AWA.  When you come to the point that you can easily identify incorrect parts in a SC sentence, you should be able to apply that knowedge in your writing. e.g., we know ETS's favorite idiomatic expressions such as "rather than", "not only... but also ...", "although...", "so that" ..., so make sure you use all of them at least once in your writing.

Parallel structures make your sentences strong and solid, find some good parallel structures in OG/SC and modify them for your own writing.  I personally favor parallel verb phrases such as ".... will reduce costs, promote efficiency, and greatly increase productivity."

2. It may help to memorize some templates, but don't over emphasize them.  A simple straightforward "First of all, .... Secondly,... Thirdly, ..., In conclusion,..." should be good enough to organize the paragraphs. Most templates from New Oriental are still largely chinese english, so don't rely too much on them.

3. It may not be necessary to go over all 100+ topics.  Simply practice a few of them and understand the underlying logic and organization. Most of them are quite similar in logic, just different statements and facts. Focus on a few typical ones and practice to the best you can.

4...

gigi

When will you recieve the grade after taking the real test?

pgclt

gigi, I took the exam on 10/11 and received grade report on 10/23. The report says it was printed on 10/15. I guess it takes about 2 weeks if you are in us, or about 4 weeks if you are in china.