![\"Manhattan](\"\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/09\/gmat-essay-minimum-effort-maximum-return-stacey-koprince.png\")
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Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding!\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n The GMAT requires you to write an essay. But here\u2019s the interesting part: The schools don\u2019t care very much about your GMAT essay score. So why even try at all?<\/span><\/p>\n Well, for starters, the schools do care if you score in about the bottom 20% of test-takers on the GMAT essay\u2014so you want to make sure that your score is higher than that. A score of 4.5 (43<\/span>rd<\/span> percentile) is good enough, and even a score of 4.0 (20<\/span>th<\/span> percentile) is probably good enough. (Note: the GMAT essay scoring scale goes up to 6.0.)<\/span><\/p>\n So if you have to do a good enough job, then why not just go all out and aim for a 6.0? That\u2019s not a great idea, either, because you still have the entire rest of the test to do. Mental fatigue is a significant issue on the GMAT. <\/span><\/p>\n So the real trick is to figure out how to do a just-good-enough job on the GMAT essay while saving as much mental energy as possible for the later sections of the test.<\/span><\/p>\n A template is an organizational framework on which to \u201chang\u201d your writing. The template will not, of course, tell you exactly what to write. For that, you\u2019d need the actual essay prompt, which you won\u2019t see until you take the test. You can, however, determine how to organize the information ahead of time, as well as the general kinds of messages you need to convey at various points throughout.<\/span><\/p>\n The template will vary a little bit from person to person; the important thing is to have a consistent template for yourself that you\u2019ve worked out <\/span>in advance of the official test<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n A good template will look something like this:<\/span><\/p>\n Paragraph 1: Intro. Summarize the conclusion. State my thesis. Introduce the main points I want to make.<\/span><\/p>\n Paragraph 2: Body. Discuss my first main point.<\/span><\/p>\n Paragraph 3: Body. Discuss my second main point.<\/span><\/p>\n Paragraph 4. Conclusion. Restate my thesis and summarize my two main points.<\/span><\/p>\n Each paragraph should contain certain things; these are listed in the below sections. The information does not need to be presented in the order given below, though; just make sure that each paragraph does contain the necessary information in some sort of clear and logical order.<\/span><\/p>\n Spend about 3-ish minutes brainstorming before you start writing your GMAT essay.<\/span><\/p>\n First, read the essay prompt. It will look\/feel just like the Critical Reasoning arguments on the Verbal portion of the test, so tackle it in the same way! The argument will most closely resemble Assumption Family arguments, so find the conclusion and make sure you understand how the author is trying to support his\/her conclusion. Next, brainstorm any assumptions* that you can think of and jot these down (or type them into the essay response area). <\/span><\/p>\n *Note: if you haven\u2019t started studying CR Assumption Family questions yet, assumptions are <\/span>unstated<\/span><\/i> pieces of information that the author is assuming must be true in order to draw his\/her conclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n Next, articulate flaws. Any assumptions are automatically flaws, because the author hasn\u2019t established that those assumptions are, in fact, true. You may also think of other flaws along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, pick your two best flaws; these will form the basis of your GMAT essay. <\/span><\/p>\n Many people find this the hardest part of writing an essay; you can practice by opening up the essay chapter of your Official Guide book and brainstorming for one essay prompt. Don\u2019t write the whole essay\u2014just do the brainstorming portion once a day (only a few minutes out of your day!) for a week or two and you\u2019ll become much more skilled at this step.<\/span><\/p>\n First,\u00a0<\/span>briefly<\/span><\/i> summarize the conclusion of the given argument (not more than a sentence). Make sure to write using <\/span>your own word<\/span><\/i>s (don’t simply quote the exact language from the essay prompt, though using the same word here or there is fine).<\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019ll also need a thesis statement, which conveys to the reader your overall message or point for the GMAT essay that you wrote. For the Argument essay, you can write most of your thesis sentence before you get to the test! You already know that the Argument will contain flaws, and that you will be discussing how those flaws hurt the author\u2019s conclusion. Guess what? That\u2019s <\/span>always<\/span> your thesis! <\/span><\/p>\n Then finish up by briefly introducing your two best flaws. Don\u2019t go into great detail\u2014that\u2019s what your body paragraphs will do.<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example intro paragraph:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe author concludes that [blah blah]. While the argument does have some merit, there are several serious flaws which serve to undermine the validity of the author\u2019s conclusion. In particular, [flaw 1 blah blah and flaw 2 blah blah].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Now, do NOT use that exact structure. They\u2019re going to get suspicious if hundreds of people use the same intro paragraph. \u263a<\/span>\u00a0Instead, use the above to come up with your own rough structure and then just go ahead and use that on the test.<\/span><\/p>\n Note this bit: \u201cWhile the argument does have some merit.\u201d This is what\u2019s called \u201cacknowledging the other side.\u201d We don\u2019t say, \u201cHey, your argument is completely terrible! There\u2019s nothing good about it at all!\u201d We acknowledge that some parts may be okay, or some people may feel differently, but our position is that the flaws are the most important issue\u2014that is our thesis: the argument is flawed.<\/span><\/p>\n Notice one other thing that I don\u2019t say: I don\u2019t say \u201cI think [blah blah thesis blah].\u201d I state my thesis as though it is fact and reasonable people <\/span>surely<\/span><\/i> agree with me. That\u2019s a hallmark of a persuasive essay.<\/span><\/p>\n Each flaw gets its own paragraph, so you\u2019ll write 2 body paragraphs of approximately 4 sentences each.<\/span><\/p>\n Your goal here is to support your thesis statement. In each paragraph:<\/span><\/p>\n For example, let\u2019s say that an argument claims that firing half of a company\u2019s employees will help the company to reduce costs and therefore become more profitable. <\/span><\/p>\n What\u2019s the conclusion, what supports that conclusion, and what assumptions is the author making?<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s kind of a terrible argument. While it\u2019s certainly true that chopping half of your payroll will reduce costs, it doesn\u2019t necessarily follow that the company will become more profitable! That loss of personnel may negatively impact revenues, reduce productivity, hurt morale of the remaining employees, and so on. The author is <\/span>assuming<\/span><\/i> that no such adverse effects will result from this action\u2014and you can write about that bad assumption.<\/span><\/p>\n The author could bolster the claim by, for example, presenting evidence that half of the employees work for a division whose product is about to be made obsolete and there isn\u2019t any alternative work that they could do for the company. <\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t worry about whether this is likely, whether such evidence actually exists, or even whether there would be other, better ways to improve profitability. Your job is only to strengthen the author\u2019s <\/span>existing<\/span><\/i> argument a little bit. If the author could actually produce evidence showing that there wouldn\u2019t be adverse effects from such layoffs, then his conclusion would be strengthened. Period.<\/span><\/p>\n Are you noticing a theme within the above bullet points? Basically, the conclusion paragraph isn\u2019t going to contain anything new. Your major points should already have been made earlier in the essay. Now, you\u2019re just restating (in new words, please!) what you already said.<\/span><\/p>\n Your main message is this:<\/span><\/p>\n Yes, the argument has some merit, but it is ultimately flawed and I proved my case using examples X and Y.<\/span><\/p>\n As I mentioned, just make sure that you do use new wording\u2014you want to show variety in word choice and sentence structure.<\/span><\/p>\n (1) Have a template before you go into the real test. Don\u2019t pre-write and memorize actual sentences (too much brain energy!), but do know in general the kinds of points you want to make in each paragraph.<\/span><\/p>\n (2) When the section starts, come up with your two flaws and then start \u201cfilling out\u201d your template.<\/span><\/p>\n (3) Practice until you can execute with minimal mental effort\u2014and then go get your good-enough score on test day!\u00a0?<\/span><\/p>\n Can\u2019t get enough of Stacey\u2019s GMAT mastery? Attend the first session of one of\u00a0her upcoming GMAT courses<\/a>\u00a0absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding!\u00a0Check out our upcoming courses here. The GMAT requires you to write an essay. But here\u2019s the interesting part: The schools don\u2019t care very much about your GMAT essay score. So why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,873,880,929,874,52871,930,2,9,10],"tags":[52960],"yst_prominent_words":[57131,57135,57130,57128,54231,53868,55669,54946,53779,54420,54431,53635,53781,53775,57129,57132,55672,57134,57133,53867],"class_list":["post-14682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essay","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-101","category-gmat-prep","category-gmat-resources","category-gmat-strategies","category-gmat-study-guide","category-how-to-study","category-taking-the-gmat","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-gmat-essay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14682"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18448,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14682\/revisions\/18448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14682"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=14682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nStart with a Template<\/b><\/h4>\n
Brainstorm<\/b><\/h4>\n
First Paragraph<\/b><\/h4>\n
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Body Paragraphs<\/b><\/h4>\n
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Conclusion Paragraph<\/b><\/h4>\n
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Takeaways for the GMAT Essay<\/b><\/h4>\n
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\n![\"stacey-koprince\"](\"https:\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2015\/06\/stacey-koprince-150x150.png\")
<\/a>Stacey Koprince<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California.<\/strong>\u00a0Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT \u00a0for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests.\u00a0Check out Stacey\u2019s upcoming GMAT courses here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"