I am a good writer, so I didn't do a whole lot of prep before the exam, but here is some advice I can give:

Pick up the Princeton Verbal book. It gives a great, straightforward approach to tackling the AWA section. Next, when you are writing your essays, take a very direct approach. The introdu ction and conclusion are the MOST important parts of your piece. Why? Because, a s the books will tell you, the graders only take a few minutes to read over your essay, because they have a ton to read during their shift. So my intro's are always like this: "In today's society, blah blah blah. Blah blah blah. Therefore, the author is in correct in asserting that... and the alternate approach is more effective becaus e..." "The author introduces an argument that.... however, her reasoning is based upon 2 faulty premises, and one invalid assumption." Make sure the reader knows EXACTLY what point you are trying to make. I always m ake my conclusion, or thesis statement, the last sentence in the introduction. The body of your essay should then develop the idea you presented in the introdu ction. Make sure that each paragraph deals with one thought or piece of your ove rall argument, unless of course you are making a clear connection between two sm aller ideas. It is also important that you provide a real life example to support your positi on in the issue analysis essay. So get reading, or talk to your friends about cu rrent issues that you can call on to support your stance. Microsoft, intel - the se are good for technology. Just find the basics, you don't need to come up with an obscure example, just something that shows you command a very good understan ding of the issue. Also, VERY IMPORTANT: ACKNOWLEDGE THE STRENGTHS OF THE OPPOSING ARGUMENT OR ISSU E. You want to show the reader that you understand that the opposing issue does have merit, but that your position is the superior choice. Don't expand too much on the strengths of the argument, but just make sure you mention them briefly. This applies moreso to the issue analysis, and not the analysis of an argument. The conclusion then ties the introduction and body together, and provides some s ort of link putting it all together. It should not just restate what you wrote i n the introduction and the body of your essay - you should try to come up with a way to paraphrase what you have written. The idea is to restate the main idea o f your essay without using the exact same language you used in the essay itself. So to summarize, try to follow something like this for the argument analysis: The author says this... but she is wrong based on reasons 1, 2, and 3. New paragraph discussing reason 1 New paragrpah discussing reason 2 New paragraph discussing reason 3 1+2+3=6, 6 being the paraphrased conclusion linking everything together. For issue analysis:

The issue is... and I take this position because...(make sure your position is f ully established in the introduction.) New paragraph elaborting on your position, provide some logical reasoning New paragraph introducing a real life example supporting your position New paragraph acknowledging that you strengths - but regardless of this, ribe why, by introducing yet another nking your reasoning from an earlier understand the opposing view does have it's your position is the superior one, and desc new idea (if you can think of one) or by li paragraph.

Conclusion ties it all together, but does not just repeat what you said in the b ody of the essay. You want to parahprase what you said, try to keep it interesti ng and remember this should be the cherry on top of your essay icecream