Using AWA time...

[davidg15]

Hi,
I am retaking the GMAT next week and for the most part I feel like I am doing well on the quant section. However, when I review higher level questions in the OG, I find myself going over my 2 min time limit. My internal clock begins to make me panic and I start making simple mistakes or I go blank and forget my multiplication table.

I've spent this last month refining my approach to each section, while it's been constructive, it's also made me aware of even more time wasting habits I possess (and have been working on). I write out prime numbers multiple times throughout my diagnostics, I also tend to not recognize perfect squares. My mind never seems to want to recall things dynamically, I have to start from 2 and work my way up or reduce with 2 and work my way down.

Now that I have given some background here are my questions:

1. I'm pretty satisfied with my AWA score from my previous GMAT attempt, can I still use my previous AWA score, in the case that I achieve a lower score on the AWA section this time around? Is this something that is left up to the admitting schools, or is there a set protocol?

2. If I am able to continue using my previous AWA score, am I allowed to use the time allotted for AWA to structure my GMAT notepad to better aid me during the quant section and maybe even the verbal section, rather than use the time to write the essays?

I often do this sort of thing at school when I have an acronym or some sort of mnemonic I have to refer back to during exams. I eat up valuable time writing out AD/BCE during DS questions and ABCDE during verbal, not an enormous amount of time but it adds up after 30 questions.

Obviously, this would all be my own work and relies upon my ability to recall information correctly to be of any use. I have not been able to find anything in the GMAT rules that explicitly forbids this, but I don't want to attempt this and have my scores cancelled because I didn't ask an expert beforehand.

I do NOT believe that the creative use of the notepad will be the magic bullet that will help me break a certain score, the only way I can achieve that is through mastery of the sections, I simply want to use a test taking technique I use on regular exams. I may just be experiencing pre-GMAT jitters, but I want to make sure this time around I minimize careless mistakes; this is how I normally make sure at school.

I appreciate your response!

Have a wonderful day,
David

[StaceyKoprince]

You do need to do the AWA on this next test. You don't need to spend as much time effort - the score can go down a little if you already have a good score. You CAN'T though just skip the essays for 2 reasons. First, GMAC reserves the right to cancel a test administration for any reasons it considers suspicious, and skipping the essays is one possible trigger for a cancellation. (This does not mean that they will cancel your test if you skip the essays; they just reserve the right to do so.) Second, some schools may discount your multiple choice score if they see that you skipped the essays - that's an advantage that most people don't get.

Next, you are allowed to write anything you want on your notepad while the test is going on, including during the essays. If you want to aim to write your essays in 20m and spend the remaining time prepping for quant, that's okay.

I have to warn you about something, though. Some testers report that the proctors have taken their scrap paper after the essays and given them a clean set of sheets - even though the tester did not request a new scrap paper booklet. Most of the time, this doesn't happen, but it could happen...

So definitely try it, but don't completely count on it, just in case they take your booklet.

One tip: on verbal, write ABCDE once and kind of spread out at the top of a page, and just move to a new line for each question. Use your symbols below where you write the letters (make sure there's a decent amount of spacing between the letters and remember it's graph paper). That way, you only have to write the letters once for verbal.