The Happy Demise of the Time-wasting GMAT Business Writing Assessment

The GMAT exam is two hours and 15 minutes of computer-adapting, adrenaline-pumping, mind-racing, ego-crushing testing for which MBA applicants may spend a few months in serious preparation.

The Business Writing Assessment, or BWA (formerly known as the Analytical Writing Assessment, or AWA) made you spend a separate, additional half-hour composing an essay in which you analyzed and critiqued an argument. And that time really was wasted, as I will explain below.

But first….

Ding Dong, the Business Writing Assessment Is Dead!

The BWA was officially retired on July 4, 2026.

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A Brief History of a Good Idea Gone Bad

The GMAT’s writing assessment was introduced in 1994 on the admirable premise that “effective writing skills are needed to succeed in both graduate school and business,” according to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). There were two essays, and an applicant would write for a full hour in order to demonstrate basic composition skills and the ability to grasp new topics and logically organize ideas.

The essay scores of 1-6 were originally meant to provide Admissions Committees with additional data to help diagnose candidates’ writing skills. Candidates with low scores (3 and below) might be sent to remedial writing courses, while high scorers (5 and above) could be waived out of management communications courses. This noble ideal immediately attracted skepticism, though, notably from Dr. Priscilla S. Rogers, a professor specializing in management communications at Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, and Dr. Jone Rymer, a professor at Mike Ilitch School of Business, Wayne State University. In several lengthy critiques, the duo raised doubts about the diagnostic value of a holistic score that gave no details of where writing deficiencies might lie.

Rogers & Rymer also questioned the value of testing the essay-writing skills of professionals who had left school several years ago, and pointed out that academic essays are not the type of managerial writing that is relevant to business school or work. ‍

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‍“The AWA does not evaluate key attributes of management communication competency, such as the ability to persuade, to be sensitive to the needs and expectations of others, and to negotiate between dissonant perspectives." - Rogers & Rymer

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Rogers & Rymer were right. In 2005, GMAC sent out a survey. Was anyone really using GMAC’s writing assessment to diagnose writing issues?  Over half (57%) of 109 deans and admissions officers said “sometimes” or “rarely” and 25.7% “never.” So, unsurprisingly, no.

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Over half (53.3%) responded that they “sometimes” or “rarely” used AWA scores for admissions purposes, and 9.2% never used the AWA. Still, that left about a third (37%) who still used the AWA “frequently” or “always.”

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But what was their opinion of the AWA’s usefulness for the admissions process? Seemingly not very high: of 103 respondents, 70.9% thought the AWA was “somewhat useful” or “not very useful” (presumably, the six non-respondents were from the group not using the AWA).‍

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GMAC’s writing assessment slowly devolved, dwindling to a single essay in which the candidate critiqued an argument to demonstrate critical thinking skills. GMAT temporarily dropped the essay during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, brought it back in 2021, and then dropped it again in 2023 during the transition to the shorter GMAT exam (Focus edition).

Then – jump scare! – the writing assessment was back in 2024 as the BWA, because both Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan wanted to wield it as a weapon against AI slop.

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The Real Purpose of GMAT’s Writing Assessment: Stamp Out Cheating and Artificial Intelligence

Essay plagiarism has always been problem – though not tracked, business schools report that 2% - 8% of essays turned in by applicants were plagiarized. The increasingly prevalent use of AI introduces unintentional plagiarism, in that AI draws from other people’s thoughts and work.

Naturally, the admissions folks want to avoid admitting someone who is ethically challenged and a terrible writer. If an applicant had a low score on GMAT’s writing assessment but submitted beautifully composed application essays, that discrepancy would naturally be suspicious.

However, even back in 2005, according to the GMAC survey, about half of MBA admissions officers infrequently used the writing assessment scores to validate application essays, and more than 20% not at all.

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What about the essays themselves, written in 30 minutes in response to a random prompt – were they looked at? Again, about half of admissions officers did so infrequently, and almost 30% did not.

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Time has moved on, and we should, too. Since 2012, business schools across the spectrum have installed plagiarism software as a less time-intensive way to raise red flags, and more recently AI detection tools have come into use (although they are notorious for their false flags).

Rightly or wrongly, admissions officers had begun abandoning the writing assessment long before 2020 interrupted it, and although GMAT had thought to bring it back at the behest of HBS and MIT Sloan – why? As another requirement added to the host of application requirements, a hastily written essay would provide little value. HBS already has its post-interview “reflection” essay that forces the interviewee to write insightfully without prior preparation. Sloan has video essays that compel an applicant to rapidly synthesize ideas into thoughtful answers. These types of safeguards against applicants who are overly dependent on AI for their communications seem more effective.

And really, the AI-written essay sounds like an AI-written essay – perfect prose without grammatical errors, but boring and unoriginal. If someone wants to generate their essays with AI, let them; that applicant had better have a great GMAT or GRE score and amazing resume as a counterbalance. AI slop is not a great reason for returning to the bad old days, when more than 1,900 days of test-taker time was wasted annually (30 minutes x 93,000+ GMAT tests) on writing assessments that were not read.

Instead, let’s celebrate the fact that GMAC and business schools have put the writing assessment out of its misery for now, and hopefully forever.

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Better Options than the BWA

If you’re an applicant who needs to reassure the admissions officers that you can actually write well, check out all the options listed below. Admissions officers also consider your college classes, the MBA interview notes, and recommenders’ evaluations of your communication skills.

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“I flunked English 101.”

✔ Score in 90th percentile or above on the GMAT Verbal section, proving that you have skills in reading comprehension, syntactical usage, preferred diction, and correct grammar and punctuation.

✔ Showcase your mastery of writing skills and persuasive communications on the application essays.

✔ If you really flunked English and/or other writing classes, take a remedial college course and get an A. Submit the transcript as part of your application.

“English is my second language.”

✔ Try for a fairly high score on the GMAT Verbal section. Admissions committees are typically understanding of how difficult the GMAT is to master for those who don’t speak English every day. Moreover, if you take the time to learn the rules, you can do just as well as native English speakers.

✔ Score above 100 on the TOEFL exam, to demonstrate mastery of English skills.

✔ Showcase your writing skills and persuasive communications on the application essays.

Fun Fact for All Applicants: Your emails to admissions officers are considered to be professional communications, so spend time composing readable emails.

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R.I.P. AWA and BWA

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And please don’t rise again.