t_ruth Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Hello all. I need some feedback here. I just got my writing score on the phone and it was a 4.5!?! I have a J.D. from a top 25 law school where I was an editor of the law review and near the top of my class, so I was a bit surprised to be below the 60th percentile on the GRE analytical writing section. I felt that I did a decent job (well, more than decent) during the exam, so was actually floored. Is it worth trying to get it rescored? Thanks in advance for your advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankdux Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 why are you taking the GRE AFTER you've already done a J.D.? I also got a 4.5, but i'm a math person. i felt that i did as well as i could on that section and i was ok with my score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 Being a lawyer wasn't the right thing for me, so I am going back for a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology. I've been out of school for some time, so I was counting on the GRE to be good, sigh. My husband suggested I must have approached the exam like a lawyer, but it is an analytical test, so I don't see why I shouldn't have. I had taken the old GRE in 1997 and scored an 800 on the analytical section then (and my LSAT scores are 98th percentile)... I'm worried that if he is right, then a rescore will be pointless, and also scared about the possibility of dropping from what I've read about rescores online. ETA: verbal: 650 (also disappointing) and quant: 760 (which I'm find with considering my last math class was in 1995) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKbound Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 I don't know if this is any consolation, but your experience is not all that unusual. There's another thread of a similar vein on the Philosophy board below. I was also extremely surprised by my AW score (also a 4.5). My verbal was in the 99th (750) so it seems there may be some sort of disconnect occurring. How does a person whose verbal score is in the top of the top percentile suddenly find herself lumped in with average on the writing? I think it may be a situation where the evaluators are themselves not up to the task of evaluating the samples or, perhaps, they're just shuffling them through without really giving the samples proper attention. Either way, I'm not going to bother retaking the test. My combined score on the other two parts was 1460 and the writing sample(s) I've used in my applications have already gotten me offers from two schools. Your institutions will be evaluating your entire application, not the just AW section of the GRE. Link to other discussion: viewtopic.php?f=53&t=14219 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 thanks. my verbal was the 93rd percentile, so not as great as yours, but still not awful I guess. From what I've read, the reviewer takes less than a minute on each essay. I also realized that I may not have indented my paragraphs, which I've read can be a significant deduction, crazy! My most recent writing sample is a legal paper on an educational topic...no clue how that will be received. Basically I feel completely in the dark as to my chances, so am applying everywhere I wouldn't mind going where the faculty has similar interests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nofia Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 The score on the writing portion of the test doesnt reflect how "good" a writer you are, it assesses how well you met the parameters of their grading rubric. You have to write specifically for the test. I don't think rescoring will help honestly; the grading rubric they use isnt as subjective as you might think (the test is graded by both a human reader and an "e-reader" which suggests their rubric is pretty standardized). I would read through sample 6's to get a sense of what they're looking for, compare that to sample 4's and 5's to see how they're different and where your essay stacked up, and then retake it if you're concerned that the score will hinder your chances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeble Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Glad to hear I'm not the only one this happened to. I got a 4 on the writing (!!!!) and an 800 verbal. My current internal debate is whether and how to explain my 4 grade on the application. One application actually asks if my GRE scores accurately reflect my abilities. What can I say to explain my 4? Do you think they'd accept that I've been out of school for five years and don't write essays? I'm afraid that will come across as "I didn't study for this exam", which isn't true. I did study and practice, just clearly not enough to make up for the length of time I've been away from school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demondeac Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 AW is like "no child left behind"; it is not about writing well or knowing the material, it is ONLY about testing well. I similarly took the GRE after my first Master's degree (where I easily wrote over 200 single spaced pages over 3 years), and did not do as well as I had hoped. Assuming you may want to retake it (which may or may not be true, I found the Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE section to be quite helpful (kaplan was NOT helpful), as well as doing several practice AWs at home. The GRE website actually lists all the possible topics, so skimming through can't hurt. Second time I ended up with the 6.0. I would be reticent to let it slide since the GRE gets used way too much in the application process: as a cut-off, then as a criterion for weeding out candidates, and then sometimes for assigning funding. No one wants to play the "what if" game in April. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 youch. I wasn't thinking about retaking, just rescoring. I'd be worried to lose my 760 quant score because the math was SO tough when I was taking the exam. I would hate to play the what if game though, man! I figured my other scores were pretty good for my program... should I try to rescore the writing before retaking the exam? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeble Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 I'm not planning to retake the exam. I really doubt I'd do better on quant (650 - math is NOT my strong point), and I'm sure I couldn't ace the verbal again (800). How does rescoring work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 thanks for your feedback. you have me freaking out a bit now as I *have* to get in and get funding this year or it is probably a no-go. I can retake it this Saturday. Do you think I should? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKbound Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Have you looked into the average GRE scores for the programs you're applying to? I think you should be fine. If you're really concerned you might want to consider applying to more schools rather than retaking the test. Your other scores are good, you've already done graduate work, and, in all honesty, a 4.5 AW isn't really bad enough to throw out the entire application. I have a very close friend who just started a Phd at Berkeley in Psychology who got in (with funding) with much lower scores. Also, the school I'm coming from has much lower GRE averages for the non-clinical programs in Psych than yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 thanks! It's a tough decision. My undergrad was from a pretty lousy school and I got a 3.4 (but, that was back in 1997 and I was 19 when I graduated and worked the entire time so I'm not sure how that will play either). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankdux Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 thanks! It's a tough decision. My undergrad was from a pretty lousy school and I got a 3.4 (but, that was back in 1997 and I was 19 when I graduated and worked the entire time so I'm not sure how that will play either). huh? you graduated from college when you were 19? and yet, you went to a lousy school? sounds like you'd have been a prodigy if you graduated 3 years early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 huh? you graduated from college when you were 19? and yet, you went to a lousy school? sounds like you'd have been a prodigy if you graduated 3 years early. edited because this being t'internet and all (too personal). Anyway, the things we do (and may be impressive) in our teen years are less relevant when we are 30 (which I sadly am). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nofia Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 I think an admissions committee would still be quite impressed with that honestly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpp2011 Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 I just got my scores: 700 Verbal, 780 Quant, 5.0 Writing. When I was taking the test I felt most confident in the writing portion. I have worked as a professional writer and copy editor for the last two years. I felt very confident that I had scored at least a 5.5, but probably a 6. I don't get it. I noticed someone said something about indenting at the start of a paragraph. I double spaced between my paragraphs (the same way I am in this message). Could this have created a problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
academiccricket Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 I taught English 101 as an adjunct. I also got a 4.5. I'm not sweating it. Maybe I should be, but it seems like an arbitrary process anyway. As long as your writing sample is decent, I think you'll be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letsjustgo Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Same situation here. I got a 690 on my verbal, thought I had done excellent on the AW and received a 4.5. To echo comments by others, its a relief to find out so many are in the same boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 I've decided not to retake or rescore. I asked one of my law professors to stress my analytical writing ability - shouldn't be hard since law school grades are almost entirely based on this. If I could turn back the clocks I sure as heck would have indented those paragraphs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technocat Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 I had a similar situation--99th percentile verbal, suckface writing. I write and edit professionally. It's possible that I'm totally incompetent at and unsuited for my job and I just didn't know it until the GRE illuminated this fact for me, but I'm going to go with no, whatever, and submit the scores as they stand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpp2011 Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 Good plan technocat - I'm doing the same. This discussion makes me wonder who is getting the 5.5s and 6s. It doesn't make sense that so many people with 700+ verbal scores are writing essays they feel very confident about and scoring in the 3.5 to 5 range. Based on the essay examples I've read on the GRE Powerprep software it seems that someone with a 700+ verbal score should get at least a 4.5 just from staring really hard at the keyboard. Something is really messed up here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t_ruth Posted November 13, 2008 Author Share Posted November 13, 2008 seriously! I think it is just one of those cases where they are only measuring how to take the test. I think maybe those of us who are confident in our writing ability didn't concentrate on how to take this portion of the test and that's where we went wrong. Shame on us! I miss the old analytical section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technocat Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 I've seen "real life" good writers get 6's, and real life bad writers get 6's. I'm sort of curious about what makes the difference, but not too curious. My sense is that the writing component is the easiest to compensate for in the actual application--they will have an SOP, a writing sample, plus a resume that demonstrates you have somehow managed to publish your supposedly atrocious writing professionally. It's much harder to compensate for a terrible math score, for example, unless your transcript is replete w/ advanced math courses in which you got A's, which is probably not going to be the case for most social science and humanities students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technocat Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 I think maybe those of us who are confident in our writing ability didn't concentrate on how to take this portion of the test and that's where we went wrong. Shame on us! True. I focused on what I assumed would be my weakness--math--and ignored writing. Alas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now