Retake GRE or not?

[greenfield]

I've got 160V, 166 Q and AW 3.5, and I'm planning to apply for Sociology PhD Program in UVA, do I need to retake GRE? Some said writing samples and SOP can make up for the deficiency, and I'm running out of time, what should I do? 

 

[faculty]

I don't know about UVA, but in my department your AW writing score would be a big red flag. A writing sample might help make up for it a bit, but if you felt like you could raise that score, I would retake it. 

[breaks0]

Ok and what if your Q is a 40%, I think it's a 150? My other 2 sections are fine, but that one's horrible and I literally don't think I could've prepared better for it than I did (3 months putting in 3 hours/day on math, something like that). To be honest, I'm so broke I literally didn't have the money to retake it, the GRE is an  overwhelming ordeal if you don't standardize test (ie deal w/trick questions or the CAT format) well. Though I've read the CAT is gone now. I'll restrain myself from saying more.

Edited November 2, 2014 by breaks0