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I'm also applying to PhD programs in English, and I did very poorly on that section (3.0). The score is so incongruous to my application, it’s absurd. I'm an editorial director; I teach comp at a community college; and I have an MFA in Creative Writing and an MPhil in Irish lit. I've come across students taking TOEFL who have scored higher than I on that section (I'm also a certified ESL teacher). I've requested a rescore, but I'm not confident it's going to help much. I left the test thinking I’d score at least a 5. I'm trying to psychologically distance myself from it and just move forward with a focus on the finer parts of my application. I could spend the next couple of weeks obsessively practicing ETS essay templates and retake the test but my instinct is to devote that time to finessing my SOP and writing sample. Even if I take it again and score higher, can it really matter much at this level or offset the absurdity of the initial 3.0? I think you should, along with me, forge ahead and consider the score a bump in the road. No applications are perfect.

So it turns out that the part of the GRE I was least concerned with is the part I bombed: the Analytical Writing measure. I was expecting a 5.5-6 but found out today I got a 3.0. Bizarre. I'm actually paying $55 to have the score reviewed. I have an MFA in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College and an MPhil in Irish literature from Trinity College, Dublin, and I just cannot comprehend how my two essays received a lower score than 90 percent of the test takers. I keep mulling over where I might have gone wrong. Perhaps I was too abstract. Maybe the essays weren't long enough. Not enough concrete examples. I just don't know. I was so relieved during the test because I genuinely thought I'd aced them. So tell me, friends, how bad is it? Any advice on how to curb this? The thought of such an ugly blemish on my app kills me, but my sense is that the Writing score is the least substantive element of the whole unsubstantive GRE package.

I just took the test on Saturday. It was almost entirely reading comprehension, literary theory (obscure -- know names of the theorists!) and grammar (also obscure and difficult). My sense during the test was that ETS developed it against the test prep material out there. Time was a huge problem, a problem that I was not encountering on the practice tests. And keep calm. I got a little panicky and it definately obstructed my reading. Good luck.

Thanks for responding. I appreciate it. I actually am registered for the November test because I wasn't sure which date I'd be able to do.

Hi, all. I was hoping some of you could give me your feedback. I'm very torn on the issue below and need to hear from those who are either going though this now or who have already gone through this. I just took the October Lit test, and I feel awful about it. I knew it would be a challenge but I prepared for months and didn't expect to feel this disheartened. At the end, I had 60 blanks. It just seemed as if the test was filled with an impossible amount of extremely long, dense reading passages -- much more than the four practice tests I used. The previous week, I took one of those practice tests (the one ETS sends upon registration) under timed conditions and got a 650. I finished in just under 170 minutes and left about 9 questions blank. Yesterday's test was very different. My dilemma is whether or not I should take it again in November. I could just take my chances and see what I got on this, even with 60 blanks, and use the next few weeks to prepare for the general GRE, which is what I had planned to do. Or I could take it again, hoping to manage my time better and for a test that looks a little more like the practice test. If the test really is as insignificant a part of the application as it appears to be, is it worth it to go through it again -- taking time away from general GRE preparation? Is it worth having two lit scores on my report? A little info. about me: I'm applying to PhD programs (WUSTL, Brown, UVA, Harvard, UCDavis). I have a very good writing sample and feel confident in my SOP, which is a continuation of the MPhil thesis I completed at Trinity College in Dublin. I also have an MFA in poetry from Brooklyn College (4.0). I'm a bit older than the average student (late 30s). I teach comp at a community college and am editorial director at an education association where I've worked for the last ten years. I would appreciate very much any help you can offer.