tuesmoon

. I also found myself getting distracted while taking practice tests, but during the actual exam that anxious adrenaline kicked in and I managed to stay focused throughout. And just knowing *this is the one that counts* really made a difference in how I managed my time. That said, I think it is very important to try to recreate the testing conditions/environment when you do a practice run at home or wherever else -- especially when taking those PowerPrep tests that are so informative.

Thanks for your reassurances, I appreciate it.

Ah, I did not intend for this to be a "what are my chances" sort of post -- so that's why I haven't provided information about other aspects of my application/qualifications. I wanted to know whether that AW score is reason alone to retake the GRE (ie would most programs throw out my app upon seeing it) and also whether my quant score would keep me out of MPP programs specifically. But now that I've received some feedback I'm realizing that my low AW may indeed be the least of my worries. I posted my questions on another site and the consensus was that I probably shouldn't retake and that I can compensate for my low AW with a strong SoP and writing sample. But this is the first time I've received advice particular to public policy programs/my low quant score. Unfortunately I don't know that I'll be able to take any courses now that I've graduated, moved, and intend to work until I (hopefully) enter a grad program. It seems like that would be the most effective way to demonstrate my ability "to hang in their stats/econ heavy program" though. I'm going to have to do more research about these programs I'm interested in and decide whether it'd be worth it to possibly take more time off gaining experience and taking relevant courses. Thank you very much for your input.

I was planning on applying to a variety of master’s programs this fall – in applied anthropology, education policy, public policy, etc. After viewing my AW score this morning for the first time (3.5), I’m starting to feel like my application as a whole won’t be competitive enough for certain types of programs. But ultimately I just don’t know. Perhaps my ignorance of my chances is a clue that I should wait another year and do all that I can in the meantime to improve. My GRE scores were: 730 Verbal, 640 Quant, and 3.5 AW. I’m pleased with the verbal score and not really surprised by the quant, but the low writing score has me feeling pretty insecure/disheartened right now. Though I’ve never stood out for my writing ability, I thought I was at least competent. Having read recent threads in this subforum, I realize that a low AW score by itself is not so dire… unless it doesn’t meet a cutoff for admissions. It seems that a 3.5 is at or below the minimum acceptable score for many programs. And while I could take the new GRE, I worry that I’d waste time preparing for it that would be better spent strengthening other parts of my application. So I have a few questions: Is my AW score so low that I absolutely should take the exam again? Is the AW score considered heavily in decisions about funding? [*]Some MPP programs are especially math-heavy… should I even bother applying to them given my low quant score and the fact that I haven’t taken any courses in economics and only one very basic statistics course? My undergrad was in anthropology and I have absolutely no experience with quantitative methods… actually I think I’m answering my own question :\