GRE/analytical writing score--thoughts?

[andsoitgoes161]

Embarrassingly enough, I kind of bombed on the analytical writing section of my most current GRE. Two years ago, while still in undergrad, I took the test and received a decent AW score--5.0--and now two years later and with a master's degree under my belt, I somehow managed to drop in score by half a point. I'd like to think the drop is due in large part to my not actually finishing either of the essays as I'm pretty confident in the content of the writing I had submitted...but, who knows. Sigh.

Anyhow, I know that score reports sent to schools are cumulative, and that institutions will see my old scores as well as my new, but I'm not sure if they will even look at the full list. I'm wondering if anyone would like to chime in with thoughts or opinions about what effects a drop in analytical writing might have on an admissions review board's perspective of an applicant? I'll include a comprehensive list of my scores (though I'm not sure if they're all needed to make a judgment on what I'm asking--but regardless, judge away). Also--how important do we all suspect the AW writing score actually is in the overall review of an application? I know many schools simply use the Verbal section as a cut off of sorts to keep certain applicants out, but even that use of GRE scores is only at certain schools. Everything is so mutable and uncertain in this whole process and I just want it to be the end of February already so I can stop driving myself insane wondering about the significance of these anyway irreversible inanities.

Old scores (2008)

V: 540

Q: 580

AW: 5.0

New scores (2011)

V: 163

Q: 143 (impressive, I know haha)

AW: 4.5

[indalomena]

Frankly, I'd rather not attend a university that's willing to cut me out because of my AW score (I'm also a member of the 4.5 club! Go us ... ) I don't understand how it happened, as the essays I wrote were high quality, well-structured -- I've heard you get penalised if your work is too short, so maybe that's it. I was gutted at first and now I find the whole thing hilarious. I have no idea how much it's weighted, and I applied to some insanely competitive programs. In the grand scheme of things, I'm glad that a 4.5 is the weakest thing in my application (as opposed to a sloppy WS/SOP/set of LORs...)

Hopefully the professors reviewing our applications will realise that a WS is a MUCH better indicator of writing ability than a mini-essay written in a claustrophobic little computer booth with high school geometry rushing around our poor little humanities brains.

[lolopixie]

I think you are safe with your AW score. The schools will see both scores, but will take the higher of the 2. A lot of programs don't care about the AW score because they have your writing sample in hand. A saw a handful of schools indicating on their websites they want a specific AW score, but that seemed to be just a few of the schools that get 500+ applications. It may just be a way to weed people out if you aren't at the score. If your schools aren't talking about the AW score on their requirments page, they probably aren't too concerned with it because they, again, have your writing sample and SOP. Those are the true testiments to your writing abilities.

[poeteer]

According to guidelines on the ETS website, a 4.5:

"Provides generally thoughtful analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with logically sound reasons and/or well-chosen examples; is generally focused and well organized; uses sentence variety and vocabulary to convey meaning clearly; demonstrates good control of sentence structure and language usage, but may have minor errors that do not interfere with meaning."

Thus, according to ETS, your essays were pretty good. I wouldn't say you bombed it and it is very unlikely anyone on the adcom will object to your admittance for this reason. Because, as others mention, your file includes both the SOP and writing sample, the AWA seems more like a red flag system than anything else. Some submit polished writing in the application, or manage a decent-to-great score in Verbal due to diligent preparation, but cannot actually write and argue in fluent English (at least not in a half hour). This kind of discrepancy is likely more common in the sciences. A strong writing sample or statement and a very weak AWA score (like, 2.5 or below) raises a red flag. In your case, a strong writing sample and a fine-but-not-excellent score of 4.5 will raise none.

Edited December 30, 2011 by poeteer

[Mr Grimwig]

Writing has always been my strongest skill since kindergarten. My writing was universally praised by my professors. It's what got me through college with good grades, and it's what made my professors urge me to pursue a Ph.D.

I got a 4.5 on the writing section.

Meanwhile, one of my friends has mediocre-to-poor writing skills. I tutored him in our campus writing center many times during our undergraduate years. He got a 5.0 in the writing section.

Of course it is possible that he wrote a much better essay than I did on our test days. But, given past history and my familiarity with how he constructs analytical papers, I would be very surprised if he had.

I think the GRE writing section is a ludicrously subjective exercise graded in a pseudo-objective way. I've simply heard of too many of my best writer friends getting 4.0s and 4.5s to believe these scores are good indicators of one's writing abilities. This is not to say that if you get a good score you're a bad writer, I hasten to add; It's just to say I think some really good writers have styles that don't impress the GRE.

I would guess admissions committees realize this. I can't see them rejecting someone simply by glancing at an Analytical Writing score, especially since they will have writing samples from us in front of them, samples that we didn't rush off in 30 minutes sitting in a testing lab, with no chance of thoroughly revising (or properly thinking, even). They'll have our polished "best example" work in front of them, and I'd certainly hope they'd put more stock in that.

Then again, maybe admissions committees do reject on the basis of a score. It's a funny old world.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Mr Grimwig

[marlowe]

The Analytical writing most definitely encourages a certain type of writing. The only person I know personally that got a 6.0 on the writing is my sister, a philosophy major - she admittedly pandered to the tests idiosyncratic requirements and produced trite and formulaic sentence structure and diction.

On the other hand, I submitted what I thought was a masterwork of nuanced thought and poetic flourish, only to be rewarded with a 5.0. Lame.

[andsoitgoes161]

I did seriously contemplate writing within the formulaic essay structures GRE practice books school test-takers to develop (because, as an educated writer, I recognize the nuances of such strategic design and could no doubt implement them), but then I figured--who cares? I don't, by any stretch of the imagination, write in that manner, and for good reason. As someone previously mentioned, I'm sure that adcomm boards also know the extents of the style which GRE graders base AWA scores in.

When I got the 4.5 this time around, I admit I was disheartened, but I have to remind myself I know that I didn't "pander" to their "idiosyncratic requirements"--I just worry that adcomm boards would expect applicants to actually do so, since, arguably, if we are intelligent enough writers we should be able to just accept the expectations of the GRE scoring system and dumb down our writing to the standard "five paragraph" level. Either way, the admissions committee will have my writing sample in front of them, and that should be what they (hopefully) take into consideration, not the AWA score.

Edited January 4, 2012 by andsoitgoes161

[poeteer]

A 5.0 is good.

[marlowe]

A 5.0 is good.

I mean, I doubt it is going to have any weight whatsoever in an application for a PhD in English literature. But for students of English Literature and Composition - presumably with 4-6 years of advanced training in the discipline - to consistently fall between the 70th-87th percentiles of a test that EVERYBODY has to take (including non-native speakers, mathematics applicants, and those in the hard sciences) is, frankly, a bit silly in my opinion. Especially when those in other disciplines are scoring much higher.

[wintergirl]

I pandered. And I'm totally cool with that.

[andsoitgoes161]

I mean, I doubt it is going to have any weight whatsoever in an application for a PhD in English literature. But for students of English Literature and Composition - presumably with 4-6 years of advanced training in the discipline - to consistently fall between the 70th-87th percentiles of a test that EVERYBODY has to take (including non-native speakers, mathematics applicants, and those in the hard sciences) is, frankly, a bit silly in my opinion. Especially when those in other disciplines are scoring much higher.

If you are using the term "consistently" in reference to both my scores having been within this range--I'll be honest in saying that I prepared absolutely 0% when I took both tests, and just sort of hoped to fly by on the seat of my pants. That being said: yes, I should have been able to gain a much higher writing score given my past 6 years of experience in English/composition concentration, and I was, of course, aware there were certain techniques you could study to score higher on the exam. I guess I just didn't take the GRE part of things seriously enough to coach myself in those strategies? Now I'm embroiled in reprimanding myself for how stupid and negligent that was. Oh well--like someone said, a 5.0 is good, and I have a 5.0 on record; I can't concentrate on what I can't change at this point and can only hope for the best

[poeteer]

I prepared by writing one practice essay for the Issue section, but not for the Argument section, and received a 5.5. I am almost positive, knowing what I know now, that I received a 5 on the Argument and a 6 on the Issue. Even just one or two sessions of practice can help (doesn't help us, but for the future applicants reading the board), just because thirty minutes is such a short time to plan and implement, and thorough development of ideas definitely seems to count. It counts because lots of competitive overachievers aren't blowing it off, and are indeed preparing (and pandering), and their essays will set the standard to which they'll hold your essay. It's easy to blow it off, because we all know we can write damn good essays, but you're likely to receive a 4 or 4.5 if you just phone it in -- you need to write like your life depends on it, write like you care, write like the wind! And so, if you do care about getting a high score (or think you might after receiving a score lower than you'd like), you should probably try to spend at least as much time on AWA prep as you do, say, on one session of studying flashcards for the (imo more worthless) Verbal section.

Edited January 5, 2012 by poeteer

[ecritdansleau]

I wouldn't think about it too much. Like some above posters, I too boast a relatively extraordinary catalogue of achievements based on the merit of my writing skills. My score was a 5.0 (87%). I didn't concern myself at all with the analytic writing section in my test preparation. Personally, I was turned off by the mechanical-formulaic nature of the grading. Admittedly, if my score had dipped under 5.0 I probably would have regretted this attitude. But really-I do not believe an admissions committee would make a judgment about our writing based on that score. If anything, they might read your sample more closely for writing problems that they probably won't find.

[ecritdansleau]

It counts because lots of competitive overachievers aren't blowing it off, and are indeed preparing (and pandering), and their essays will set the standard to which they'll hold your essay.

This is a great point, considering the fact that the percentile itself is set by other test takers. I definitely second poeteers's attitude, especially anyone who is taking it/retaking it in the future. The day of my test I started to freak out before the exam because I thought, "if the writing section is as formulaic as I assume it is, why didn't I spend so much as a few hours practicing for it, after spending MONTHS of work on prep for the verbal." It would have been much wiser of me to balance out my studying a bit more, especially when I think you can really boost the analytic score with even a small amount of practice.

[marlowe]

I think we are all generally in agreement. I was positing a more anti-ETS bent than making any real comment on any of our scores.

[Jackmc1047]

This website had taken the entire pool of GRE Analytical Writing topics, removed all duplicate topics, and sorted them by how likely they are to appear on your test. Check it out. It's pretty helpful.

simplygre.weebly.com

[Jackmc1047]

This website had taken the entire pool of GRE Analytical Writing topics, removed all duplicate topics, and sorted them by how likely they are to appear on your test. Check it out. It's pretty helpful.

simplygre.weebly.com

[sebastiansteddy]

The GRE Writing is about thinking quickly. I don't think English graduate students ever need to write like the GRE writing asks you to write, but in a PhD program seminar, you do need to be able to quickly form arguments and articulate them in conversation. I think that is why some programs do consider the writing. I am an MA student, and I was told that in consideration of applicants, quantitative score is thrown out and verbal and writing are considered. You can practice the writing: look at a prompt and write an outline for it in under two minutes. Then you have 28 minutes to write the essay - plenty of time to write, edit, and proofread again. I practiced doing that 3 or 4 times, then got a 6 on the writing. Hope that helps!