Is my verbal good enough for top schools?

[child of 2]

I'm applying to two in the top 10. My unofficial score is 168Q and 153V. I think writing will be at least 4.0

I guess the last section was my experimental section, because I saw some weird questions that I've never seen before, so I rolled through that in 20 minutes and finished early. Did others experience the same thing? Was the last section weird for you too?

But I'm mostly worried about my verbal. I think it's above average, but is it high enough?

[aaa57]

I think your chance is really high for top tier schools as long as your letters are strongly supportive and your AW is at least 4.0. I wish my verbal was the same as I have one in couple of weeks. Any advises for the test preparation in verbal? I really appreciate it.

[child of 2]

Well I spent the last 3-4 days cramming for vocabularies. I thought that might have helped me in the fill in the blank, but those words appeared mostly in the passages, if at all. And it was more difficult to recall their meaning in context. Do a lot of practice tests instead. Get used to reading those boring art history passages, or scientific passages, which ever one is your weakness.

Any comment on the 153?

[aaa57]

I don't see any problem with your verbal score as we both are from an engineering background afterall. However, the role of your AW is also important. Have you get your AW score yet?  which world-list you had used for memorizing vocabs? and are you an internationl student? it's really tough for us to get the verbal done

[midnight]

Check out the schools' sites. Some schools are very open and honest about their GRE expectations--many top schools expect STEM applicants to have high verbal along with quant.

 

Also make sure your SOP is extremely strong to offset a lower verbal score.

[child of 2]

My SOP has had positive feedback from three professors. But I don't think GRE writing is very good. If I have to cram a 500 word essay in 30 minutes, it feels like bullshitting a paper the night before. You have to go with the idea that comes to your mind first, and it doesn't even have to be a position that you agree with. In that respect, the writing is just as worthless as the other parts. I hate writing stuff without the liberty to really think about what the heck I'm actually writing.

[midnight]

child of 2, I completely agree with you. I hate the AW portion of the GRE, and I was an English major!

 

Many schools understand the arbitrary and formulaic nature of the AW and don't really take it into consideration. Unfortunately I've learned here that some schools do take it seriously and hinge funding and other important offers upon a formula that includes a high AW score.

Edited December 25, 2012 by midnight streetlight