What to do! What to do! Help! :)

[ptry7]

Took the GRE 100% cold turkey two years ago, immediately after they switched to the current, revised format. Scores as follows:

 

V:156    Q:140    AW:6.0       Rested my eyeballs during the math section. Zzzzz. 

 

I'm applying for English Literature and Education. My goals have changed since I took the test cold two years ago, and now I'm prepping to retake.

 

Things I'm worried about: (1) Getting a worse AW score (2) Knowing which test to send based on results

 

This is the best education program I'm applying to and their averages (hgse):

 

Verbal Average: 83.1 (percentile)
Quantitative Average: 66.6 (percentile)
Analytical Writing Average: 4.7

What would you guys suggest I do? Thanks in advance!

 

What do schools think of two scores being sent in--based on you guys's experience? If I didn't retake, would the 99th% AW help overshadow the worst-ever quantitative?

 

 

 

 

[fuzzylogician]

AW doesn't count for much in any field that has other ways of measuring an applicant's writing abilities. I bet that includes your field -- you probably have to submit a writing sample, and both that and the SOP are much better indications of your writing ability than the GRE. I wouldn't avoid retaking the GRE because your AW score might suffer.

 

As for which grades to submit, most schools won't give you a choice -- they will either want both or the latest (normally both). Some schools will then take an average, others will take the highest score in each sections, still others will take the latest. If you're not sure, contact the schools you're applying to and ask (assuming they don't already specify on their website).