Re: Retakes

[HesseBunuel90]

Hello, I first took the GRE General Test, which is required by all the English Literature Programs to which I am applying, in July. On the verbal section, I scored in the 89th Percentile, which, while certainly solid, was slightly lower than what I was aiming for. I scored better on the analytical writing section, with a 5.0 out of 6, but I have been told that most schools put greater emphasis on the verbal section rather than analytical. I continued to study and retook the exam a month later. Unfortunately, I ended up scoring one point less in both verbal and quantitative. As many schools look at an application holistically, I was not overly discouraged, as I had several professors look at my writing sample and statement of purpose and I have worked hard on both, and my undergraduate GPA was high (3.86). However, the analytical section score was just emailed to me, and I actually scored higher, and I am now in the 98th Percentile. Although I am proud of this, I don't know if this would cancel out the slightly lower verbal and quantitative scores. Should I send the initial scores or the retakes? If only I could mix and match and choose the best individual scores, but, alas, life doesn't work out that way.

  

[perpetuavix]

Unless a school specifically says the analytical writing score is important, send the higher verbal and quant scores.  Getting a 5.0 is a great score as it is, and most schools only want to see that you don't get an embarrassing AW score (>3.0), especially since they will be reading a writing sample and SOP that will give them a much clearer idea of your writing skills. One point in verbal or quant probably won't make a huge difference, but those scores definitely matter more than AW.