Low AWA score, high Q/V

[pterosaur]

I'm applying for bioengineering and neuroscience PhD programs and just got my GRE scores. I got 169 V / 166 Q, but I only got 3.5 on writing. I'm quite a good writer in general, so I'm surprised by this. I didn't think the writing section went spectacularly, but I didn't think it went that badly.

So what do I do with these scores? Just try to write a really great statement of propose to show them I know how to write?

[xolo]

Bummer, so close to near perfection.  I think the AWA is the least important section and for sciences even less so.  "they say" that 3.5 to 4.0 is "safe".  It did annoy me when I got a 4.0 and I ended up re-taking even though I said I would never take the GRE over.  I studied a little and got a 5.0 the second time, so you can study for that test of formulaic writing.  I was surprised by my verbal too, it went from 163 to 168, which was a pleasant surprise.  Too bad my Q didn't change much

[pterosaur]

Do you think it's worth retaking it for the AWA?

[bsharpe269]

My scores are fairly similar (tiny bit lower) 162V, 168Q, 4.0. I have always been complimented on my academic writing and scored higher when I took the GRE before my masters so I was also very surprised by the score. I decided not to retake.

[Machaon01]

The first time I took the GRE I think I got a 4 on the Writing, 58th percentile and a perfect score on the verbal.  And I know that I'm a good writer.  My quant was also kinda low at 157.  I took it again, but my strategy for the writing was to practice writing BS essays.  I mentioned this in another post, but I would do the practice essays and try to reference the work of various scholars in the field.  I used the dwarves in the Hobbit  and made up research that supported my point of view.  The thing about the writing part that I think I had most trouble wrapping my head around is that you can MAKE STUFF UP. And you should make up a lot of it.

 

Anyway, Writing went up to 5.5, 98th percentile  and the math went up 10 percentile points.  The increase on the math was most improtant though, my second score of 160  put me in the 78th percentile.

 

Most people have told me  that anything above 50th percentile is fine. ETS has this long thing about how grad progams shouldn't have a cut off, but almost everyone I've spoken to believes that most schools won't look at an application with scores below the 50th percentile.  If scholarships and funding are limited,  most places seem to be looking for 75th percentile or better for funding.  Otherwise, they don't really use the scores. And of all the scores, they look at the writing the least. I think it is just such a poor measure of writing ability that unless it's positively dismal, it's ignored.

 

Short answer, I wouldn't bother.

[pterosaur]

I talked to my current PI, who is on the committee for bioengineering PhD applications at my university. She thought that I should retake it. She sees it as a red flag if the writing score is low because of how important writing is for science, and the concern is that it won't make it past the initial cut for fellowships. She is also wary of when a statement of purpose doesn't match the writing level from the GRE score, because you can always have someone else write that statement, but not the GRE.

 

Since I did really well on the other 2 parts as well, I don't really want to spend $200 to possibly get lower scores there and not know what I would do differently to improve my AWA. As a compromise, she suggested paying the $55 for a re-score. Based on the searching I've done, I don't expect any change from a re-score. But if I could even get it bumped up to a 4.0, that would be a big difference from an application perspective, I think (and put me past that 50th percentile mark @Machaon01 mentioned).

 

Thoughts on rescoring?

[Phillip Desenex]

Unfortunately, the AWA section is not a reflection of whether or not you're a good writer.   It sounds harsh to say so, but it's solely a reflection on whether or not you can write IN THE WAY THEY WANT YOU TO WRITE. 

 

That means you have to know the structure inside and out, and just adapt that format to whatever the passage is they give you. I've spent a bunch of hours with Greenlight's free AWA videos: http://greenlighttestprep.com/module/gre-analytical-writing 

 

I don't think my writing is any better, but I KNOW that my AWA section is waaaaaaaay better. Practice makes perfect, but the benefit of knowing how to write in the way they want you to write is that my practice essays are easier. I know what to do right away, and don't freeze up the way I did the first time.

[Joan Peani]

The analytical writing assessment is very challenging. You must practice this writing many times and you will see much improvement. The post above this is very true. I also used the http://greenlighttestprep.com/module/gre-analytical-writing resource which is free (I paid for the full price to get all of the excellent video lessons in math and verbal sections).

Sincerely,

JP