GRE for Non-native Speakers

[gel123]

Hello, everyone,

 

I am not a native English speaker, and my AW score is very low (3.5), although my V+Q score is quite high [330 with high quantitative but low verbal (160)]. So should I retake the test?

 

Thanks! 

[flybottle]

1. While there are surely some exceptions, the general wisdom, as far as I know, is that very few people look at the AW score closely. They have your writing sample, after all. So don't sweat that.

 

2. Don't add your V and Q scores: http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_interpreting_scores.pdf (second bullet under 'Revised General Test Score...'). Tl;dr: the percentiles for scores on V and Q are different, so a 165V/155Q is not the same thing as a 155V/165Q. 

 

3. Especially as a non-native speaker, 84th percentile in verbal ain't bad. Especially when it's combined with a 98th percentile quantitative. UChicago, for example, says that their admitted students average 167V/158Q. So you're significantly below the average *admitted* student on verbal (which means a good chunk of students now at Chicago also did worse than 167V), but leaps and bounds above average on quantitative. The former probably doesn't help, and the latter probably does. 

 

So I think your scores are probably a wash, and maybe a slight plus (it's more likely that somebody will notice and make something of a perfect Q than a moderately subpar V). But those scores aren't definitely not going to sink your application. If this were June, and you had the time, money, and interest, maybe it'd be worth taking it again. But it's the end of October. Better now to hone your writing samples (since that's the writing they're really going to judge) and statement of purpose.