Almost aced quan&verbal GRE, BAD AWA

Graduate School
1

<p>Just received my official GRE scores: 170Q, 168V, 3.5AWA.
I'm applying to engineering PhD programs. </p>

<p>The consensus on these boards seem to be that schools don't care about AWA. However, Cornell (one of my main targets) places a lot of emphasis on AWA per their FAQ section: "most successful applicants.....have at least an AWA score of 5.0." The professor I am interested in working with informed me that analytical score is "meaningful" in evaluating a candidate. </p>

<p>I know I can do better. I did not prepare for the AWA section. I also forgot to answer half of the issue task, which probably resulted in a heavy mark down. So I'm fairly confident I can do better. The problem is I really would prefer not to take it again mainly because I don't want to pay $185... But seeing how my main target school emphasizes AWA, would it be a good idea to retake?</p>

2

<p>If the school you’d like to go to highly suggests that you should get a higher writing score, then it seems like a no brainer to me. Take it again, and this time prepare for the writing section. Know exactly what to expect, look at the prompts on the ETS website, and look at how they grade it. If timing’s an issue, do a couple practice runs so you can get accustomed to finishing in the time limit.</p>

<p>The AWA section is usually fairly easy to raise your score on, if you’re a decent writer. You just have to know what they look for and how it will be graded.</p>

<p>Only you can decide if the cost is worth it though. If it’ll be a burden, then don’t retake it, but if you can afford it, then I’d say to do it. Don’t eat out for a while, and you’ll recoop the cost =D</p>

3

<p>Keep in mind that you do not have to be a great writer to get a high AWA score. The people grading it are reading off a formula. In fact, all the great writers I know actually got a lower score than the average writers writing cookie-cutter generic 5 paragraph essay. </p>

<p>Check these out. The author deconstructs the problems with the AWA quite nicely. </p>

<p>[Is</a> the GRE a Sham? | Ethical Realism](<a href=“http://ethicalrealism.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2010/04/27/is-the-gre-a-sham/]Is”>Is the GRE a Sham? | Ethical Realism)</p>

<p><a href=“http://ethicalrealism.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2010/12/01/an-analysis-of-the-gre-analytical-writing-analyze-an-argument-task/[/url]”>http://ethicalrealism.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2010/12/01/an-analysis-of-the-gre-analytical-writing-analyze-an-argument-task/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>I will probably end up retaking. I consider myself a decent writer.
In high school writing classes, my teachers always emphasized using big words. Is that the case for the GRE?</p>