weakerthan Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 title should say "analytical writing" - whoops! (mark my score down) I know the AW part of the GRE is not the main thing that adcoms look at, but what would you consider a "good", or "great" AW score? At what point does your score become a (slightly) positive signal, and at what point does it become a (slightly) negative one? I'm thinking something like the following might be useful to people(myself included): 0-2.5 -> should probably retake 3 -> not great but sufficient 3.5 -> not great but sufficient 4 -> good/neutral 4.5 -> good 5-> very good 5.5-> impressive 6-> very impressive That's just my intuition to prompt discussion, I can't defend those judgments :) Also, I'm guessing adcoms look at the AW differently depending on whether English is your first language. If it's not, my guess is they are willing to cut you more slack. Perhaps we need two lists, one for native English speakers and one for non-native English speakers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsokrates Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Honestly: AW can only hurt you. I can't imagine even a 6 being more than a negligible plus. The median economist is a terrible writer, so its relatively easy to get up to the minimum standards of the discipline if your English is poor, or you have trouble with writing. Its much harder to get up to the minimum standards of the discipline in terms of mathematical toolkit, statistical reasoning, etc. Adcoms rationally spend almost no time thinking about the former. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaysa Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Here is how I rank the AWA scores (assuming native speakers) Under 3 : I am amazed that you passed grade school. 3 - 4 : Congratulations, you can write a complete sentence. 4 - 5 : Congratulations, you can write a complete paragraph. 5 - 6 : This is the minimum score you need to get me and my colleagues to take you seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icculus Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Kaysa.. I have 168q/158v/4.0. The prompt sucked. I am a good writer, does a well written SOP make up for the 4.0? I dont want want to retake the GRE if on the margin the 4.0 doesn't matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicaffairsny Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Kaysa.. I have 168q/158v/4.0. The prompt sucked. I am a good writer, does a well written SOP make up for the 4.0? I dont want want to retake the GRE if on the margin the 4.0 doesn't matter. Don't listen to kaysas take that was pretty rude. I don't know who him and his "colleagues" are but the aw is deeply flawed and from the profile evals on here not that relevant for econ admissions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaysa Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Kaysa.. I have 168q/158v/4.0. The prompt sucked. I am a good writer, does a well written SOP make up for the 4.0? Absolutely. I don't take the GRE AWA too seriously unless you score under a 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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