GRE Writing Section

[mmonte4]

Quick question: can I skip the writing section when I take the GRE? Do schools even care about it? One clinical psyc professor from my undergrad university told me she doesnt even look at the AWA section of the GRE- only the V and Q sections. I am retaking the test and already have an AWA score (3.5 ouch!). I want to know if skipping it this time around will cause any major problems in my application process. what do you guys think?

clinical phd programs by the way

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[jhymn]

Quick question: can I skip the writing section when I take the GRE? Do schools even care about it? One clinical psyc professor from my undergrad university told me she doesnt even look at the AWA section of the GRE- only the V and Q sections. I am retaking the test and already have an AWA score (3.5 ouch!). I want to know if skipping it this time around will cause any major problems in my application process. what do you guys think?

clinical phd programs by the way

Why not just call the schools you are applying to directly and ask them?

I did not score that well on the qualitative/quantitative portion of the test (1090 combined) but scored well on the essay (5.5). The irony is that I studied fairly actively for about a month for everything but the essay and then studied for a session or two on the written part. What I found from my reading (I got the Kaplan GRE book) was that the essay is very formulaic and if you focus on the formula, you really need not be a great writer. I made sure that I understood the formula and when I took the test, although I knew next to nothing about both topics, I was able to write an essay that showed strength in the areas that they were looking for.

I can see why schools would not necessarily value the written portion of the test, because it is probably the easiest portion of the test to "fake" if you know the formula. Okay, perhaps "fake" isn't exactly the word I'm looking for - I didn't fake anything - I did what was asked - but I was most able to improve my score via "learning the system" with the least amount of effort.

 

[mmonte4]

thanks for sharing. Im curious as to what schools you were accepted to. accredited clinical PhD programs?

 

[Psychbird]

I got a 6 on the writing. If you do decide to take it, my best advice (take with a grain of salt though, as I obviously don't know your exact topic) would be to argue against the statement. In all my practices, this made for the best arguments and analytical opportunities.

 

[butterfli73]

I don't know if skipping it would be the best idea. Of course call the schools and ask but I feel like even though schools don't necessarily give the writing any importance, it's still part of the test and you should still take it. It might look worse that you skipped it than if you don't do that well.

 

[jhymn]

I got a 6 on the writing. If you do decide to take it, my best advice (take with a grain of salt though, as I obviously don't know your exact topic) would be to argue against the statement. In all my practices, this made for the best arguments and analytical opportunities.

True, and after making your points for or against the topic, address what you think the strongest contrary argument would be against your perspective and debunk it before concluding the essay. From what I understand, this gets you brownie points.

 

[Psyclops]

don't skip it, you already have a 3.5 which is poor, that is below the mean. I'm sure you can do better, the thought of skipping it is ridiculous. Look even if something doens't mean much you don't want to do piss poor on it. What f they say why do you have a 3.5? What are you going to say? Well, I did bad once, then I heard you guys didn't care much, so I just blew it off. Oh, they will say, you like to blow things off? Will you blow off stuff you decide isn't important in our program? Trust me it will not look good.