General GRE Tomorrow: Skip Analytical Writing sections?

[Lagraaaange]

What's your take on preserving stamina/maximum mental capacity for quant and skipping the essays? I hear physics grad programs don't care at all, some don't even take the scores. Thoughts?

 

[Dishsoap]

Do you have a legitimate source that says that this is okay? Have you talked to graduate schools about this and hear them say they recommend it? If not, don't do it.

If you don't have the mental capacity to spend 60 minutes writing an essay AND be able to answer trivial math questions, you are not cut out for graduate school.

 

[radium]

They don't care much unless you get a score that calls into question your basic reading/writing abilities. What you are suggesting is just plain stupid. Write the essays, it's not that hard. I didn't even know the format of them when I went into the test, but having taken standardized tests in high school, I was fine.

Also, as someone who has majored in physics, it shouldn't be hard at all to get a good quantitative score since you should know most of the material cold. Sure there are some things you haven't used since high school but those are very easy to relearn. A large portion of the test is ridiculously easy. I'm talking about basic algebra and reading charts.

 

[Vanadium 50]

If you don't have the mental capacity to spend 60 minutes writing an essay AND be able to answer trivial math questions, you are not cut out for graduate school.

This.

 

[micromass]

Beautiful answer, so let me quote it yet again:

If you don't have the mental capacity to spend 60 minutes writing an essay AND be able to answer trivial math questions, you are not cut out for graduate school.

Seriously, what will you do in grad school if you have to do something which you find boring, and which requires a good deal of mental capacity? Skip it?

 

[EJC]

I took the exam 5 days ago. Do the writing section. It's not hard.