Low GRE Analytical Writing Score - Is it a Problem?

[Phyisab****]

I just got back my score on the writing section of the general GRE. Apparently I got a 3.5, which puts me in the 25th percentile. Now I don't mean to sound arrogant, but writing has always been a strength of mine. When I write papers, either for physics or humanities classes, they usually come back with "WOW!" across the top. I can't begin to imagine why I got such a low score on this.

Has anyone experienced something like this? Do grad schools really take the analytical writing score seriously? I did very well on the rest of the exam, have I screwed myself over?

P.S. I'm not taking the pGRE because I'm only applying to masters programs.

 

[G01]

Yeah I also got a 3.5 on writing when I took it. I doubt physics programs care about it.

The quantitative score is the most important. You should shoot for >700 on it.

 

[JCVD]

No one gives 2 shizz about the writing score. I know great writers who got your score and bad writers who got a 6. I think part of the score is actually based on how many "GRE words" you are able to work into your essays.

 

[negru]

If you feel like you deserve more, ask for a hand re-grading. The first time they only use a computer, which can sometimes mess up.

 

[JCVD]

That must be some computer that grades the analytical writing section...

 

[negru]

Hmm what I'm reading now on the ets website says that a human reader is also always involved, though I heard a human reader only grades randomly to make sure the computer algorithm is still on track. So I dunno. Given that it only takes two weeks, I'd bet they mostly just use the computer. Not to mention the $$$

# The essay score is assigned by a trained reader, using a 6-point holistic scale. The essay response is then reviewed by e-rater®, a computerized program developed by ETS, which is being used to monitor the human reader.
# If the e-rater evaluation and the human score agree, the human score is used as the final score. If they disagree by a certain amount, a second human score is obtained, and the final score is the average of the two human scores.