<p>and is it true that those people will only spend an average of 1 minute on each essay?? </p>
<p>I think I really screwed up mine since I wrote about both pros and cons instead pick a side and stick with it… :(</p>
<p>God does…and dont forget, he is infallible</p>
<p>The AW sections are read by “junior” faculty - essentially new PhDs looking for extra money. They are trained and they have to pass a test by grading a batch of already graded tests. On the actual test, if your two readers differ by a point or more, a third “master reader” will read your work as well. </p>
<p>As to your concerns: Yes, they try to spend less than 3 minutes per essay. If you failed to write to the prompt, your score will likely suffer. </p>
<p>There are some useful comments here:</p>
<p>[GRE</a> HQ: What Does the GRE Analytical Writing Assessment Test?](<a href=“http://www.grehq.com/gre-awa/what-does-the-gre-analytical-writing-assessment-test.html]GRE”>http://www.grehq.com/gre-awa/what-does-the-gre-analytical-writing-assessment-test.html)</p>
<p>Now… as long as you’re not applying in a humanities field, I wouldn’t worry too much unless your score is extremely low. If your native language is not English you’ll also get a break on the AW section. Remember - the adcom will have your writing sample and SOP to judge your skills - the AW score is, in the overall scheme of things, fairly unimportant.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>
There is nothing wrong with doing that. This is called “qualifying” an argument, rather than completely supporting or rejecting it. Yes, studies show it is more difficult to write a strong essay that qualifies, but it is not impossible. Qualifying an argument is a stated option on the essay; thus, doing so does not mean you will immediately receive a bad score.</p>
<p>thanks!!! I am pretty sure on what I did wrong on the writing section. By arguing for both sides, I probably made my essay too technical for the graders to like in a time shorter than 3 minutes. Also, I guess it is just hard to make your point to appear “strong” if you are trying to argue something is neither right nor wrong…</p>
<p>I don’t see how else I can explain my unusually low AW score… my friend who took it on the same date got a 5; and I got a 3.5. In reality, she can barely put a research paper together without getting help from others… I wanted to cry when I saw my writing score :(</p>