Writing Section of the GRE: the Graders and the Scores

Why is there a writing section on the GRE?

Simply put, many schools felt that their applicants were not prepared for higher level academic writing. They could no longer rest on a simple college degree as proof that an applicant could write well.

Thus, while the verbal section of the GRE focuses heavily on vocabulary and reading comprehension, the writing section requires the test taker to produce something, namely, a strong sample of writing. So, the testmaker (ETS) requires this section to help graduate schools determine your writing abilities.

So, how exactly do schools take the writing section into account?

The answer is: it depends on your specific program.

Some programs do not even consider the essays you write on the GRE. They do not even care to look at the scores you receive. This is the case with math intensive programs, for example. So if you are applying to a graduate program in engineering or computer programming, you might want to double check on their policy to see if you even need to prepare for it!

Other graduate programs will look only at the score you receive on the section, from 0 to 6. Most of the time, these programs have a minimum required score for the essay, like a 4 or higher. If you receive the minimum score, the admissions officers really won’t consider your writing section any further. You simply get a check mark in the requirements for admissions list.

Lastly, programs that have an intensive writing component, journalism or English, for example, will look at both your numerical score AND your essay. They will read your essay and evaluate its merit in addition to the simple number score you receive. If you are applying to a writing intensive program, you should not be surprised by this as you will most likely have a great degree of reviewed writing assignments in graduate school.

So, the moral of the story is–as we said in the introductory module– make sure you check your program’s website, or email the program coordinator to find out the specific GRE scoring policy of your prospective school.

In case you were wondering, copies of your essay are not sent with your score report to the schools you designate… BUT, schools can obtain your essays very easily if they want to. So, you should avoid writing careless material that may be damaging to yourself or others.

Your prospective schools will not be the first ones to read your essay, however. They are not in charge of the score you receive; the GRE essay graders are. So lets talk about these nameless, faceless judges of your compositional abilities.

The people that read and actually grade your essays are generally grad school teacher assistants, sometimes professors, who have been hired to read essays on an hourly basis. They generally have a number of essays they have to read each day in order to get paid, and are not looking to reflectively absorb the ingenious philosophical musings suddenly striking your mind. They are not looking to be converted to any particular point of view… They are looking for several specific features of good writing that they will quickly recognize as they peruse your writing. They will generally spend no more than 2 minutes reading and grading it.

That’s an important point worth repeating: the essay graders will probably spend no more than 2 minutes reading and grading your essay. Thus, it is critical for you to properly display the features of good writing immediately. You do not have very long to demonstrate your writing skills, so you need to get to your points and stay focused. You cannot afford to waste words on test day.

Now, each essay you compose is read by two graders, who each give the essay a grade on a scale of 0 to 6. The average of these numbers is your score. If the two grades differ by more than one point, a third grader will grade the essay and the scores will be averaged.

The graders will grade your essay holistically. You do not lose a set number of points for misspelling a word, for example. They grade the entire essay as a whole, and from that, determine your score.

So what are the key components the graders are looking for in the two minutes they have for your essay?

According to ETS, your essay will be graded on its overall quality, based on how well you:

* consider the issue and its implications
* and organize, develop, and express your ideas about the implications of the issue
* support your ideas with relevant reasons and examples
* control the elements of standard written English

These are the aspects they will be grading, and you must learn to express all of them within a 45 minute span. They are what the graders are looking for in the brief period of time they are looking at your essay. So, you want to train yourself to include these elements in your essays.

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Posted on 03. Jul, 2011 by Ryan in Test Preparation