Teacher Ai Tests ScoreItNow! Busting Two AW Myths

Hello, I’m Teacher Ai from Zishen Empire (字神帝國)!

Since the GRE announced its changes, there have been lots of experience posts online, but most are based on one or two of the writer’s own test attempts, which is too small a sample. So I wanted to check some of these claims directly with the official scoring software, testing them with ScoreItNow, using as my sample high-scoring student essays I’ve graded over the past ten years. If you also believe either of these two common myths from experience posts, watch out!

🤔 Myth 1: The longer the essay, the higher the score?

Writing an Issue essay with depth usually means including more information, so students often think that once they reach a certain word count, a high score comes easily.

We ran a round of tests with past high-scoring student essays and found that more words don’t necessarily mean a higher score. I ran a practice essay by one strong student through ScoreItNow. Its total was 523 words (without many grammar mistakes), not much different from the 548 words of a perfect 6, but ScoreItNow gave it only a 4. On the same prompt, another student wrote fewer than 400 words and also got a 4.

So word count is neither the only nor the biggest key to a high score. Rather than padding your word count with template sentences, write content that’s on topic and has real substance. Don’t think a high word count will fool the computer!

🤔 Myth 2: Your examples have to be impressive?

In my Zishen classes I always remind every student that examples are not what decides a high GRE essay score. For a 4, even if your example uses obviously made-up names like John and Mary, as long as your reasoning is well supported and every sentence stays on topic, you’ll still get a 4. On the other hand, one top student used examples at the level of international relations reading like Foreign Affairs, but they weren’t relevant enough, so however impressive the examples were, the essay may end up with the same score as one about just anyone. Isn’t that infuriating?

Some students also ask: can I skip examples and just argue?

Of course you can. There’s no single right way to write. But! Comparing a 5 and a 6, both have substantial arguments, and the biggest difference is that the 6 uses examples while the 5 has none at all. Seen this way, a well-chosen example does seem to help. Whatever your target score, I’d still recommend using examples to make your points concrete and show the nuance of your thinking.

And for students who only need a 3–3.5, as long as you keep grammar mistakes down, stay on topic and finish the essay, that score is in the bag. As for examples, you can be pretty laid-back about them. There’s no need to memorize George Washington chopping down the cherry tree, or the equally overused life stories of Bill Gates & Steve Jobs.

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That’s it for busting two common AW myths. With evidence from the official ScoreItNow, I hope you now have a better sense of what a good essay should look like. Following this line of thought, in my next post I’ll keep using ScoreItNow test results to discuss in detail how preparing for a 3–3.5 target & a 4+ target is similar and different. Stay tuned!

Come work toward a higher score with our strongest teaching team!

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