Is a 5.5 on the GRE analytical writing section that good?

[BILL684]

Ok. I took the gre on the 21st of december and my score was 5.5 analytical writing. the percentiles were 45 Verbal ,30 quant ,and 87 AW. Im not trying to get into harvard or anything like most of the people on this board. Im just trying to get a masters. Anyhow, Im a really good writer so I was not really suprised to be in the 87 percentile. I just want to know if its as good as I think though??? Does everyone generally score this high on the writing section? Also, will schools actually look at it?, because it was obviously my strongest section...... I only needed a 1000 combined score and I got 970 which is close... Do you think they will overlook those 30 points for a stong score in the writing section????

[millertime]

A 5.5 is excellent, but most schools don't pay that much attention to the AWA.

If the schools you're applying to REQUIRE a minimum 1000 score for quant and verbal, then you might have to retake. You should call them to ask. The quant seems to be more of a weakness for you, and a high AWA for writing won't make up for that.