1990 SAT with terrible math score?

<p>I've taken the SAT twice (and I'm a Senior with subject test in December so I'm not going to get another chance), and my score breakdown is:</p>

<p>750- Reading
530-Math
710-Writing</p>

<p>I'm applying to a bunch of liberal arts colleges (Brandeis, Depauw, William and Mary, ect) so I'm hoping the awful math score won't be as important to them than say an engineering school. </p>

<p>How will they view it though, since there's such a clear gap between that score and the other two? Esp because in the context of my transcript my math scores are consistently lower than all of my other scores (by an average of 7-10 pts)?</p>

<p>take the act then.</p>

<p>Yeah, the only thing is I’m still going to be bad at math so it won’t make a difference</p>

<p>The situation is not hopeless. Take the ACT, you might be surprised. The same student could be in the 65th percentile for math on the SAT and shoot to an 85th percentile on the ACT. Same student, same knowledge, but the tests are based on a different core ideology. And how a particular school will view the discrepancy between your math and reading scores depends on what else you have on your platter of offerings, e.g. ECs, GPA, any hooks the school may be on the lookout for (including athletics, performing arts) to push you over the edge. I can tell you that I’ve seen kids get into some fairly selective schools (though not ivy-league) with your total and math SAT score.</p>

<p>Definitely try ACT. You never know if you will do better in one test or another if you have not tried even on a practice test. In ACT, Math is just one of the 4 sections. The Science section is more like a data analysis that requires more reading skills. So you may actually get a better composite score than in SAT where 1/3 is Math.</p>

<p>Do try for the ACT</p>