<p>I took the Math IIc SAT II last... January, i believe? I was expecting a 760ish (from practice tests), but ended up getting a 740, which to me isn't that awfully far off - but my parents are all disappointed and want me to take it again for an 800, insisting that the difference is huge.</p>
<p>thus, i retook it in june, and, through my brilliance scored another fantastic 740.</p>
<p>parents still frustrated. </p>
<p>should i retake in october?
(i'm a senior in high school this year)</p>
<p>well i suppose it should be fine... but you want to make sure you improve this time or hit your 800 mark. how are you studying for it?</p>
<p>i'm signed up for a math II c prep class - i also have the kaplan review book</p>
<p>what had you been doing previously? winging it?</p>
<p>Would be nice if we knew what schools you're aiming for.</p>
<p>But I fail to see why you should test 3 times for a subject test when it's a respectable 740.</p>
<p>Yeah seriously, 740 is pretty respectable. Not like they aren't going to admit because you only got a 740 on an SAT II test. That score has value, but not enough to deny admittance. A lot more goes into their admission decision. Of course, I say "their" without knowing who "they" are, so, post the schools you plan to apply to/aim for. "They" will probably see a 740 as decent, and will have an understanding that you have a grasp for the subject matter.</p>
<p>In reality, any SAT2 above 700 is respectable, so tell your parents to relax. Not everyone gets 800 on each of their SAT2s.</p>
<p>Unless you are sure to get 800, do not retake. In math II, as you probably know, it is either 800 or else.</p>
<p>The only reason I can possibly imagine for taking the test again is if you are trying for a scholarship based on a 750 cut off. (I think Harvey Mudd has one.)</p>
<p>I see no need to take it, unless a scholarship or something depends on it. Read the fourth paragraph from this</a> entry from Matt McGann's (an admissions officer at MIT) blog and this</a> post by Ben Jones (another MIT admissions officer) - if a 760 is good enough, I don't see why a 740 shouldn't be</p>
<p>fizik, what are you talking about? 800 or else? Of course, there are other great scores for Math, 800 isn't a standard score for the math sat2. anyone who takes it should shoot for 700+, and all of those scores are great</p>
<p>Getting from 740 to 800 is just being careful. You basically know everything and are making stupid mistakes (probably). Take your time and go through the problems slowly</p>
<p>stupak,
about 10% of all peolpe taking math II score 800. Score of 740 corresponds to 75 percentile. My guess would be that admission officers see so many 800s that 740 will not look particularly impressive (700? Pretty close to the average as far as I remember). I do not mean that it is not a good score, it is just not outstanding - as you see from above, even 800 is NOT an outstanding score, rather a kind of qualifier.
To the OP: after two attempts I do not think it is likely the score will go up, unless you do something dramatically different to prepare.</p>
<p>fizik they'll never think any sat2 score or sat score is outstanding, unless your got a 4000/4800/4836, which is an accomplishment. otherwise, they've seen it all. for them, then a 700 to 800 is more than adequate</p>
<p>For the first test, I was in a Math IIc prep class - i started with a 530 and ended with 750 give or take (on practice tests). </p>
<p>The second test I just reviewed the Kaplan book and kind of winged it - and not to make excuses, but I procrastinated at signing up for it so I ended up driving an hour and a half to the test site. needless to say, waking up was not fun. </p>
<p>i just feel like if i take it again, and i get the same score (or worse, lower), it will only look like i'm trying to hard to perfect the little things, rather than focusing on my gpa or essays or what not.</p>
<p>at the same time though... it is true that my test score sheet says i'm in the 70 something percentile (i dont remember exactly but that sounds about right). </p>
<p>colleges i'm looking at (in no particular order)... UCLA, UC Berkeley, Wesleyan University, Pomona College (kind of a stretch for my gpa though) ... secretly i'm in love with Brown U., but my chances are incredibly slim.</p>
<p>ps. thank you for all your responses!!</p>
<p>Tanman, I want to thank you for those links. My son was disappointed with a 780 on the MathII because some friends got 800. A lot of you kids are WAY too worried about these test scores. You will be burned out before you start college.</p>
<p>On Math II you can miss 7-8 questions (depending on the curve of any given test) and still get an 800. Have you looked at what kinds of questions you're missing? Is there a pattern of missing particular types of problems? Bonehead math errors? Running out of time and guessing at the end?</p>
<p>If you haven't already, it might be worth analyzing what/why you're missing questions.</p>
<p>Not that a 740 is anything to hang your head about, but if you are going ro invest the time to take it again, might as well make it as productive as possible.</p>
<p>mom of junior
(I made the mistake of taking Math Level I way back when...)</p>
<p>time issues</p>
<p>and i've decided not to retake it - and focus on sat ii lit instead.</p>
<p>Tell your parents to calm down, are you Asian or home-schooled or something? Your score is fine unless you want to get into some crazy selective engineering or math program. The fact that you even took a 740 over again once makes you look like an overly worried perfectionist. Calm down.</p>
<p>More than twice looks bad, unless you know how to hide your previous score(s). There's a way to do it that Princeton Review told my brother last year. It's illegal of course, and he never used it. </p>
<p>I think you should just not bother about it now, it's like spilt milk... work on other aspects of your college application, like writing a fantastic essay. And ignore your parents... they can't run your life. Ultimately what makes you happy is what matters.</p>