<p>OK, here's my story. I took the SAT back in may with no expectations. I took 1 practice test before the day of the test. On the actual test, I ran out of time for two sections and felt like i wrote a sub par essay. Turns out I got a 2030! My essay score was 8.
I took it again this October. This time I looked at my mistakes on the previous tests, corrected mistakes, memorized vocab, etc... I took the test and felt great about it. I had time to spare on most sections and even made two passes on quite a few of them. The essay was a breeze.
But this time my score dropped 90 points. My essay score was exactly the same even though It was definitely better than the last one (based on SAT essay scoring guidelines I followed to improve my score) and my CR score went down from a 760 to a 680. I realize my two scores are very close together and vary by little but my October practice tests were in the high 2200s!
Of course, I will wait until Nov 4 for a more detailed report but should I request a re-score or just attribute my new score to a tough curve, accept it and move on ahead?</p>
<p>Look at the report when it comes out and see if you made any errors.</p>
<p>Same thing happened to me. Although my scores did improve from my first test, i took tons of practice tests for october. I even took two practice tests the day before the test and I scored a 2100 on each but my results came out as only 1950. I got:
CR: 650 (I usually get around 700+ here so this was the worst)
Math: 600 (understandable, I screwed up my Math sections on this test)
Writing: 700 (I should be happy but I’m not. On the practice tests, I usually got from 750 to 800 and this score is just extremely disappointing)
With an essay of 10. I think my essay deserved atleast an 11 too.
I wanted AT LEAST a 2000 so ugh. I might wait till 4th to check the curve and try to figure out if I made mistakes. Then I’ll decide if I want to order a re-score.</p>
<p>Same here. My son scored at least 2340 on the lasts 4 practice tests he took. This is the first time he took the real test though. He checked his answer with CC google doc and feels he should get at least 2300, but his real score is only 2070. We are at lost. Will also wait until Nov 4 then see what to do next.</p>
<p>@love2cheeses I couldn’t agree more. CC docs showed that I’d had only around 4 or 5 wrong. ugh ._.</p>
<p>I want to add that my son did use the mechanical pencils. We hope it is not the reason. He has used mechanical pencils with all the subject tests and AP tests he took before and had no problems with it.</p>
<p>CC consensus may be accurate in math, but not in writing or critical reading… especially the latter.</p>
<p>Especially since most people don’t do well on CR (even CC, what a surprise!), you can’t rely on a general consensus to assume your score, because most people will get the hard questions incorrect</p>
<p>@love2cheeses</p>
<p>@jarjarbinks Thanks. Almost every subject is 50-100 points lower than what he checked with CC including math and writing. It is very frustrating. We totally lost confidence now and do not know hot to prepare for the next test.</p>
<p>@love2cheeses </p>
<p>Did your son imitate actual SAT test taking environments? Like he took the SAT 4 hours straight, in a quiet room, with a 5 minute break every 3 sections.</p>
<p>Maybe he could get some help from professional tutors…</p>
<p>@jarjarbink He did not imitate the actual SAT test. He did not have the variable section, he did not use full 20/25 minutes. When he finished early he did not bother to review and moved right to the next section. Therefore, he usually spent less than 3 hours finishing the whole test. That is the only thing I can think of when prepare for next test. Maybe it the mental endurance 5 hrs vs <3 hrs messed him up. Yet, he feels according to CC doc. he should get much higher scores at least for math and writing.</p>
<p>We used a tutor over the summer, that is why he raised his scores so much to near perfect on practice tests.</p>
<p>@love2cheeses I’ll be blunt, I think his propensity to just rush, not check, and not take things slowly screwed him over on the test day. Also as you said, his mental endurance would most likely have been a major issue. Please tell him to take the practice SATs as exactly as he would on the actual SAT.</p>
<p>@jarjarbinks23 Thanks. Yes, that is what he decided to do from now on. Every Sat and Sun spending 5 hr on a whole set of SAT until next time he takes the test. Hope he still has unused tests. Do you know whether those online CB tests have been published in paper or not?</p>