Hello
I received my sat scores back today. It was my second sitting and although I was hopeful to increase my score I obtained a 1330 again. Section scores were also the same so no hope for supper score. I am very discouraged to take the sat again based on this. I was wondering how will colleges react to my lack of improvement and if it will be possible for me to get into selective schools with this score. My gpa is a 4.0 and EC are decent.
What schools do you want to go to? Your score is still very good and you have a decent chance of acceptance at many top tier schools! And if you want to take the ACT or SAT again but you are doing EA you can send your current scores and send the October scores as well if they end up being better!
Thank you very much, I think ill try to study as much as possible for the next SAT and ACT.
This is my list of reach schools:
Yale University
Rice University
University of Rochester
USC
Vanderbilt
Cornell
Duke
Emory
University of Virginia (OOS)
UChicago
UPenn
You are not “done” for college of course but it is time to update your list so it matches your stats. And no matter what your SAT scores were your list is comprised of almost all reach schools which is never wise.
What are your match and safety schools?
What can your family afford? Sit down with your parents and run the Net Price Calculators at the places on your current list, at your home-state public Us, and at a couple of places that aren’t as selective as your current list. Find out if any of them are likely to be affordable.
How much prep did you do before you re-took the SAT? If you didn’t do any prep, then think long and hard about how much time you are willing to put in to prepping for that exam before trying it again. Try a sample version of the ACT. You might like it better.
And, look through the list of test optional and no-test colleges/universities. You may find a place that will really like your GPA and won’t care about your test scores: http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional
How did you choose those schools? 11 reach schools is way too many, even if you do bring your SAT up to their level. You won’t be able to put enough effort into that many applications, plus it’s going to end up costing a ridiculous amount in score sends and application fees. A decent chunk of your college list should be matches and safeties that are affordable and more realistic for admissions.
That aside, it is possible to raise your score, but whatever you did to prepare between the two tests didn’t work. You’ll need a new study strategy. I would recommend figuring out exactly what your weaknesses are in each section and drilling those weaknesses with practice questions. I used Khan Academy and the College Board’s blue book for this. You might prefer other sources which is fine. Don’t waste practice time on things you’re good at - you need to figure out where you’re weak and improve there. Also, it might not necessarily be content. It could be time management or stress. Whatever your weaknesses are, pinpointing them is the first step. Practicing as much as possible to eliminate them is next. Some of my friends have found tutors to be helpful, so maybe you could consider that if you can afford it and self prep doesn’t seem to be helping you.
I don’t mean to be discouraging at all! A 1330 is still a very good score and will get you in to many many colleges. You are by no means done for college. Just make sure you build a list that is ultimately balanced and realize that most of those 11 schools are extremely hard to get into, even with high test scores. If your list is all reaches, you’ll be at risk of not getting in anywhere.
Thanks everyone for the feedback. The reason for all those reaches is that I was planning on applying to 12 schools through QuestBridge with the waived fee, if I become a finalist(Reconsidering that now). I have a few state schools as match since I get auto accepted to them since I am in Texas (reconsidering this too) and a few other state schools as safeties for which I can afford tuition. I mostly prepared for this SAT by doing Khan Academy (in the few weeks before it). Im try studing from their blue book now before October.