Another SAT should I retake? (Low writing, High CR+M)

Test Preparation
1

<p>Well, I've taken the SAT only one time (October 2008), as a Junior. </p>

<p>Scores were: </p>

<p>800 CR (Yeah... I was shocked myself)
780 M</p>

<p>...and 650 W (Bull...)... So 1580/2230. </p>

<p>And well... I was wondering if I need to retake or not. When I took it, I thought the writing section didn't count for much, so I never prepped for writing.... But now it seems it actually matters a lot. The problem is, I am pretty positive if I take it again, my reading and math score WILL lower, because I usually wasn't quite that good on the practice tests.... </p>

<p>Well, technically, it wouldn't really "hurt" me, because of score choice. But it would be a huge waste of my time, effort, and money. It would force me to only have one shot at my subject tests (Subjects in October of Senior, SAT in November)... It would force me to re-prep for reading AND math again, so less time to write essays if I want to enjoy my summer break at all. And it wouldn't help me at all, because most likely my writing score will raise A LOT, but my reading and math score will probably lower quite a bit too (I averaged around 730-750 math and 750-780 reading on practice tests) </p>

<p>...But on the other hand, I'm so lost about the true weight of the writing section. What if it matters as much as M + CR?! 650 is so ugly compared to a 1580. </p>

<p>Also, will it help offset my terrible writing score if I just make a note of my PSAT score next to the Finalist Award? (234 Selection Index: 80 R, 77 M, 77 W)... also, do colleges still weight writing less than reading and math? I'm a little bit behind the times. </p>

<p>My colleges: </p>

<p>University of Florida (Hopefully honors...)
Davidson
Furman
Cornell
Columbia
Georgia-Tech
Grinnell </p>

<p>A little extra info:
Yeah, I have a good GPA, lots of IB/AP courses, extra-curriculars... snarf snarf. So I'm just wondering about my SATs.</p>

2

<p>Good admissions essays should compensate for something. I wouldn’t advise taking the SAT again just for the writing section.
And yes, colleges weigh M and CR higher.</p>

3

<p>Yeah I’m going to be spending all summer writing essays… </p>

<p>And if I retake the writing, I would have to re-prep for reading and math… along with doing HARDCORE prep for writing. So it would probably affect the quality of my essays… </p>

<p>I don’t know though, a lot of colleges are placing heavy weight on writing… I’m just so confused, and I can never get a straight answer from admissions officers… 650 is so ugly compared to a 1580. Bleh. I’ve e-mailed like 10 colleges about it, and they are always like “Remember, we look on you with a holistic viewpoint… blah blah”… God damn, I just want a straight answer.</p>

4

<p>writing doesnt mean anything at this point. you have excellent scores</p>

5

<p>the only one i can talk about is UF</p>

<p>i’m fairly certain you’ll get in the honors college. if i recall correctly all you need is a 2100</p>

6

<p>More advice :frowning: </p>

<p>I’m OCD about stuff like this.</p>

7

<p>you can get into those colleges…
columbia cares about writing because they’ve published their ranges on collegeboard, cornell idk they don’t have ranges on collegeboard</p>

8

<p>For the colleges youve listed (except Columbia), I dont think you need to retake</p>

9

<p>more advice ?? … see a counselor to help your OCD</p>

10

<p>Aargh my counselor is one of those don’t-know-anything counselors… unfortunately. I asked her about my SAT scores, and what she thought… she told me they were ‘satisfactory’… I asked her if I should retake writing… she said ‘most people take the SAT multiple times blah blah blah’…</p>

<p>Too busy, I guess.</p>

11

<p>Here’s a quote from “Hack The SAT” (I definitely recommend this book, btw):
“As most of you know, the SAT used to be out of 1600 points; there were only the Math and Verbal Sections, with no writing involved. And though the test might now be out of 2400, old habits die hard. It’s a simple reality that your Writing score is going to carry less weight in college admissions than your Math or Critical Reading scores. Substantially less in many cases; a few colleges will ignore it entirely.
You’ll notice something as you visit colleges: The smaller the group an admissions officer is talking to, the more secrets she’ll divulge. Admission literature may say that the college considers all three sections of the SAT equally; to a small group, an admissions officer might say that students should concentrate more on Math and Critical Reading than Writing… Many colleges simply don’t believe that a twenty-five minute essay can accurately assess a student’s writing, and therefore they downplay Writing scores or ignore them entirely.”</p>

12

<p>Bump, 10char</p>

13

<p>With score choice there is no disadvantage to taking the test again.</p>

<p>If you don’t do significantly better you can just hide your scores.</p>

14

<p>Well, actually, quite a few colleges have ‘opted out’ of score choice… owch.</p>

15

<p>Is your 650 a lousy multiple choice with a 12 essay? or a lousy essay with a good multiple choice score?
Just wondering; my daughter had an 11 essay and a lousy multiple choice score; was told the essay was more important and that it wasn’t a big deal (and her M/V was not as high as yours was)…she ended up nailing the ACT writing, sent both scores…can’t imagine it made a difference…</p>

<p>with a 1580? you’re fine…especially with your list of schools…</p>

16

<p>Lousy both, but essay especially. I got a 7 on my essay… owch. I’m actually a fairly good writer (or so my past 2 English teachers have told me), but I was just completely unprepared for a 25 minute essay. </p>

<p>Honestly, I barely felt like I started before the proctor said 5 minutes remaining.</p>

17

<p>Bump :slight_smile: Congrats to everyone who got (hopefully) high writing scores, unlike meee :(</p>

18

<p>The SAT Writing section essay is bull*****. Seriously. A 25 minute essay does not reflect your writing abilities accurately at all. It’s like judging Michael Phelps’ swimming abilities by confining him to a kiddie pool. There was a story on this site about how a professional writer got a 10 on her essay when she decided to take the SAT again for kicks as an adult. Honestly, I think the essay should be canceled, or at least changed.</p>

<p>I feel like the best way to prepare for the SAT essay is to go to collegeboard.com and take some of their practice prompts (or use a prep book) and brainstorm some examples for each prompt; try this with a lot of prompts and I predict that your skills of analyzing prompts quickly will begin to increase. Then practice writing entire essays WITHOUT time limits, the reason being that it will make you focus more on your essay. However, do time yourself to see how much time it takes for you to write an essay of your liking. Then, do it timed.</p>

<p>The downside to this method is that it takes a lot of time and preparation (say goodbye to wild summer parties every weekend). However, I think it will pay off. There are some shady methods floating around this site about the perfect “formula” to a 12. In general, one literary example and one historical example will look better than a long personal babble. However, hard work is still the most important component to getting that high essay score. I hope this helped :)</p>

19

<p>Bump. Gotta decide, subjects or SAT.</p>