<p>Any rational reason for a student (11th grade this year) to retake the SAT's after receiving a total combined score of 2340? I think it rather ridiculous, but am dealing with a student that walked out of the exam "knowing" the scant few answers that were incorrect and wants to take it again. And without going into too much detail, this students other credentials are absolutely in line with her talent - AP scores, course difficulty and challenge, national and state academic awards, Gold Award Girl Scout, etc...</p>
<p>No rational reason!!! She is in range for any selective college on the planet; should spend time doing something productive or fun.</p>
<p>I would think the colleges would actually wonder why this applicant would want to retake the SAT after a 2340.</p>
<p>I agree! If I were reading an app and saw that she had scored so well and decided to re-take, I would question whether she was too driven, too much of a perfectionist. With those scores, she should relax and find something better to do on a Saturday morning.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, admissions people want to know that the kids they admit are normal. She has shown that she is bright, now show that she can get along with others, have fun, be sane. </p>
<p>Nope, no rational reason!</p>
<p>No rational reason at all. I agree with Muffy 100% - spend those hours doing something relaxing, fun, and maybe leading to a little better perspective! :)</p>
<p>I have seen kids and parents on CC justify re-takes at this level. I thought that was silly. I have never seen anything to make me believe that the difference between a 2400 and a 2300 meant anything at the admissions level at any college (unless, perhaps, you were trying to get into Cal Tech with a 700 math score). However, there may be merit scholarships for which slightly higher SATs could make a difference.</p>
<p>Also, while I would share other peoples’ reactions if I were admissions staff and I saw that an applicant had retaken the test after scoring 2340, I believe at many highly selective colleges that information would not actually be presented to the decisionmakers.</p>
<p>I can see two reasons:
- Aiming for a Presidential Schlarship (2340 is not enough).
- If all 60 poits are lost in one section making that section a 740, there is room for improvement in that prticular section.</p>
<p>Although I see no need for such a student to take the test again, if the student wants to do it, there doesn’t seem to be a compelling reason to prevent it.</p>
<p>There are so many things for parents and students to argue about. This need not be one of them.</p>
<p>Scholarships can be one rational reason, in certain circumstances.
I know someone who retook the ACT about 4 times until she scored a 36. I believe she was a Presidential Scholar on the basis of this test score, as well as receiving several other scholarships. She was able to completely pay for her education, plus bank a small stipend at the end of each year.
Her reason for retake was purely to get more scholarship money, she got a full tuition ride from her university, then several $1000 to 2500 scholarships were cobbled to gether to pay her expenses. I don’t think she applied to any highly selective schools, though.</p>
<p>Marian makes an excellent point - if the student’s dead set on it, it does come down to a pick-your-battles issue.</p>
<p>But if you want to make one last stand for saving that Saturday morning (and whatever intensive practice such a student would might deem necessary . . .) and the registration fee: Presidential only considers scores from a single SAT sitting, so she’d have to turn up 800s in everything this time, if that’s the goal. (Presidential does not superscore the SAT.) And “room for improvement” is arguable. A student who was applying for a math-heavy school or program would doubtless have other math scores (AME, etc.) to support that interest, if the non-800 score is in math. And if any of those national awards are for writing, they would trump a non-800 in CR or W. </p>
<p>Colleges understand what the SAT is and isn’t, and they do not see an appreciable difference between a 2340 (or a 23-anything) and a 2400.</p>
<p>Actually, Presidential only considers CR and M, not verbal, so a 2400 is not necessary. And 1600 on CR/M is only necessary in high-scoring states. In other states, kids have been nominated with slightly lower scores (though I don’t think 2340 would make the cut).</p>
<p>Sure, there’s a rational reason, in her view. It’s her vs the game. She wants to get a higher score.</p>
<p>My S retook the SATs after getting a 2300. I opposed it, but it was his choice. And he’s not a crazed perfectionist with no personality, he never took a prep course of any kind at any time, his self-study may have amounted to an hour or two, and in fact as far as I could tell he didn’t do any prep the second time either, he didn’t have any friends with higher SATs to be jealous of, and it wasn’t eating up his life. His reason? He got an 80 on the math in the PSAT and was annoyed by his 720 on the SAT.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s not a “rational” reason according to those who think of the SATs as an agonizing struggle rather than as a game, but it’s certainly not evidence of the deep-seated disorder some people seem eager to pin on the kid.</p>
<p>BTW, my S’s CR/M score from one sitting is under 2340, and he is a Presidential Scholar nominee. It depends on the state.</p>
<p>I believe at that level a re-take is as likely to produce a lower score as a higher. Wouldn’t THAT be annoying?! And it’s not going to be the same test, so knowing the answers to what was missed on the last one won’t make a difference. My son got a 2340 on his first try and was thrilled not to retake.</p>
<p>My son also was a nominee for Presidential Scholar with that score but decided not to write the essay. He was going to be at a national competition with his quiz team during the awards ceremony time and also didn’t want to meet the president.</p>
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<p>There is absolutely no evidence that adcoms look at a single retake this way. Last year, after I posted a similar question, I received a PM from a long-time cc member who rarely posts publicly. This poster told me that her son retook the SAT I despite a very high score (approx. 2350) because he was annoyed that his lowest section was math. He retook, got a single-sitting 2400, was a Presidential Scholar from a very populous state, was admitted to several of the HYPMS group, and now attends one of them. There were no adverse repercussions due to the single retake.</p>
<p>“2. If all 60 poits are lost in one section making that section a 740, there is room for improvement in that prticular section.”</p>
<p>I agree, especially if the 60 lost points were in math, and the student is applying to engineering schools.</p>
<p>Would I personally retake with such an awesome score? H ell no! Do I know people that have? Yes.</p>
<p>The kids that I know who retook standardized tests with already ridiculously high scores were the over achieving type that always wanted to do perfectly. Finally receiving a perfect score on the SAT was more of a satisfaction boost than a score boost; they absolutely loved knowing that they did the best possible. These kids are extremely driven and have done really well in basically everything they do.</p>
<p>The competitive nature of my friends coupled with their drive for perfection led some of them to retake in order to get perfect scores. If this kid is like that, I can understand why she would want to re-take it and probably wouldn’t care if she did or not because it really only effects her.</p>
<p>I don’t have any problems with people retaking tests just to see if they get higher scores, but I do have problems with kids applying to an obnoxious amount of schools just to see if they get in (unrelated, I know) because when they get in and decide not to go they essentially take an admissions offer away from another deserving kid. Yeah, they earned their spot, but if they don’t intend on using it, why bother? </p>
<p>The parallel I was trying to make with the previous example is that she’s really neither helping or hurting anyone but herself (after all, is 70 points really going to make or break her admissions offer? no) with this one, so might as well let her do it.</p>
<p>I would characterize the retake as neither necessary nor harmful. Go with her decision once she has read this current thread, and also the threads </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/349391-retake-how-many-times-take-sat-act.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/349391-retake-how-many-times-take-sat-act.html</a> </p>
<p>and </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/377882-how-do-top-scorers-tests-fail-gain-admission-top-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/377882-how-do-top-scorers-tests-fail-gain-admission-top-schools.html</a></p>
<p>Lets see, a 2340, that’s 780 per section. Do I think the kid should retake? Ah, no. (Yeah, if the goal is MIT or CalTech and there was a 740 in math, then okay; not likely.)</p>
<p>But, of course, then you run across stats like these from Brown (Class of 2011) <a href=“Undergraduate Admission | Brown University”>Undergraduate Admission | Brown University; </p>
<pre><code> Admit Rate
</code></pre>
<p>CR</p>
<p>800 29.2%
750-790 19.7%</p>
<p>M</p>
<p>800 27.5%
750-790 20.7%</p>
<p>WR</p>
<p>800 29.1%
750-790 22.0%</p>
<p>(Sure, that’s not 800 vs. 780, but still.)</p>
<p>The admissions officer from Yale when asked about retakes of the SAT basically said that eyebrows wouldn’t go up unless you took the SAT more than three times. It wouldn’t necessarily harm you even then, but if other parts of your application were screaming “This kid has nothing better to do on Sat. AMs”, the extra retakes might be perceived as a slight negative. </p>
<p>So my verdict is while it’s not likely to help the student, a second retake will not hurt them either.</p>