Anyone who scored lower than 2000 on the SAT

Test Preparation
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<p>Well I took my SAT back in March and got an 1820, I will be retaking it again in June. </p>

<p>I tell ya I saw that score before I found this website, and I was pretty damn proud of myself for my first shot at the test without preparation. Then I come here, and see all you lifeless machines w/ your </p>

<p>"OMg1!! TEH 2290 on my SAT EWWW RETAKE!1111 :( " </p>

<p>Please. I'm retaking my test, but I won't be upset for a half second if I only get an 1830 this time. I'm going to college regardless and I'll end up with a nice job, nice things, and a nice life barring some sort of disaster. And yeah, I know this has been beaten to death by all the honest students here, but I couldn't keep it in any longer.</p>

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<p>I really think the number is irrelevant, and people need to realize that this is not competition. If someone complains about their 2290, they are obviously dissappointed with not reaching the score they should have/wanted to. It is essentially the same as a person getting a 1520 instead of their goal of 1700, just now we're dealign with higher scores. But the scores are truly irrelevent in complaing; it is all relative to the specific person. Therefore, they have just as much the right to complain as anyone else.</p>

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<p>Keep in mind to that the person complaining about the 2290 may also not do any school work and have a lower GPA. I know people who studied like crazy for the SATs to make up for lower GPA. For them getting an SAT score below their expectation is a bigger problem.</p>

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<p>"I know people who studied like crazy for the SATs to make up for lower GPA. For them getting an SAT score below their expectation is a bigger problem."</p>

<p>I am one of those people. :)</p>

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<p>Dude - you can't get mad at me for wanting to retake my 2230. It's BELOW MY EXPECTATIONS. Just like your score is below yours, mine are higher. I can be equally dissapointed with my 2230 and some of my friends are with their 1980's. It doesn't matter what you get - it matters what you get in relation to what you wanted.</p>

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<p>Thanks you Spartan, that's exactly what I was trying to get accross.</p>

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<p>Spartan, I do see what you're saying, but I think some of the highscorers need a reality check. I got a 2260, and while I was extremely happy, my itinial response was soemthing like "well, it wasn't my best work, I know I made some stupid msitakes, I bet I coudl do better if I retook it." But then I realized..it DOES NOT matter. Yea, if i had gotten like 3 more questions right I would've gotten a 2350, but colleges know this! That's why they give you those score ranges. I just think that while everyone has the right to want to do better, there is a point where it just gets ridiculous. I guess if you really can't live with your 2290, you shoudl retake it, but the point is: you SHOULD be extremely happy with that score, no matter how much better you do a second time around, it won't represent any significant change in the credibility of your score. Obviously, I'm nto sure how adcoms go abotu this, but this would make the most sense to me. Also, just think for a second how awful someone feels who worked their ass off for an 1800, and they hear some kid lamenting about his 2290. I dunno, I just want to get that voice out there from someone who scored well and is able to be proud, even though everything didn't go PERFECTLY. I really do understand how many of you feel, but it's just not worth it to put yourself through with another sittin gof the test for an extra 50 points. It's a different story for eopel who scored significantly below what they should, but if you got a 2200+, no matter how smart you are, you cannot think that you underachieved. Don't go crazy on me, I'm jstu trying to liven up the discussion</p>

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<p>Chrisr88, </p>

<p>Highscorers on the SATs are not all lifeless drones. In my school, the people who scored 2250+ did not study for the test (exception of one person who got 2290), and the people who scored around 2000 studied like hell for it.</p>

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<p>Just what my college adviors have told me. Great SAT scores and low grades are a kiss of death when applying to colleges. They definately see you as an underachiever. Unless you have an excuse for why your grades dropped in your Junior year, such as a parent's death, then those high scores can actually hurt you. Either way make sure you pick it up senior year for fall/winter grades.</p>

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<p>the way i look at it... low GPA with high SAT scores are still better than low GPA with low SAT scores</p>

<p>;)</p>

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<p>That's untrue. My brother graduated 36th out of his 300 kid class. He was a B-student but by no means less intelligent than the valedvictorian. As through consequence of moving often, his course selection put him in normal English rather than in honors or AP and due to his apathy-he didn't have it changed. He recieved a 750 on his verbal section. In short, he was an underachiever-because his classes didn't challenge him in the way he wanted to be challenged. I must say with all honesty, that he is the brightest individual I've ever met. He was a national merit finalist and scored a 1460 on his SATs first time taking it without studying. In addition, he focused on his computer programming and in no exaggeration--released several competitive products in the zipping and utilities. Instead of trying to achieve a formulaic high gpa + high sat--he did what he was truly passionate about and had a talent in--and succeeded. He has since graduated with his masters frm Cornell University in computer programming and holds a 80K job at northrop grumman--despite being a B student. Better than that, I love how he pursues his passion of computer technologies--he's in no rush to move up the ladder of his profession and enjoys the place he's at.</p>

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<p>I have to agree with david218.</p>

<p>It certainly makes sense that people have the right to be passionate about achieving their goals, but it's true: it can start to get ridiculous, pointless, even stupid.</p>

<p>Nobody is going to like me more because my 99th percentile score is better than your 99th percentile score (a few exceptions)! Boo hoo, you'd better go retake. Honestly, nobody gives a damn.</p>

<p>I CAN understand how people might want to retake beacuse they did "poorly" on a particular section. For example, if you wanted to go to MIT and got a 2350 SAT with a 750 on math, it would be understandable that you'd want to retake, assuming that you knew it was a stupid mistake. It could even make a difference! However, this isn't usually the case on this forum. . . at least I dont think. </p>

<p>Furthermore, consider that the SAT scores are based on ranges. They aren't exact. A 2350, for example, is almost identical to a 2400. You could have guessed on 4 questions and gotten 1 of them right, while the guy next to you guessed better and got a 2400. </p>

<p>I also think that obsessing over trying to raise your 99th percentile score instills an INCREDIBLY skewed perspective of reality which isn't necessarily healthy. YES, it's fine to want to do the best that you can possibly do, but being angry about recieving a superior score is going to be an attitude which is DETRIMENTAL in the real world. Perfectionism has its benefits, but it also presents some real problems.</p>

<p>Consider a person I know, who went to harvard, who said "I was always used to being the smartest person or at least among the smartest... when I went to Harvard, I started getting C's, because I was average..." It can be a real struggle for people.... </p>

<p>This situation is comparable to people on this board -- All the people who have the best scores think that they should have the BEST OF THE BEST scores. The people who get into Harvard are basically the academically elite. Once they are there, everyone thinks they should still be the best... BUT THEY CANT! When you take the top 1% of people (and I'm using my terminology loosely here) and you put them all in the same school, many of them are going to agonize over the fact that even if they keep studying the INSANE amount that they did in high school, OR EVEN MORE, they CANNOT be the best. It can be a big problem, and might explain why a recent study found that Harvard students are among the most unhappy (don't quote me on that, but I did read it). What about MIT having the highest suicide rate of any American college?</p>

<p>Better to just accept your VASTLY superior scores rather than set a dangerous precedent.</p>

<p>Anyways, obsessing over your SAT scores clearly isn't gong to kill you, but it is true that it can be a very unhealthy habit to have this kind of attitude. </p>

<p>Sometimes in life you will NOT be the absolute best, and sometimes you'll even be average. It's a FACT.</p>

<p>k im done with this uncharacteristically long rant..... sorry..</p>

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<p>I'm an international student and there is this guy from my class who got 1570... out of 2400::::))) i'm not kidding, he simply doesn't care. on the other end, a good friend of mine got a 2230 without studying...</p>

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<p>i resent threads like this. the people on this site (for the most part) are the cream of the cream of the crop in terms of test scores and academic performance. they may not be the best people football player/personality/artist/ etc (maybe they are, who knows), but we all have something in common; we care about school and do pretty well. i think you knew that coming in here. obviously, what we expect from ourselves or at least hope for, is different than what a lot of other kids hope for. thats ok. i dont see why taking over a test with a 2230 or whatever offends you. if youre happy with your 1820 thats great, a lot of people would be. but what everyone can achieve is different depending on the person. does it make you a bad person if you want a 2300? also..cc is one of the places where people of "our own kind" in a way, can come, congregate, and share info, opinions, etc with people who can relate to us in some ways. dont take that away from us.</p>

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<p>^^I resent posts like yours because of you elitist attitude. Yea, for the most part people on cc have above average scores. But scores arn't everything. How you performed a saturday morning will have minimal to no bearing on how your life will turn out. He is not trying to take anything from you...so that was pretty random. He is trying to give you guys a small dose of reality, which is probably immensely skewed from being on this site. People who complain about 99th percentile scores are the people who get rejected from harvard while the ones with 95th percentile get in. You could fill up an entire class with 1600s at Harvard but they don't. They don't because they are looking at the whole person, and your whole person doesn't really fare that well when you retake a 2290.</p>

<p>ml41588- CC is not a selective club but an internet forum. Lots of people are discouraged from posting because they think that they are not good enough. We need to welcome them instead of intimidating them. Besides, it will give us some reprive from all these 99th percentile scores</p>

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<p>jq722 - well said</p>

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<p>a person can't post because he is not good enough?? please, in fact the original poster was berating those who did better than him, and questioning their sanity because they wanted to retake the sat. i dont feel as if he was in any way silenced or intimidated by the so-called "elitism" of cc. in fact, he was being antagonistic and was trying to put to down the people who did do well, yet simply want to improve.
of course cc is not an elitist/selective club, anyone who reads posts about all nighters, etc. will know that know one here is perfect (by any means), however, i take offense at people who think that just because you do well, that trying for something even better is a crime. i agree with what Spartan Pho3nix wrote, eveyone has their own standards and goals; if yours are higher/lower than someone elses there is abosolutely nothing wrong with that. if cc was an elitist club you would need to pay for it/prove your scores, which is not the case. also, there are threads in high school life category about the various problems that ccers face...where is the elitism in that? trust me, there is none. none at all.</p>

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<p>I got a 2390 ----NOOOO, never, retake, retake, retake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>

<p>...just kidding! It really depends on your expectations!</p>

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<p>If you got a decent score, I see no point in wasting your life away to get a higher SAT score. When you look back on your life in ten years, are you going to remember those baseball games with your friends and all the good memories, or those countless nights you stayed couped up in your room studying for a test that has no effect excepting helping you get into college. At your 5 year class reunion, are you gonna be the man who is walking around and talking to everyone about the good times they had together, or the man looking around for someone to talk to about his high SAT score he got after he retook is 2230, 2340 and finally got a 2390? I got a 1840 and raised it to a 1980, 140pts is quite a bit and I am sure I could raise it more, but do I really want to waste my life away for a stupid number? I think not.</p>

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<p>i resent threads like this. the people on this site (for the most part) are the cream of the cream of the crop in terms of test scores and academic performance. </p>

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<p>i think you knew that coming in here.</p>

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<p>i dont see why taking over a test with a 2230 or whatever offends you. </p>

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<p>if youre happy with your 1820 thats great, a lot of people would be. </p>

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<p>but what everyone can achieve is different depending on the person.</p>

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<p>does it make you a bad person if you want a 2300?</p>

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<p>also..cc is one of the places where people of "our own kind" in a way, can come, congregate, and share info, opinions, etc with people who can relate to us in some ways. dont take that away from us.</p>

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<p>Although your post clearly wasn't meant to be a direct response to my post (or to anyone else's), I don't think you really got anywhere... the only thing you wrote that I would disagree with was in the last two sentences when you said that this kind of post is taking something away from you. </p>

<p>You agreed that SAT scores, especially extremely high ones, are based purely on ranges, and there is rarely a difference in the last few points.</p>

<p>You agreed that no college is going to care once you're into the 99th percentile (except in a very few situations, as I noted in my original post). Since the SAT is meant to be for college admissions, you're missing the point. Sure, I fully understand the personal pride issue, but you're still missing the point.</p>

<p>You also agreed, most importantly, that obsessive perfectionism like this sets an unhealthy precedent and creates absurd expectations which are going to get you nowhere in life. Things are not going to always go your way, you are not always going to be the best, you aren't always going to be able to study your ass of and retake a silly test. If you believe to think that anything besides 99th percentile is unacceptable (and there are even people here who are upset who DID score in the 99th percentile, and this is even worse), you are going to have a rude awakening at some point in your life.</p>