"Average" Student has a Question

Test Preparation
1

<p>So I just got my SAT scores from the march test date:</p>

<p>520 math (not my strong point, only went up through alg II, dropped out of pre-calc this year)
640 Critical Reading
600 writing (6 on the essay, rather surprising considering my usual writing skills)
Total comes to 1760</p>

<p>I don't want to go to an Ivy League school, my dream is actually to attend St. Olaf College in Minnesota. I have a 3.8 GPA with mainly advanced and AP classes, am very active in the band program at my high school, do volunteer work at my church and in the community, and feel that, from the impressions I have gotten from St. Olaf, I am prepared to attend the college.</p>

<p>My question is, given what you people might know of St. Olaf, or other smaller, liberal arts colleges, (not Ivy League) should I retake the test in the hopes that I can improve the math and writing sections, or just go with what I have given everything else that will factor into the admissions process. I really didn't want to have to retake the test again in June, simply because it's the weekend before school gets out and I'll be stressed enough with finals and thoughts of summer and freedom! But if I have to, I will retake it. </p>

<p>Just asking for opinions, thanks.</p>

2

<p>Yeah, I think you should retake it...but only if you can do some good studying before June (or next fall, whenever you wanna take it). Get collegeboard's SAT book and do those practice tests. Take as many as possible; I think more familiarity with the SAT questions could potentially raise your composite score at least another 100-200 points, which could really affect your chances at St. Olaf. </p>

<p>Hey, at any rate, having a higher SAT score certainly couldn't hurt anything. Good luck.</p>