I go to a rigorous college preparatory school, and we were all required to take the January 2015 SAT. It was my first time taking it, and I didn’t really prepare for it, as we were instructed that we ought to use it as ‘practice’.
I scored a 2310 (790/740/780), but my college counselor didn’t seem impressed, exactly. He assumed I’d be retaking it in May, and when I told him I was considering leaving it as is, he strongly advised me against this. Our average SAT score is 19XX, so it’s not as if my score is incredibly common here. Can anyone explain why? Does it benefit the school in some way to have me retake it?
Should I be retaking it?
Depends on what schools you’re aiming for. Do you want to go to Harvard? Not high enough. Penn State? Plenty high. Community college? Out of the park.
EDIT: Misread.
Depends on where you want to go to college. It’s an impressive score . . . and it’s possible that if you take it again, you’ll end up with an even more impressive score. Whether or not that matters to you is up to you.
I’d retake it for MIT or Caltech if you thought an 800 math was possible, otherwise, only if it was convenient.
@bodangles, I am aiming for Ivy-tier, but I thought at the point where you score a 2310, getting those extra 90 points is within natural variance (i.e. can be attributed to a bad day or whatever). I’ve seen a lot of people say that 2300-2390 looks the same to colleges - that they look at scores within a ‘range’ as equivalent.
I AM SO SORRY I READ 2130. You are right, that is an absolutely great score.
@JustOneDad, I’m not the best at math (as you can see lol) so I’m not sure I have an 800 in me. But I’ll probably study over the summer and take it in December, so I can decide whether to rush my scores or not at that point. My main concern is getting a worse score.
What you said does not make sense at all. No counselor would tell student to take SAT cold. Even less likely to tell a student to retake SAT with a score of 2300+.
@billcsho, just telling it how it happened. He advocated over and over that we not study at all and use this as a ‘baseline’ to study and take it in May.
He is still heavily encouraging me to sit it again with most of my classmates in May.
You do practice test or mock test to get baseline score, not take a real test for baseline.
Congrats! If you were my child, I’d stick with the score you have and use the time saved not studying for a standardized test to explore your interests and make yourself a more interesting candidate in other ways. I am biased as I am not a fan of standardized testing to begin with. 2310 vs 2400 won’t make a difference - once you’ve gotten above 2300, I’d argue that it’ll be the other things in your application that will decide your fate.
While correct, that’s not what happened. So given the circumstances, advise accordingly
Doubtful that will happen, but schools will look at the better scores, even if they require all your scores.
Skip the May exam. Either your counselor misread your scores, or he just wants to be able to play “I have more students with a 2400 than you do.” with his counselor pals this year.
@happymomof1, maybe so. I read out each of my section scores to him and then confirmed ‘so that makes 2310’ and watched him write it down.
Eh, counselors are human too, right? 
@Anonymoose3 - I respect the fact you have a balanced look and aren’t one of those kids obsessed with scoring 2400 just say they can say they did.
Your score is terrific. If you don’t get accepted to elite universities, it certainly won’t be the SAT score keeping you out. Give your counsellor the bird (NOT REALLY) and go on with life.
That is a great score. If you think, with studying, you could get a higher score, you could retake it. However, I honestly think studying and retaking the SAT would be a waste of your time. Did your GC explain his line of reasoning?
I concur with everyone else. Terrific score, and absolutely no reason to retake, even for Ivy-tier. The counselor is seriously encouraging you to take it for the wrong reasons, like previously mentioned he’s probably greedy and trying to collect 2400s to add to his list.
Yes, counselors are human, and your counselor isn’t making sense right now.
Depends what else you have. Do you have a 4.0 and tons of ECs that are REALLY impressive. Are you an URM?
I assume you will take SAT2s? I got a 34 on the ACT (sort of first sitting, I got REALLY sick in the middle of the first time I took it had something bad for breakfast, it was not nerves and got a couple of points lower). I thought about taking it again as 35s just seem so much less common especially on CC. Now that I have gotten a mix of WL and rejections so far I am seriously regretting not taking it again. I also am regretting not studying more for SAT2s. I would not recommend taking it cold a second time OR ACTUALLY EVER. Your GC is an absolute idiot to tell you that. I never even took the SATs because my PSAT was so average. Practice is why they call the PSAT the PRACTIC SAT.
If you are really going to study and have nothing better to do and nothing that really stands out otherwise, especially if your gpa could be better (I have no idea, mine could by Ivy standards, my ECs are great) then consider it but take some real practice tests before. Also, if your 800 part was in the writing and your other scores were lower. I believe the schools that require all your tests from one series are UPenn, Yale, Stanford and Duke, not sure about others. Most others you can choose what to send