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My main question is will colleges be more turned off by a 320-320-710 than a 750-710-630
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While I'm not an admissions counselor, I'd have to guess that yes, they would be turned off by that score (I would be). I know that if I were doing a holistic review of an application, that would raise a red flag for me. A "score hound" could just as easily be a "grade hound" and I would have to be convinced quite seriously that this kid had something other than grades to contribute.</p>
<p>A college admissions guy from UPenn came to our school for a visit and mentioned an applicant did that (800 200 200) and (200 800 800) or some variation. He said that the guy did get in because the bottom line was that he scored extremely well, which is hard to do--fatigued or not.</p>
<p>I've always thought that the best way to perform on a test is to be "on" for the whole test. If you really want to increase your endurance, I suggest jogging every morning until you're used to maintaining alertness at that hour.</p>
<p>I'm a former admissions officer (Dartmouth) and I would NOT do that - we looked at ALL scores and YES, it would be obvious the student was gaming the system. My advice is to try to ACT as they only look at the composite score and often if you are strong in math and science, you can pull up a weaker CR score, in effect getting a higher converted SAT score. For example, a composite of 35 on the ACT is seen as 780/780/780 across the board, even if the reading score was 31!</p>
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A college admissions guy from UPenn came to our school for a visit and mentioned an applicant did that (800 200 200) and (200 800 800) or some variation.
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<p>Is that a current admission officer who just visited this school year?</p>
<p>@ClassicsGeek: Do you know how files are being handled now that everything has gone electronic? Since you have some inside experience, I'm curious: do you think that the move to electronic filing has changed the application process in any way that students should know about?</p>
<p>Good question -- I don't think it has changed anything substantive at all. they still get quite a lot of paper apps at most schools, so the transition hasn't been 100% to electronic yet at most schools (except Stanford).</p>
<p>If that's really your problem, you probably don't want to go to a college that is more demanding than the college you are already eligible for with your current test scores. Maybe what you most need is focused reading help. </p>
<p>I'll mention here first the general college policy issue, and then the "crazy idea" aspect one more time. The latest word from admission committees at the most selective colleges is that they consider a student's highest scores, PERIOD. Here is Harvard's statement on that issue, from Harvard's online viewbook: </p>
<p>Harvard has had similar statements in its viewbook for a few years now. On two different occasions I have attended the joint Exploring College Options admission information session put on by Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Penn, and now also Stanford. The admission committees of all those colleges take a similar approach to looking at student admission test scores, and Penn also has a website statement announcing that it gives students the benefit of their highest scores section by section. What Harvard admission officer Julia Topalian said about this issue is the subject of a post I made soon after her visit to my town </p>
<p>for the second time, at the Minnesota National College Fair. She was busy meeting students who were visiting the Harvard booth at the college fair. I said to her that I thought I already knew the answer to my question from the Harvard website, but could I please confirm for other parents how Harvard treats test scores if an applicant submits more than one set of test scores? "We only look at the highest scores," she replied immediately, and an alumnus looking on at our conversation smiled and said, "She sure answered that quickly, didn't she?" </p>
<p>Other threads here on CC report, a matter I can't confirm yet from press reports or personal interviews, that some college admission offices receive score reports from College Board that highlight the HIGHEST section scores for each student who submits more than one set of SAT scores. It is said that at some colleges the initial stage of data entry and building a folder summary simply doesn't look at the rest of the scores, nor at how often a student has taken a test. I haven't confirmed that yet for the specific colleges mentioned in those CC threads, but that appears to be the new trend in college admission at the most selective colleges. </p>
<p>But it's STILL, even in light of that policy, a crazy idea not to try to do your best. Use your time on each reading section to do the reading items in that section only. Use your math section time to do the math items in that section only. And similarly for the writing sections. Do your best. Follow the test rules, and don't waste your time. It may be relaxing for you, and thus may help your score, to think as other students whom I asked </p>