Do Schools Know You've Taken SAT Only Once?

[IxnayBob]

<p>I apologize if this has been answered already; my search didn't find it.</p>

<p>Question: If a student takes the SAT I (and for that matter, SAT II) test only once, is that known by the schools to which the scores are submitted? If there is only one set of scores submitted, is there an indication that this is not a super-scored or cherry-picked test result?</p>

<p>It is not a huge deal, but ...</p>

[mothergoldenbear]

<p>When you submit one SAT I score, scores from all sittings are sent. So the college will see how many times it was taken and what you scored on each.</p>

<p>Some schools allow superscoring (picking the best subscore from any sitting), some don’t. But personally, I don’t think colleges really look at how many times you’ve taken the SAT/ACT. They spend mere minutes reading each application, so is an actual person really going to waste time looking at the number of times it was taken? I think all they really care about is the result. Small schools might take note, but big state schools have too many applicants. Some computer culls your information and spits out the relevant data.</p>

[IxnayBob]

<p>Thanks MamaBear (you don’t mind if I call you MamaBear, do you?).</p>

<p>I guess even at highly selective schools, they look at the score (2350+) and just check a mental or physical check-box that says “standardized score okay?” I’m the proud PapaBear, so it probably matters more to me than anyone whose child it isn’t :-)</p>

<p>I think, though, that you are incorrect saying “when you submit one SAT I score, scores from all sittings are sent.”<br>

@College Board

Select which scores you want to send to your score recipients</p>

<p>Score Choice gives you the option to choose which scores (by test date for the SAT and by individual test for SAT Subject Tests™) you send to colleges — in accordance with an institution’s stated score-use practice.</p>

<p>If you decide not to use Score Choice, all of your scores will be sent to your recipients. You should still feel comfortable sending all scores, since most colleges consider a student’s best score.

</p>

<p>Some schools REQUIRE that you send all (Yale, for example). Would Yale be told that a student used Score Choice to (unethically) send only a subset of their scores?</p>

[MidwesternHeart]

<p>IxnayBob - I think when you select some colleges, like Yale, who don’t participate in Score Choice, on the SAT score reporting, the College Board system doesn’t give YOU the option to only select which scores you can send. So it’s all, or none. On the ACT, though, that’s a whole different story. I don’t know if Yale would really know if you had taken the ACT more than once, if only one score is sent.</p>

[IxnayBob]

<p>MidwesternHeart,</p>

<p>CollegeBoard seems to tiptoe around the issue, and I don’t think that their software is able to determine whether you are required to send all scores to a particular school.

@College Board

Students are encouraged to follow the score-reporting requirements of each college to which they apply, but their scores are not released for admission purposes without their specific consent.

</p>

<p>Sounds like a “what, who, me???”</p>

<p>It does not appear that a school can disallow the sending of selected scores:</p>

<p>

@College Board

Q: What if students do not abide by a college’s or university’s score-use practice?</p>

<p>A: As a matter of integrity, students are expected to follow college admissions policies, and the same is true with respect to a student’s sending of test scores to colleges. Students are responsible for complying with the admissions requirements of the colleges, universities, and scholarship programs to which they apply.</p>

<p>Q: Is there a loophole that allows colleges to “opt out” of Score Choice?</p>

<p>A: Colleges cannot “opt out of” or “reject” Score Choice. Score Choice is a feature available to students. Colleges set their own policies and practices regarding the use of test scores. The College Board does not release SAT test scores without student consent. This continues under Score Choice. Colleges, universities, and scholarship programs will receive the scores applicants send to them.

</p>

[drusba]

<p>College Board allows you to exercise score choice whenever you send scores and have more than one. If you do not exercise score choice, all scores CB has for you get sent. CB does not provide anything to colleges to indicate whether you have or have not exercised score choice. There are colleges that require you to send all scores by not exercising score choice but they have no direct control over whether you actually do exercise score choice and, to date after several years of having score choice, there has been no report of a college that requires all scores having done anything to punish in any way those who do not submit all scores. </p>

<p>As a result, a college cannot necessarily assume that you have sent all scores when you send only one test. There is a back-up method for colleges to do that, depending on your high school. Many high schools still put all your test scores on your official transcript sent to colleges and thus a college can check that to see if you have multiple tests. However, the trend in the last several years has been for more and more high schools to cease doing that.</p>

[mothergoldenbear]

<p>Hi Ixnaybob … Sure, you can call me MamaBear … i respond to almost anything. I think mamabear was taken so i did a play off the song, “Sister Golden Hair.” Yes, I forgot to mention that score choice is an option at some schools. For those that do not have score choice (UCs, for example), all of them get sent. In speaking with an admissions officer at UCB, they only look at the highest overall score and do not give any penalty for taking it many times nor additional points for taking it just once. Congrats to your offspring for the great score! </p>

<p>UCs randomly select applications and verify them, so using score choice could jeopardize one’s admission.</p>

[IxnayBob]

<p>MamaBear, in truth, my son was much more mature about his score than I was. His attitude was: Great, I’ve got that out of the way, now I can worry about something else.</p>

<p>PS I would never have guessed Sister Golden Hair, but what a great song.</p>