<p>Son took SAT in October of Junior year, and scored a 730 on his writing. His essay was an 8. Then he took it again in May of his Junior year, and scored a 660 on his writing. His essay again was an 8. It seems that he did a lot worse on the multiple choice questions of writing. His math and critical reading were almost the same. Math went from 680 to 690, but the reading was 690 both times.</p>
<p>Is this a common occurrence, to have this much variance in two scores?</p>
<p>Also, how is this viewed by colleges? The scores have already been sent. </p>
<p>Most private colleges will credit him with his highest recorded score in each category—so 690 CR, 690 M, 730 W, for a very respectable total of 2110. This is called “superscoring.” </p>
<p>Many public universities don’t superscore but will credit him with his highest total score in a single sitting, which would be the October score of 2100 (690 CR + 680 M + 730 W). Not much difference. </p>
<p>Either way, it’s in their interest to use the top scores and disregard the lower ones, because they want to report the highest possible scores for their entering class. The colleges know there’s some variance from sitting to sitting; College Board says you should expect that your score could go up or down 30 points from one sitting to the next. The 70-point variance in your son’s Writing score is definitely on the high side, but it could be that if he took the test 10 times his average Writing score would fall somewhere between 660 and 730, with the 660 and 730 representing the high and low extremes of his range. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about it too much. It’s rumored on CC that the May '09 SAT Writing was an unusually hard test. Lots of people saw their Writing scores go down, in some cases quite significantly. My own D’s CR and M scores remained at roughly the same level as the December sitting, but her May Writing score was down by 50 points from December and about 70 points lower than what she was scoring on the practice tests. She probably won’t even report the May results unless she applies to a school that asks for all test scores, because the December scores are quite strong. She may take the SAT once more before submitting applications because she’d like to bump her Math score up a little, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Writing score also bounced back because she’s always tested high in this area. It’s unfortunate, and deeply unfair, that many kids don’t have the opportunity to take these tests multiple times because it can put some of them at a severe disadvantage in applying to the most competitive schools.</p>
<p>Thanks, guys. Feel a lot better. We didn’t report the first score, 2100, until after we got it. The May test, we just sent away when we registered, figuring it would beat the 2100.The teacher who does the prep course said anything above a 2000 is good, so we’re pleased with what he has now. I do remember the literature that came with the October score saying that it was a good chance that that 730 would go down. I’d like to say he just got lucky that day, but he did get a 35 on his ACT writing, so I know he can do well on that. That’s thanks to his high school. They’re known for producing good writers among colleges.</p>
<p>I have one to beat them all. My daughter who is a great writer took the SAT’s in March and May. While her CR and Math scores stayed basically the same, her Writing score went down 110 points from March to May! We were shocked! Couldn’t figure out what happened.</p>
<p>Our son’s first SAT writing: 770 two multiple choice wrong with an essay of 9, Second test 710 six multiple choice wrong with an essay of 11. If you haven’t already done so I’d look at the break down on college board and see what he missed. His scores on math and verbal switched around too. So, in the end he scored the exact same on both test dates, but totally switched up the highest to lowest scores.</p>
<p>I took the May 09 SAT and I actually scored higher for the Writing section. I had 780 before, but I scored 800 this time round. To each his own, I guess.</p>