Honestly, does it matter how many times you take the SAT?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Well basically I'm planning on taking the December SAT as a senior for the 3rd time. And just like the first and second tests, I have done absolutely NO studying/practicing/or reviewing even though I told myself I'd study everyday. Here are my previous scores:</p>

<p>1st - 1980/2400 (meh, not too great. Was an idiot again and pulled an all-nighter at a friends house playing xbox the night before :P )</p>

<p>2nd - 2040/2400 (once again, got like 2 hrs of sleep after a crazy night of partying. went to the test tired and slightly hungover. I know, I'm retarded.)</p>

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<p>So essentially, I kept retaking the SAT because I knew for a fact I could do better. Didn't study for either one, even though I went out and bought like 3 Princeton Review books. I keep telling myself that it's not a big deal because I know I can improve my score to at least a 2100+ if I actually sit down and study for a week or so, but because I am a lazy f**k, this has never happened. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, the next 2 weeks are going to be a living hell for me as I have an insane amount of AP/IB work due, so it's become pretty clear that I'm probably not going to study for this SAT either.</p>

<p>Because of my rather deplorable 3.1 UW GPA and 3.7-3.8 W GPA, I plan on trying to transfer to Vanderbilt after freshmen year (probably at Tulane or BU) after I get my grades up. I've realized that I've pretty much messed up my chances coming out of highschool, but I'm finally beginning to better understand/take more seriously the college admissions process, and see freshmen year next year as an opportunity to take advantage of a somewhat-clean slate. This means raising my grades, and hopefully my SAT scores.</p>

<p>The problem is, I'll have already taken the SAT 3 times, even though I know these scores will not accurately represent my academic ability. Will taking the SAT for a 4th or 5th look bad on my transcript request? God, I wish I had just canceled my first 2 SAT scores. I've looked throughout the forums and have failed to find a truly defined and widely accepted answer to this question. Some people say that because colleges don't know who canceled scores, don't have the time to look these things up, etc, that the # of times you take the SAT doesn't matter at all. Others say that this is incorrect, as students who take the SAT once and score high show better ability than those who have the opportunity to take it over and over again. I guess I'm kinda scared that an admissions officer will find out I took the SAT 4 or 5 times and say, "Wow, this kid is a dumb**s", since my first 3 scores will probably show little to no improvement.</p>

<h2>Any ideas CC?</h2>

<p>PS: Wow, didn't realize I wrote so much. Guess that's what happens when you take to much Adderall :P</p>

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<p>Okay first of all that really was unbelievably stupid to pull an all nighter TWICE before an SAT. However I think you can still get yourself out of this. In my opinion, it is fairly difficult to study for and improve your grade on the SAT, so I think your lack of studying for it isn’t the problem. I actually think you’d be smart to concentrate your energies on your AP/IB work and get that GPA up. You really need to get a good night’s sleep beforehand. I can’t stress this enough. Who knows how much higher you would have scored the other times. </p>

<p>Your old scores are surprisingly good given the circumstances. What was the breakdown? As your probably already know, many schools do not weight the writing section as heavily, so that’s another way to streamline whatever studying you decide to do.</p>

<p>About the title subject of this post. I’m not too sure how much it actually hurts to keep retaking the SAT, but I would hesitate to go farther than three.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>I definitely agree with with irishevan99. </p>

<p>I’ve been in the “I’m going to study this time, for real” situation…and then the test is the next day and you find yourself in a hole with nothing to do.</p>

<p>So I think the best thing to do is focus on your AP work. Your SAT scores aren’t bad at all (and you did that with basically no rest)! So if you maybe take one practice test to see where you stand, and just get good rest before taking it, you’ll do well.</p>

<p>But I agree, I think taking it over more than 3 times can be overkill =/</p>

<p>Good luck =)</p>

4

<p>I think you need to find a school that you’ll want to go to for all 4 years. I doubt Vandy will accept you after just one year in college since it will look at your high school record and test scores. </p>

<p>I don’t know if you’ll be needing financial aid, but many schools give LOUSY aid to transfer students.</p>

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<p>irishevan99: I don’t remember the breakdown for the 1st, but the 2nd was CR 670, M 730, W 640. </p>

<p>cg1411: Unfortunately, I doubt one semester will significantly improve my GPA</p>

<p>mom2collegekids: You’re right, transferring after freshmen year is unrealistic. But I’m definitely going to try after sophomore year for sure. Anybody know how much schools look at HS records for transfer applicants?</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>Each school has its own policies, so you’ll have to look at each website under Transfers.</p>

<p>Is money an issue? Or will your parents pay for wherever you go? As I mentioned earlier, transfer students often get lousy aid packages from schools.</p>

<p>In the meantime…where are you going to go to school that you’ll be happy at for 2 years? Don’t look past those 2 years…you need to be happy for those 4 semesters.</p>

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<p>Nah, fortunately money should not be an issue.</p>

<p>I think I’d be pretty happy at Tulane for 2 years, so that’s probably going to be what ends up happening.</p>