How bad is a 1490 on the Sat?

Test Preparation
1

<p>I live in southern california and took the sat test in may. I have the results and got a 470 in critical reading, 570 in math, and 450 in writing. I know this 1500 is average unless you are going to i guess a top university or such. I want to know if i should try retaking the sat or just go with this score. I have a 3.9 gpa with honor classes, taking ap calculus and honors physics as well as a 4th year of engineering pathway classes. Will the sat score prevent me from getting into a good college like Cal Poly Pomona?</p>

2

<p>It certainly won’t help your chances, and yes, it will make getting accepted more difficult, but certainly not impossible. I’m a junior who took the SAT in May and I scored a 1660, so I’m in a similar situation. I’m buying the Collegeboard SAT Blue Book, and I recommend you doing the same and studying during the summer. You didn’t say whether you’re a sophomore or a junior, but if you’re a junior like me, the October SAT is pretty much the last chance we have.
Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Well, it’s less than average. But that’s okay, anyone can excel with practice. You should definitely retake! Study whenever you can, at least 30 min a day. I suggest you start reviewing the most common errors for writing, you’ll see a huge increase (it’s the easiest to improve). Then go ahead and practice using the Official SAT Study Guide if you don’t have it. Once you’ve mastered the writing, move on to the math. Try going on these sites, they helped me a ton: <a href=“http://khanacademy.org%5B/url%5D”>http://khanacademy.org</a> and <a href=“http://blog.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/p/math-section.html[/url]”>http://blog.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/p/math-section.html&lt;/a&gt;
Then for critical reading try to actually read the passages and enjoy them. Learning vocab will be helpful. There’s not much you can do for that section, but
Here are the steps I followed for passages:

  1. Read italicized summary (if any)
  2. look at questions with line numbers, then quickly circle them in passage.
  3. start reading, skim over the non circled parts (no questions on those parts) and read closely what you marked.
  4. as soon as you read the first circled line ref. then go to that question and answer it (ON your BOOK, don’t bubble in yet!!)
  5. continue doing question by question.
  6. once you finish, answer the general based questions with no line refs.
  7. bubble everything into answer sheet.</p>

<p>Doing it like this will ensure that you don’t lose focus or forget. </p>

<p>And, yes, your SAT score will hinder your chances of a good university. Don’t aim low, if you study you can get into a great university that you never thought possible. All it takes is ambition.</p>

4

<p>Given that you have a good GPA and are taking some difficult classes, your scores may not reflect your true abilities.</p>

<p>It may be worth taking a prep course if you can afford it or at least purchasing some books for self-study over the summer.</p>

5

<p>Even though posters here may convince you otherwise, a 1490 is average for the SAT (around the 50th percentile). You may want to improve your scores to become more competitive, as your high GPA (inflated or not) suggests you have much more potential. </p>

<p>After googling the schools stats, it seems like your slightly under the avg. SAT but way over the avg. GPA so you probably have a decent shot.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for all your replies. I decided to retake it in october and buy the sat blue book. Any suggestions on books that can help me in the reading section and grammar?</p>

7

<p>There are no tricks to the writing section. Either you know your grammar or you don’t. I’d recommend starting with this:</p>

<p>[SAT:</a> Improve SAT Score with SparkNotes: The Seven Deadly Screw-Ups](<a href=“SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides”>SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides)</p>

8

<p>Yeah, except the grammar is very learnable (with practice). However, I’d argue that reading comp. is something where your score can’t go up too much.</p>

9

<p>@yankeesfanatic - I’ve got to respectfully disagree. I feel like the trick to the grammar is to read meticulously; it also helps to read every sentence twice and ALWAYS read the sentences fully (this may seem obvious but a lot of people stop after they think they have the right answer).</p>

10

<p>Well yes, you should read the entire sentence closely and multiple times aloud in your head, but I feel that’s not a “trick”, just the most effective strategy. What I meant to say is that the grammar isn’t really designed to trick you. You may fall into traps if you don’t read the whole sentence carefully, but if you know your rules well enough the answer will become obvious.</p>