<p>I just found out that some people took their SAT scores as the highest for each section from all their sittings... How many people do this on CC?</p>
<p>I would expect the general majority take a composite score since all but a handful of colleges use this score as opposed to a single sitting score. And since you're posting this on the Harvard forum, I would think it would be relevant to inform you that Harvard works with the composite score as well.</p>
<p>That's the majority of people, Inaina. The admissions office considers composite scores automatically--that's their policy.
I know someone at Harvard who took the SAT 5 times. He benefitted from the composite scoring option.</p>
<p>They do not "consider composite scores automatically", if you are referring to Harvard (or Yale, Princeton, and the rest), although for most applicants that is the end result of a process that isn't 100 per cent automatic. The formal admissions committee meeting gets a summary sheet of each applicant that includes just the highest scores ---- if the application reaches the committee. Most people on the committee will not have read the entire file. Those who do read the whole file and fill out notes for the committee, see all the scores and have the opportunity to draw whatever conclusions appear warranted (too many tests, "test focused", aberrations in a multiple-score report, possible cheating, etc). For most applicants this will never arise because there are only a few scores, which are consistent between sittings and with the rest of the application, so the admissions officer will just take a glance and note the highest scores according to whatever the policy is at the particular school. But it would be irresponsible to just state as a fact that nothing other than that can happen.</p>
<p>yeah i admit it, i took the test six times total, including once in 7th grade, and took 4 sat IIs</p>
<p>So if I had taken the SATs again, it wouldn't have hurt me????? AHHHHHHHH?</p>
<p>
[quote]
I know someone at Harvard who took the SAT 5 times. He benefitted from the composite scoring option.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's an interesting anecdote. That would allay the concerns of a lot of young people who are worried about taking the SAT I more than once.</p>
<p>
[quote]
i took the test six times total, including once in 7th grade
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Was the test you took in 7th grade the only one you took before ninth grade? In other words, were the other five SAT I scores all on the record of scores you submitted to colleges? </p>
<p>P.S. And are you the same student known to MallomarCookie, or someone else?</p>
<p>icsmatt is a different person. fyi, my friend got a 31 on the ACT and maxed out on the SAT below 2200.</p>
<p>That's an interesting case in which repeated SAT I test-taking didn't prove a barrier to being admitted to Harvard.</p>
<p>Yeah I've heard about a lot of people taking the SATs multiple times and getting into great colleges "despite" that fact</p>
<p>I'm not aware of any single factor that could be a "barrier to being admitted" anywhere, including Harvard. I am aware of Harvard admissions officers saying in print and in person that taking SAT-I more than 3 times can be disadvantageous (note: "can be", not "automatically will sink your application" or "will ever in and of itself tank your prospects").</p>
<p>That's why I would respond to </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>by saying, take the SAT I again if you think you can help your application by doing so. Do something else with your weekend morning if that is more important to you. Good luck in your applications.</p>
<p>The advice in Michelle Hernandez' book was the best: to practice the SAT at home as many times as you want, but actually take it at most twice. That is, don't rely too much on a wishful interpretation of "superscoring" policies or speculate on how litte admissions officers care about the SAT; just present a decent set of results without too many exams. In a worst case you can always take it a third time if needed.</p>
<p><a href="posted%20by%20%5Bb%5Dtokenadult%5B/b%5D">quote</a>
[quote]
I know someone at Harvard who took the SAT 5 times. He benefitted from the composite scoring option.
[/quote]
That's an interesting anecdote. That would allay the concerns of a lot of young people who are worried about taking the SAT I more than once.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Those are a series of wishful assumptions. The first poster doesn't have any way to know whether the effect of the 5-time SATs was to make his friend's Harvard admission more or less likely, nor is it known outside the admissions committee what the decisive factors were in that case. I don't see how this should "allay concerns" for anybody, any more than my own anecdotes of people who got into Harvard-level schools with mediocre SATs. None of these anecdotes would in any way dispel the importance of having high SATs.</p>
<p>Ok... here's a question...
if applicant A and applicant B are both steller in everything, identicle stats, indenticle sense of humor, creativity and all that other stuff... and they both got 2350 on their SATs.
*But **if A took it three times and the 2350 is the *composite of the highest score from multiple sittings and B got 2350 in one sitting, even though it was the third time that B took it. Who would look better? Would either look better?</p>
<ol>
<li>That situation would never happen because 2 applicants are never identical, and even a difference of 10-20 points in SAT scores would not be enough to make a difference--forget composite vs. single sitting!</li>
<li>The admissions committee never sees your list of scores. Someone calculates your highest composite score before your application even gets to the committee. So all the admissions committee members see when they sit down to read and evaluate your app is your highest score.</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>shoots myself in the brain for not taking SAT again*</li>
</ul>
<p>I hate to be a creepy stalker, but you asked for it lol. I looked at your past posts, and you have an SAT score of "R770, W760 -12 essay,M770." A 2300 is nothing to worry about. That's an AWESOME score and you know it! Why on earth would you even contemplate retaking that???</p>
<p>It is a decent score, but the people at the privates schools around my area tend to have similar and a few even had perfects... along with their 4.0 GPA. So since I obviously do not have a 4.0, then something else WILL have to be high in order to give me a fighting chance :) hehe... But I didn't think taking the SAT again will look good since I heard from various sources that admission officers frown upon multiple scores or something like that :p ah well, too late to worry about it now....</p>