<p>So I took the SAT for the first time in January and received 770 CR, 720 M, and 770 W with 11 E. However, my guidance suggested I retake the test in March to raise my math score. Upon doing so, I received 790 CR, 760 M, and 690 W with 8 ESSAY (I did not finish, coincidentally). For the schools that do not accept score choice, will this drop in wriitng hurt me significantly and, if so, should I retake the SAT for a third time just to raise this writing score? Thanks for any input :)</p>
<p>a 770 is basically the same as a 790. a 720 is basically the same as a 760. the 770 beats out the 690. seriously, unless you’re aiming to get perfect scores your next time, you might as well save your money and focus on something else.</p>
<p>sat scores aren’t everything, and your 2260 (or 2320) is very respectable.</p>
<p>all schools accept score choice</p>
<p>Yeah seriously, unless you have this incredible desire to attend Yale, you’re fine. Even then, the few schools that don’t accept score choice still selectively pick out your top scores out of all your tests (it raises their school’s stats).</p>
<p>Not all schools accept score choice, but oddly most colleges claim to give you the benefit of your best scores. </p>
<p>What is your strategy for doing better next time? </p>
<p>Here is my current FAQ on the general issue of retakes. </p>
<p>ONE-TIME TEST-TAKING </p>
<p>Colleges have given up trying to distinguish one-time test-takers from two-time or three-time or even four-time test-takers, because that wasn’t useful information to the colleges. There are a number of reasons for that. </p>
<p>1) The colleges have utterly no way of knowing who spends all his free time practicing taking standardized tests and who takes them “cold.” </p>
<p>2) The colleges are well aware that students who have actually taken the tests sometimes cancel scores, so they have little incentive to give students bonus consideration if the students submit only one test score. </p>
<p>3) The colleges are aware that students who take the admission tests at middle-school age, who are numerous, do not have their earlier test scores submitted by default. </p>
<p>[SAT</a> Younger than 13](<a href=“http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/reg/circum/younger.html]SAT”>http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/reg/circum/younger.html) </p>
<p>[Hoagies</a>’ Gifted: Talent Search Programs](<a href=“http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/talent_search.htm]Hoagies”>http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/talent_search.htm) </p>
<p>[Duke</a> TIP - Interpreting SAT and ACT Scores for 7th Grade Students](<a href=“http://www.tip.duke.edu/resources/parents_students/interpreting_SAT-ACT_scores.html]Duke”>http://www.tip.duke.edu/resources/parents_students/interpreting_SAT-ACT_scores.html) </p>
<p>4) Colleges are aware that the majority of students who take the SAT at all take it more than once. </p>
<p><a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/Avg_Scores_of_Repeat_Test_Takers.pdf[/url]”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/Avg_Scores_of_Repeat_Test_Takers.pdf</a> </p>
<p>5) Colleges are in the business of helping students learn, and they don’t mind students taking efforts to improve their scores. They know that students prepare for tests. </p>
<p>From the New York Times: "Although coaching would no doubt continue if subject tests replaced the SAT, at least students would be focused on content as much as test-taking strategies, Mr. Murray said. There would also be pressure to improve local high school curriculums so that students were prepared, he wrote.</p>
<p>“These arguments make sense to Mr. Fitzsimmons [dean of admission at Harvard], who said, ‘People are going to prepare anyway, so they might as well study chemistry or biology.’ He added that ‘the idea of putting more emphasis on the subject tests is of great interest’ to his group.” </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/education/19sat.html?pagewanted=print[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/education/19sat.html?pagewanted=print</a> </p>
<p>6) And now the College Board is back in the business of letting students choose which test scores to send into colleges, </p>
<p>[Score</a> Choice - New SAT Score-Reporting Policy](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/scores/policy]Score”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/scores/policy) </p>
<p>so now there is less reason than ever to suppose that colleges care how many times you take the test, because the colleges have no way to know how many times you took the test officially. </p>
<p>Colleges treat applicants uniformly now by considering their highest scores, period. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/349391-retake-how-many-times-take-sat-act.html#post4198038[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/349391-retake-how-many-times-take-sat-act.html#post4198038</a> </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/utilities/electronic_resources/viewbook/Rollo0809_GuideApplying.pdf[/url]”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/utilities/electronic_resources/viewbook/Rollo0809_GuideApplying.pdf</a> </p>
<p>From the Harvard admission office: “If you submit more than one set of scores for any of the required tests, the Admissions Committee considers only your best scores—even if your strongest SAT Subject Tests or portions of the SAT Reasoning Test were taken on different dates.” </p>
<p>See also a Newsweek article about the renewed score choice policy adopted by College Board. </p>
<p>[Reactions</a> to College Board’s SAT Score Choice | Newsweek Education | Newsweek.com](<a href=“http://www.newsweek.com/id/172585]Reactions”>http://www.newsweek.com/id/172585) </p>
<p>Some colleges want to see all scores a student has ever obtained, period, but as one admission officer asks, if “a student submits a single best sitting of 2320,” does anyone really care “how low were her other score sets?” </p>
<p>A January 2009 email from Dartmouth’s assistant director of admissions clarifies the issue: “At Dartmouth we consider a student’s highest SAT I score in each category (or their highest composite ACT score) and their two highest SAT II Subject Test scores, regardless of how many times they have taken the tests. We never discount a student’s highest score, even if they have taken the SAT multiple times. I do hope that students will not feel the pressure to take the SAT tests four or five times (the data suggests that scores typically do not improve after the second try), but we will always consider the student’s highest scores.”</p>
<p>which colleges do not accept score choice? source? i read something that score choice is accepted by ALL because it is run through the collegeboard (which handles SATs)</p>
<p>Some colleges claim they want to see all scores. Stanford is one. I think Stanford will, in fact, still give the applicant the benefit of the applicant’s best score. </p>
<p>This is a good issue to ask about at regional college information sessions. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/650085-spring-2009-college-fairs-info-sessions.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/650085-spring-2009-college-fairs-info-sessions.html</a> </p>
<p>See also </p>
<p><a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/sat-score-use-practices-list.pdf[/url]”>Higher Education Professionals | College Board; </p>
<p>for a survey of colleges conducted by the College Board.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Even with the excellent scores the OP has listed, it’s more than enough … remember that SAT scores aren’t everything … your entire package does.</p>
<p>i think thats ridiculous… like my guidance counselors/everybody keep talking about score choice and that i do not have to submit all my test dates starting this year and making a big deal out of it and such. so as a result, i took the SAT twice already… the first time scoring horribly… and just going up 100 points the second time… still not really where i want to be… and now i find out that a few of my top choices require me to send ALL scores… i mean whaaaaaat ugh… ■■■</p>
<p>ab2013 - When I referenced Yale, I was referring to the fact that it is one of the few schools that has refused to adopt the new policy of allowing students to only send in their best scores. Perhaps UPenn is one too, and the rest of them (the prominent ones at least) are in the single digits.</p>
<p>thanks 10 char</p>
<p>Yeah they will still superscore it. You’re fine. Much, much better than fine actually :)</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>