Low SAT math score. Try to transfer later?

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
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<p>First of all, I would really love to be able to go to Caltech (I will be applying for Fall 2007 as a freshman). I have done/am doing science fair projects and college courses, I'm an A student and take the most challenging classes available, etc., but my SAT math score of 640 is far, far too low for Caltech (740 Critical Reading, 630 Writing). I might retake the test, but I'm not sure that I will. These scores were from my first time taking the test, and in fact that was before I even took the PSAT.</p>

<p>I was doing so many other things when I took the SAT in October. Over the preceding summer, I took Chem at a community college (it wasn't available at school), and at the same time I learned basic vector calculus and EM from Scott Hughes' MIT Physics 8.022 lecture notes on electromagnetism (those notes were from Spring 2005) and some of Richard Fitzpatrick's online lecture notes. (Search Google if you don't know what I'm talking about.) Right after that, I learned about infinite sums from the books Mathematical Methods (Mary Boas) and Pure Mathematics (G. H. Hardy). I started working on a particular gravity-related problem with infinite sums. I got little sleep over the next month (the school year had started) and was just about finished with the problem when I took the SAT. The infinite sum project won in a regional science fair.</p>

<p>Now I'm working on an astrophysics-related research project, with one of my community college professors as a mentor. I'll be working on it through most or all of the summer, and it will go into a competition as well.</p>

<p>I'm not bad at math, but I'm not fast either - I need a few seconds more than everyone else, perhaps because I've never felt confident enough to skip steps in solving algebraic equations. And, when I multiply 9 and 7, I first do 7*8=56 and then add 7. All this despite the fact that I do algebra, multiplication, etc., all the time. Memorization has never been and still is not my specialty.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, I think I could make it at Caltech. I haven't yet looked at Apostol's Calculus textbook, but I have solved some of the problems in the Math 1a homework (both section 1 and the other sections). They are challenging, but I can do many of them and at least understand the rest. In fact, they are some of the elements that really attract me to Caltech.</p>

<p>Interestingly enough, there is a definite possibility that I will have no choice but to attend a community college for two years, for a variety of reasons - as one of my math/science teachers at school said once, I simply don't fit into any "box." (I will be applying to UChicago, if anyone is wondering.) In any case, we have a good community college very near home.</p>

<p>I haven't yet taken the SAT subject tests, but will be taking them very shortly. I anticipate a good score in physics. I'm shooting for higher than 700. I mainly have to review lenses and mirrors and a few other things. I'm actually pretty fast with physics - certainly much faster with physics than algebra. I'm also expecting at least a reasonable score in chemistry. I'm far, far better at physics than chemistry.</p>

<p>And now my question: Am I correct in supposing that I will have a better chance at admission to Caltech as a junior transfer student from a community college than as a freshman (assuming, of course, that I continue working hard on research beyond this summer, which I will)?</p>

<p>I know - too many parentheses (according to my English teacher, this is the main thing I need to work on). ;-)</p>

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<p>I think you're a pretty good candidate... lots of self-motivated study and research</p>

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<p>"lots of self-motivated study and research"</p>

<p>That's all just the recent stuff. Years and years ago (something like a decade) I built a small model of a suspension bridge. I also built a (for a kid) life-size "shuttle" after the ones on Star Trek. Those were done with paper and tape. There were others, but these two come to mind. Once I had a computer available a few years later, I started playing around with it. First with HTML, then with some more advanced stuff. I dabbled around with C, Java, and Perl for a while, and later PHP and Python. The experience really helped out in the relatively recent infinite-sum project I mentioned in my last post. That problem would have taken ten times as long if I had had to do all the tedious parts by hand. (Power rule... chain rule... product rule... power rule... sum/difference rule... again... and again... and again... for hours, days, weeks...) In the main script for that project, I used Python to do differentiation, addition of like terms, and some other neat things. Luckily, I had already learned the hard way how important documentation is in programming, so there were many, many comments in the script.</p>

<p>Then, halfway through my year of physics in high school (non-calculus), I started playing around with [f(x+dx)-f(x)]/dx (I had a graphing calculator at the time) and ended up with the power rule for derivatives. I didn't know about limits and felt uneasy about simply setting dx->0, so instead I took some simple and obvious cases - f(x)=ax+b, f(x)=ax^2+bx+c - and extrapolated to a general "slope rule" for polynomials. I tried out the rule with some rather exotic polynomials, and it worked every time, so I e-mailed the rule to my teacher. I soon found out that I had found a rule of calculus! After that I studied calc from Paul Dawkins' Calculus lecture notes. I think I still have sheets of paper on which I practiced integration by parts for hours one day, months before even starting to take Calc in school.</p>

<p>Again about halfway through my year of physics, I discovered the arXiv, and "read" papers from there frequently. I didn't learn very much, though. Of course, now I'm more knowledgable and can handle, to some degree, the papers and grad texts that I am using for my research project.</p>

<p>So, although I've had no IB, etc., I've learned quite a bit on my own.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, I'm still slow at algebra, just as I was in middle school (but back then, I was still learning algebra, so it was much worse - now it's easy, but time-consuming). My math teacher back then once put me into an "advanced" group of the class, but I never felt very smart because the other students always - and I mean always - finished their tests first.</p>

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<p>Out of curiousty, how come your math SAT was low? Were you having a bad day or something? It seems to me with your other math accomplishments/endeavors, the SAT math should be no problem...</p>

<p>(Im not accusing you of lying or anything, just generally curious.)</p>

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<p>SAT math is generally very easy. Geometry, algebra, etc., is all easy. Problems like "Let star x mean (x+1)" are easy too - I do this kind of math all the time. However, it generally takes me a good amount of time to do the algebra. For the most part, that's what keeps down my SAT math score.</p>

<p>So, instead of a purely basic math test, let's look at a science test. How about the science I find most challenging, chemistry. The problems almost always involve math, but the math is secondary to the ideas. While it takes me a significant amount of time to calculate the mass of a mole of NaCl, this calculation often doesn't constitute the entire problem and I can make up for the time lost in the calculation by finishing the rest of the problem quickly. So, I aced chemistry last summer.</p>

<p>Calculus problems are similar. I can easily solve the "calculus" parts of calculus problems, but the algebra parts slow me down.</p>

<p>I know someone who has a significantly higher SAT math score and does quick mental algebra all the time yet takes longer to do calculus problems. This person does not write out every step, I do. I almost always get the right answer, and I can easily correct the answer when I don't. And yet, being slow in algebra lowers my SAT math score. (Of course, this is an anecdote - take it with a grain of salt.)</p>

<p>As far as the "reasoning" parts of the SAT are concerned, I can do that quickly. However, in between the "reasoning" and filling in the buble often comes solving an equation for x.</p>

<p>I suspect I could pull a 680 or even a 700 if I were to re-take the test, but it wouldn't change the fact that algebra slows me down.</p>

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<p>Strictly speaking, that's algebra and arithmetic, not solely algebra.</p>

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<p>I'd say you should retake the math SAT if you feel you're capable of ~700. Also do your best (i.e. prepare) for the SAT Math IIc - a high score there will make your low SAT I score less visible. </p>

<p>Also I'd suggest taking a look at Harvey Mudd College - I be willing to bet you'd like it there too.</p>

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<p>Yes, I actually have Mudd's viewbook sitting on my desk a few feet away right now.</p>

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<p>Yeah, Mudd is open for people who take the slightly different approach on problems... after all, tackling problems from different angles can lead to new discoveries and such.</p>

<p>You still need to bring up those SAT scores (math especially). I'm sure you know your stats on Mudd's average SAT's and such. </p>

<p>Anyways, good luck and keep your head up!</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone. I'll definitely re-take this October.</p>

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<p>Yeah, a retake should really help you out. I shot up 200 pts. on my retake. Of course, this may have had something to do with the fact that I wasn't hanging out with my friends until 1 AM the night before like I did with the first administration :). I would highly recommend getting a prep book and doing a few math probs. the night before. That helps get around the generally weird and sometimes stupid way ETS asks basic math questions. Good luck!</p>

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<p>200 points. That's a pretty nice difference.</p>

<p>I'm sure my writing score will be higher next time I take the SAT. I think the main thing that pulled it down was the essay, since I scored an 8 on that out of a total of 12 points. I chose the wrong thing to write about and couldn't arrange my thoughts properly in a short time.</p>

<p>Funnily enough, I actually scored lowest in critical reading and highest in writing on the PSAT (65 crit., 68 math & 70 writing). Apparently the scores were just barely high enough to get "recognition" (96th percentile & up), but not nearly enough for finalist standing.</p>

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<p>Just looked back over my PSAT math. Really, there were no more than two questions I couldn't answer; the other wrong answers appear to be mostly from careless errors or lack of time. With a little review (combinatorics, properties of even/odd numbers) and practice, I'm sure I'll do much better the next time I take the SAT.</p>

<p>Thanks people. You're great.</p>

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<p>Perplex, you seem to have the same problem I have-- I'm really slow at math, and have to spend mindless hours memorizing the stupid "tricks" to even get a decent score on SAT tests. In fact, I've memorized a lot of the "tricks" they pull for the writing and reading, too... high scores mean high competency there? No, I just see sentences as equations. And I rarely ever read passages before questions.</p>

<p>But from my creepy lurking around here after getting rejected from Caltech and wondering what the people who got in were like, I think everything you do will far outweigh a measly score on the SAT. (By measly I mean SAT = stupid test I want to kill, please don't take offense or anything)</p>

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<p>i suck at english. but i still got 750 in CR and writing.</p>

<p>sat is bull</p>

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<p>Does Caltech take ACT scores as pretty equal to SAT scores? I think I did better on the ACT (I don't really know yet) but I still blew the last ~10 math problems because I RAN OUT OF TIME!!! :(</p>

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<p>lol...</p>

<p>i think caltech places emphasis on sat more no?</p>

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<p>I have mixed feelings about the SAT (not the subject tests; low scores on those clearly == what on earth were you doing in class for four years? - assuming no serious psychological problem, etc.) The emphasis on speed on the SAT is something I dislike, but then again, if you're going to be working on the most challenging problems in the undergraduate world in college, you should already be able to quickly deal with the less challenging problems; is there really any question that Caltech math is much more challenging than SAT math?</p>

<p>Furthermore, even if the SAT is just applying various tricks (and I think it is to some degree), the ability to recognize patterns which indicate the necessity for using a particular "trick" is also valuable. On the other hand, the SAT is just one of numerous ways that this ability can be demonstrated - but then again, Caltech is just one of many excellent universities a student may attend.</p>

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<p>Have you gone to the Art of Problem Solving Web site </p>

<p><a href="http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/index.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/index.php&lt;/a> </p>

<p>yet for a look at other ways to study math? If algebra is hard for you, Caltech would be mucho hard for you. But algebra is learnable--Isaac Newton probably learned it at an older age than your current age.</p>

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<p>For some reason you just remind me of Einstein and some of the math majors here.</p>

<p>Some of my friends who seem to be excellent mathematicians joke that they can't add or do integration. After they said that, I mentioned that that was actually not math, but applied math/computation, and we all had a good laugh at the expense of the ACM department. Math here at times only has a cursory relation to numbers. There's a lot of english involved if you know what I mean.</p>

<p>What I would do if I were you is when you apply, email them explaining and see if you can do something special, a different test...etc...don't know how kosher that is, but worth a try.</p>

<p>For what it's worth,
Yike</p>