<p>damn i was at the same situation last December, but my score was a 2400. I WAS SO HEARTBROKEN that I did not score a 2500+ . I TOTALLY FEEL YOU.</p>
<p>Guys, a good score is relative. If all the people you know and care about (friends and peers) around you got 2300+, but you didn’t…you’re going to feel like crap. It doesn’t matter than 2260 is far better than most of the nation because psychologically, you aren’t comparing yourself to the rest of the nation. You’re comparing yourself to what’s staring at you directly in the face (your friends/peers that you feel are on your level).</p>
<p>Especially if Sakura studied hard while her friends slacked off. That’s a double slap in the face because it would just make her feel even dumber than her friends who didn’t even try.</p>
<p>It’s why someone making $100,000 can often feel like a failure because all his friends are making $500,000. They might have all gone to Harvard together, but the 100k guy definitely feels like a failure now that he’s making 5x less.</p>
<p>To get to a 2300, you have to consistently score that on your practice tests. Not just getting an 800 once. You have to get it over and over. Or at least a 770-780 on a couple sections. Keep practicing, you’ll get there.</p>
<p>Watch out for careless mistakes on math. Don’t brush them off with “oh, I’ll just be more careful.” That’s like telling yourself, “Just be more confident.” You can’t just be more confident. You have to know the steps to take to become more confident or more careful. To be more careful, you have to identify WHAT careless mistakes you keep making. Do you keep answering for x when the question asks for 2x or x-squared? Do you solve for perimeter instead of area? Do you forget to double your answer because you cut a shape in half to help you solve? Identify the TREND of mistakes you make, then correct them. Don’t just tell yourself be more careful.</p>
<p>Study more vocab since you’re aiming for an 800. Make sure no grammar rule can fool you. Make sure you can consistently get an 11 or 12 on the essay. Give it a year…you will be fine!</p>
<p>Take more practice tests and study. Like above poster says don’t brush off math errors because you know you can do the problem: pay attention to why you got it wrong (going too fast, misreading numbers ect.) and be more aware of yourself.</p>
<p>Your CR and Writing will improve as you get older. You have plenty of time junior year for re-takes. Right now, as a sophomore, your score is as high as it needs to be; you’re in a great position to get NMF next year.</p>
<p>It sucks when your friends do better without as much effort. But that could also be the cause. They are sophomores, so they didn’t feel the need to prep this early and thus were probably more relaxed then you.</p>
<p>Don’t freak out. You will get better as you get older and less nervous as you take the “real” test more times. Don’t spend too long brooding over it. It’s not wroth it when you have so much time left to improve.</p>
<p>Also: (imoh)
Don’t go overboard with fancy test prep, just do practice tests. They are the most efficient use of your time and the BEST test prep. Then only thing you need outside help (maybe) is for studying vocab and asking someone when you don’t know why something was wrong)</p>
<p>(FYI above posters: it’s not pretentious. Just because you’d be happy with that score doesn’t mean everyone else would. If I were a pro-soccer player and I missed a chance at scoring when I knew I was more than capable of it none of you would be screaming at me for being upset with myself just because a high school player could not have made that shot. Different people have different skills and different standards for different things. If you don’t think the OP’s post was important then get the * out and leave him/her alone.)</p>
<p>Oh no, a 2260? That’s only an incredible score. I mean, damn, I got a 2250 as a junior and I was thrilled beyond belief.</p>
<p>I really hope this is a ■■■■■ thread to make fun of the general attitude on CC. If not… then damn.</p>
<p>OP, while heartbroken is a tad dramatic, I completely understand what you’re going through. I recently got a quasi-perfect score, and in isolation I was ecstatic–then I came to forums and online and began to compare myself with the few hundred who did better than me. I even made a thread asking about it not that long ago! It’s an unhealthy way to think. It’s hypocritical of me to say, but still worth saying.</p>
<p>If you want to go to an elite university, of course you should try to get your scores up, but keep a level head.</p>
<p>You’re in an incredible position because you have a great score at such a young age. However, do NOT overtake the test, try to take it when you’re ready next year.</p>
<p>What I would do: develop a regimen that really targets what you need; for me, I had problems on #20 maths, so I composed a test entirely out of #20s. I also developed a 20-20-10 regimen–in one sitting, I would complete sections 8,9, and 10 of a practice test. It’s a great way to do a lot of practice in a relatively short period of time.</p>
<p>Keep doing practices, and it will become robotic eventually. ALWAYS check the explanation to any question you get wrong, it could be of use during the test. Try to know which question types trigger which techniques in each section of the test.</p>
<p>No one should be attacking you for the way you feel, I know it myself, but I think you do need to relax. If you were a senior in october trying to get into a top university EA without a good GPA or ECs, maybe a higher score would be more important. Focus more on being yourself (which is ultimately most important) and enjoying your year while still working hard.</p>
<p>No need for heartbreak–save that for your crushes!</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>R.</p>
<p>ITT: Everyone got trolled</p>
<p>Honestly anything above a 2200 you’re solid. It doesn’t really matter if you’re within 40 pts of someone else theyre not gunna make a college decision based on that but if you want actual advice: take it again. You were probably overly amped I scored 200 pts higher the second time I took it without any additional practice just because I was more comfortable . And then I took the ACT just for fun no practice and scored 99th percentile just because that test suited me better. You will get your desired score be happy. Don’t judge yourself by how well your friends perform</p>
<p>I’d be more concerned about how your personality will come off to colleges…
Seriously. Look at the decision threads, people with 2400’s get rejected. Obviously not because they weren’t smart enough but because their apps likely looked like a person whose EC’s were “Perusing CC” and “Studying for the SAT”. You have to be an interesting applicant, not a perfect one. Anyway just relax, you have plenty of time to take the SAT and given the 30 point range the CollegeBoard gives for “luck” in each section, you could be sitting at a 2350 in six months.</p>
<p>Hey, OP, if you’re serious, ignore the people saying that anything above an “X” is the same as a perfect score if X is anything below a 2350. While being THIS upset over a 2260 is a little…um…melodramatic, your chances of admission increase with every tenth of a percentile you go up in SAT score. There was a study done by a couple of researchers in Harvard’s statistics department, and those were what its findings seemed to indicate. </p>
<p>I took the SAT for the first time in December as a junior. I didn’t prepare at all, save for taking the PSAT, and wound up with a 2260, exactly the same as you. Three-ish months later, I retook, and last week I found out I got a 2350, which satisfied me tremendously, as my bottom threshold for “Not even gonna think about retaking” was 2300. My point in iterating this is to illustrate that a score increase well into the 2300’s is far from impossible. Keep in mind that I did relatively little studying: I prepped with a few math sections and went in with a supreme level of focus and precision, and a handful of luck for good measure. </p>
<p>Here’s the thing: Don’t be arrogant. Don’t be pretentious. Don’t be condescending about your score. If you manage to do this, don’t sweat it and retake. First-test jitters almost always knock off a few points. Also, ignore the people in this thread. They’re really going after you, which is pretty rude.</p>
<p>Stumbled upon an interesting MIT article. All who are worried about retaking scores above 2000-2100ish, read this. </p>
<p>What’s the big deal about 40^2? | MIT Admissions</p>
<p>Okay, so I’m in the middle (towards the end) of a long day of reading right now, but I thought I’d take a quick break to tell you a little about the last application I read.</p>
<p>People make a big deal about test scores. No one seems to believe me when I tell them that when I’m reading an application, I just glance at the test scores to get a sense of them before moving on to the more important parts of the application – that is, who you are. But here’s an example. So, I’m reading this application of a student, a pretty strong student, who’s definitely overcome some challenges recently. I come to the second to last piece in the folder, which is the guidance counselor letter (the last piece is the interview report). The GC makes a big deal of the student’s “scoring the magic 1600 on the SAT.” Now, when I started the case, I mentally noted to myself, “Okay, this student has scores that are fine, let’s move on,” but it didn’t really make an impact on me that the student had “the magic 1600.” Yes, scoring a 1600 is something that you, your school, your parents, and your guidance counselor can be very proud of. But it’s not something I’m going to bust out my highlighter for, circle in big red pen, make it the focus of your case. In fact, I don’t think I have ever in my summary of a student used high standardized scores as an argument to admit that student.</p>
<p>I wanted to share this with you because this case was one concrete example of just how little we care about the small differences in competitive test scores. A student with “the magic 1600” is not implicitly better to us than a student with “the spellbinding 1400.” Scores are one tool we use to help us in admissions. And yes, your grades and test scores (especially your grades) are important. But as I have said in the past, what ultimately really matters to us is who you are, what qualities you bring to the table. We want people who are academically curious and passionate, people who will bring their various talents to MIT and share them with others, people who will be good roommates, good mentors, good friends. We do not admit test scores. We admit people.</p>
<p>Let me tell you one more story that I often relay. I was doing a regional reception in a city a few years back, and afterwards a student – we’ll call her Artemis – comes up to me and tells me that she has a 760 on the Math SAT. As I was about to tell her that her score was just fine, she keeps talking, to inform me that she was going to take the test again, since “clearly” her score was “too low.” I was like, “What!!!” I “ordered” Artemis to not take the Math SAT again, and instead to have a picnic on that Saturday. Because to us, a 760 math is the same as any higher score she could receive on the retest.</p>
<p>One of the reasons why I chose MIT was it was the first school I visited where my student host didn’t ask me what my SAT scores were. At MIT, people care about who you are, what you can do, what kind of stuff gets you excited. People at MIT don’t compare GPAs (I didn’t know any of my friends’ GPAs), don’t ask about your IQ, and SAT scores are so high school.</p>
<p>Finally, I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting your questions lately, but I’ve been quite busy. I do promise to get around to more of them as soon as I can. I’m sure you won’t mind if my focus over the next few weeks is on doing my absolute best to read your application.</p>