Math IIC: 760, retake?

<p>Now, I'm usually satisfied with anything about a 750, but the 76th percentile is nagging at me. Do the top colleges actually care about the 40 point difference? I fell ashamed compared to the numerous 800s. ;_;</p>

<p>If you have to ask, you probably don't need to retake it.</p>

<p>Anything over 750 is stellar and puts you in range for admission to anywhere.</p>

<p>You should never have taken IIC to begin with. 760 is a HORRIBLE SCORE! There's no way you'll ever get into any university at that rate.</p>

<p>Seriously, despite the percentiles, 760 is worth something. Subject test percentiles can be skewed by the students taking the tests. For example, the average student taking the Math II level 2 is better at math than the average student taking the SAT I.</p>

<p>Also, look here:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/math2c/chapter2section4.rhtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/math2c/chapter2section4.rhtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>You can omit 6 or 7 problems and still have a good shot at the 800. Omit 4 or so more, and you are down to 760. Thus, the variation <em>just within the 800</em> is larger than the difference between 800 and 760. It would be absurd for an adcom to assume that all their applicants who scored 800 on the IIC had raw scores of 50; many of them could have gotten almost as many questions wrong as you did. Therefore, you shouldn't worry about it.</p>

<p>I took the Math Level 2 in June and I was sick that day and got a 740, and I was nervous about percentiles at first, but then I realized:</p>

<ol>
<li>I have two other great SAT II scores, which you probably have</li>
<li>Colleges would rather not see you retake and would rather see you spend more time on more subjective parts of your application, or you could look desperate.</li>
</ol>

<p>However, if you were going for engineering then I'd consider retaking it. That's another reason why I'm not, since I'm not going for engineering, and colleges will probably take a more cursory look over it anyway.</p>

<p>If you just had a bad day, then retake it for sure. However, the others are right that a 760 is a good score, despite the number of 800s people get. If you do retake it, though, make sure you score higher or else it'll look bad.</p>