<p>My son age 16, just got his SAT scores, first time taker:
CR 730
MATH 640
WRIT 640.</p>
<p>He would like to retake them at least once, to see if he can up them, particularly the MATH, usually his strength, and WRIT, also a strength, SAT II 760.</p>
<p>In your opinions, does retaking usually increase the scores. He plans to do many practice tests and other subject related reviews.</p>
<p>Also, did you find that ordering the Questiona and Answer or Student Answer service reports from College Board were helpful in your prep for test retakes? </p>
<p>Thankfully, the SAT is no longer considered a scholastic aptitude test. If he studies his score should definitely improve. Just make sure he studies well, and doesn't just take practice tests or use faulty prep material. There are tons of SAT-specific study tips in the SAT thread.</p>
<p>D1
CR - 780; M - 670; 1450/1600
CR - 780; M - 700; 1480/1600</p>
<p>No writing score at that time; basically SAT remained the same, but she was pleased that the math scooted to 700.</p>
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S
CR - 720; M - 740; W - 620; 2080/2400
CR - 650; M - 790; W - 570; 2010/2400
Son went down 70 points; IMO the second score reflects his ability - he had a really good day for the first SAT. Although colleges superscore, they do get to see the lower scores. If he were to do it all over, it probably would have been better NOT to retake. He only gained 30 points with superscoring, yet the colleges did see the lower CR and W.
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D2
CR - 800; M - 770; W - 700; 2270/2400
CR - 750; M - 750; W - 800; 2300/2400</p>
<p>CR and M went down just a tad, not embarrassingly so; W went up 100 points, which was great for superscoring. She was positive she could bring the writing score up as she felt that the first SAT was not indicative of her ability. In her case, the second SAT was a win/win situation.</p>
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Moral of the story - Realistic view of abilities. D1's first SAT was probably just fine; her math was not going to change by much regardless of what she did in the interim. My son had a good day on the first SAT and the odds of doing better than he did the first time were slim to non-existant. D2 was positive she would do better the second time as she was "offended" by her writing score. Her gc even told her not to bother to retake, but she knew .... and she was right. I could have predicted the increases/decreases for each child fairly accurately. (Well, the perfect score in W for D2 was a surprise. She knew she could do better, but never ever expected that 800.)</p>
<p>Regarding the CB student answer service, it is always helpful to see what you miss, I guess.</p>
<p>Go for a retake - if only because your familiar with the formatting. I went from a 2210/2400 to a 2330/2400 with very little prep. I just felt more comfortable with the test the 2nd time around.</p>