"Oh, they'll take your highest SAT scores"

Test Preparation
1

<p>I have a question that's probably on the dumb side.</p>

<p>That statement is always tossed around, but I'm not sure how it all goes down. Admissions officers see your entire SAT score report if you choose to send it. They see your worst scores, your best scores, every score. True? Or is it something like they look at your official SAT report, copy down your highest SAT scores (combined or however they do it) onto another form and the rest of them disappear? Or is it like we indicate our highest scores on the application and the official report is just for them to look at and say "yep, this matches".</p>

<p>I ask because I'm not sure how much of a role scores that aren't the highest play in admissions. It seems to me that their overall impression of the SAT score report document would be fairly important, even if you've only taken the test two or three times (eg not gone completely overboard with it). Am I wrong?</p>

2

<p>SAT automatically sends every SAT I & SAT II ever taken, but ACT sends only the particular test score/date that you choose.
If you've significantly decreased your SAT that's a def. negative, but otherwise they usually just consider the highest. I've heard reasons for this are: to give kids the benefit of the doubt, to make the college look better (they can say their average student has a 1400 instead of 1300, or whatever).</p>