<p>My S (who is not getting anywhere near the scores your D is) also scored poorly on the essay, if I remember correctly he got a dismal 7 on the essay. He is currently in AP Eng Comp and his teacher was very surprised. S is thought of (at his school) as having great writing skills. We never thought he would have to worry about that portion of the test. I know some schools do not consider the W score, but as you said they will be looking at the “voice” of the essay to see how it compares to the application. S will be doing more timed practice essays the week leading up to his next test to help him get into test mode. Perhaps your D can work with her English teacher and have him review some practice essays before her next retake?</p>
<p>The essay score for my S was also surprisingly low for him. I am convinced that it’s due to his illegible handwriting. But his composite score was great and since his handwriting will not get better, there is no reason for him to retake it. </p>
<p>I already signed him up for the April 10th ACT test, but he is happy with his SAT score and does not want/need to take ACT. Is there a way to cancel his registration?</p>
<p>I hope Im not getting too neurotic on the question of retaking the SAT, but I thought it was worth sharing some links that were posted yesterday in that thread I mentioned above. I found them a little surprising and its making me reexamine my earlier notion that, above a certain level, further increases in SAT scores dont really make much difference.</p>
<p>First are links to data tables from three highly selective schools Stanford, Princeton and MIT that set forth admit rates for applicants by range of SAT scores. Each presents the data slightly differently, but the consistent pattern is that the admit rates continue to increase as the score ranges increase all the way up the scale. For example, Stanfords admit rate for applicants scoring 800 on the SAT CR is 18%, compared to 11% for those scoring 700-799 and 7% for those scoring 600-699. The admit rates for the same ranges on the SAT W are 19%, 12% and 6%. Here are the links to the three schools (Id be interested if other schools also report this kind of data): </p>
<p>There was also a link to a recent study based on a survey of a wide range of colleges that are members of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling. One of the findings was that close to 40% of the colleges responding to the survey stated that an SAT increase of just 20 points on the Math section (e.g., from 700 to 720 or from 750 to 770), or just 10 points (!) on the CR section (e.g., from 700 to 710 or from 750 to 760), would significantly improve a students chances of admission. Heres the link to that study:</p>
<p>Sorry for the long post, but I thought there was a lot of food for thought in these links. I must say, its also a little disconcerting to me to think that a single three-hour test has this much impact on college admissions.</p>
<p>“in a substantial minority of cases, colleges report either that they use
a cut-off test score in the admission process or that a small increase in test score could have a significant impact on an applicant’s chances of being admitted.”…</p>
<p>nyny: did you miss this part? the substantial minority? or am I reading it wrong?</p>
<p>rodney, no I didn’t miss that. The quote you cite just states descriptively what I stated quantitatively - i.e., “close to 40%”. Look at the charts at Figure 3 and Figure 4.</p>
<p>246 completed the survey out of 1,075 who were sent it; out of those, I guess, 40% stated what you propose…</p>
<p>40% of 246=98 schools…and which of those 98 schools are they? given the profile of the respondents (the SAT scores looked kinda low?) who knows…</p>
<p>I’m not saying that it is not of concern that one test decides a kid’s future; I hate it beyond what can be expressed on a blog, but I’m not sure this study is really that significant…</p>
<p>and this is from a parent of a non CC-typical kid…</p>
<p>If your child wants to re-take to increase his or her odds…go for it…they might just be applying to one of those 98 schools. Better than a “what if” after a rejection. </p>
<p>You just never know…my student got quite a bit more merit money at one school because I sent an updated transcript showing he had gone from the top 20.4% to the top 19.6%. Yes, a tiny change…three schools to which I sent the transcript didn’t care but one did to the turn of several thousand a year. Might as well try everything you can!</p>
<p>Sorry I haven’t been very participatory in this thread. My family went to CA for some college visits over spring break, and 2 days after we got home, my dad passed away. So my mind has been elsewhere. :(</p>
<p>As for the visits, it changed our minds considerably over our visits from last year. Up until this point, USC was D’s first choice. With this visit, D has decided she won’t apply to USC because she only wants small classes. She loves to participate in class discussions, and feels she needs small classes to do that. We looked at all the classes she will need for her major, and <em>many</em> of them are huge. Some have discussion sections, but she was not impressed with the one she sat in on last week, and it colored her opinion. She’s probably right - for her it would be better to go to a school with smaller classes. She also ruled out Occidental because it didn’t feel right to her, and I agree with that decision as well. The fit just wasn’t there, and it’s nothing we can put a finger on, but I felt it too. She loves Chapman University, which we have been considering a “safety” for her. It’s her #1 choice at this point. She also liked Pomona but it’s quite selective so… we’ll see. We are going to visit Whitman next Monday.</p>
<p>She got her March SAT results and the CR was lower than she expected. She got a 780 on the Writing with an 11 on the essay, so she was very pleased with that. Math is not her strong suit, so her score was about as expected. Total 2080, and she wants to retake in June to get her CR score up by 100 points.</p>
<p>oregonianmom, my sympathies at the loss of your dad, and nynyparent, thanks for doing all that research! I think I am the only one agonizing over the 690 writing score, because I mentioned superscoring to my son and his response was, “Mom, the worst that will happen is I’ll end up at NYU”, which he considers his safety school at this point. He has an appt to see his gc this Friday and we’ll see what she says. I’m not going to worry about it, because between AP exams in May and the Subject Tests in June, he has enough on his plate. There’s always October.</p>
<p>I’m just jumping in here about the essay. What insights do people have? My Junior D is an excellent writer and scored a 6 on the January SAT essay. My 8th grade S got an 8, in spite of the F received in his read/write seminar class 1st quarter this fall (mostly because he never handed in homework!). She claims they really don’t read them and just scan to see if you filled in the lines. She is going to retake in June.</p>
<p>I find that study fascinating. My older D (college freshman) got 710, 740 and 800 on her first SAT. College counselor at her school worked in admissions at Stanford for years told D not to take the test again because schools would look at her three scores and place her in a ‘band’ reflecting an average score of 750. Sure, it could have gone higher but, unless she was really going to achieve all 800s (no), there wasn’t any incremental benefit. Thus, I’ve operated thinking along those lines. This study completely contradicts that line of thinking. </p>
<p>D2 (2011) just got her scores back–she’s looking at schools that are somewhat less selective than her sister–with a 620, 720, 720. Hasn’t spoken with the college counselor yet but wants to take it again to try to get her CR score up. Incidently, we were looking on the SAT forum and, with D’s encouragement, I think I’m going to pick up “Direct Hits” today. Anyone have any thoughts or words of wisdom for focusing on CR?</p>
<p>nj2011mom: I’m just jumping in here about the essay. What insights do people have?</p>
<p>Don’t know how to quote people properly–I’m no expert but, from the research D1 did, along with the feedback from tutors from D1 and D2, the readers of the essay portion spend 30-90 seconds on each essay. They look for length, a good intro and solid sources. My girls were told to use 3 and that, while some say you can use an example from personal history, it’s better to use literature and “high level” or more sophisticated literature. I’m sure there must be threads and threads on mastering the essay in the SAT forum written by people with more experience than I but D2 has dyslexia and writing is not her strength. She just got a 10 on her essay using these tips and we’re thrilled.</p>
<p>Collage1,
What we do is a few problems per day, untimed. Reveiw the answers and if the answer was wrong figure out why and make sure S understands how to get the correct answer. As we get closer to the next take of the test the number of problems we do will increase. Based on his previous SAT and PSAT scores we tend to concentrate on those types of questions he got wrong. We use the 10 Real SAT tests and the question of the day provided by College Board. I am not familar with Direct Hits.</p>
<p>The data that NYNYPARENT quotes is very instructive, particularly for kids who want to go to Ivys or near-Ivys with few hooks (or anti-hooks like being asian). DS scored a 34 on his ACT (first try) and a 2210 on the SAT ( a lower score of 690 in writing surprised him). His goal was to get a 35 or 2300 and be done. He is going to be retaking the ACT again in April and is hoping to avoid retaking the SAT. However it’s going pretty hard to get that extra point, given that he tends to be somewhat unbalanced ( great in science/math, decent in English/Reading). The good news about the process is that he has now gotten somewhat less starry eyed about ivies and is starting to consider other schools more seriously. </p>
<p>We are planning a summer tour of northeast - any recommendations for LACs with good physics/chemistry programs to check out during that trip. We have the usual suspects (Swathmore and Williams) on our list. Very hard to gauge them as most of the rankings tend to be based on graduate school programs.</p>
<p>nynyparent, thanks for that paper. I’m going to have to read it and contemplate.</p>
<p>oregonianmom, so sorry about your father. </p>
<p>dadmm85, a young friend is finishing at Wesleyan in Physics, and has had a wonderful experience. He’s moving on to an Ivy for grad work. University of Rochester isn’t a LAC but is a small university, so maybe that works for your son.</p>
<p>thanks - she now regrets taking January SAT (M710/R700/W630), as it was the weekend before mid-terms, so she spent little time reviewing and was hoping for 2150/2200. Most of her friends took the March exam. She swears she will do timed review work before June exam.</p>