Nobody should PLAN to go to a top ten college unless they’ve actually been admitted. Too much of a roll of the dice, even for people with higher stats than yours. Just not that many seats available.
As for help, whatever help you need you can only get from the College Board. If you don’t get what you need after inquiring politely with the first rep, call another and politely ask to speak with their manager, etc. etc. (Though it’s not clear what kind of help you’re looking for.)
@bjkmom@porcupine98 I made this thread in shock and disbelief, so I apologize for not clarifying my intentions. I just wanted to know what you would do in this situation given that a drop from 740M to 560M is shocking.
I don’t think it’s shocking. I think you may have been sick that morning. Or your dog died. Or your girlfriend broke up with you. Or you took it a bit easier in prep, knowing you already had that 740.
It’s an “any given Sunday” scenario. On any given sitting of the exam, your scores may go up or down depending on a zillion factors.
You had a testing irregularlity. OK, so you made a mistake-- kind of a big one. Life goes on. You keep the 740 when they superscore, and go on from there.
@bjkmom It just doesn’t seem plausible given that I felt perfectly fine the day of the exam and checked all of my writing answers with the thread here on CC. That’s a big difference from a 740 to 560! I was scoring in my 700s range the day before, and I scored 800 writing the day before, too! I also felt really good about writing as I confirmed my answers with the CC thread here again. I was expecting a 750-800.
@bjkmom How is it possible for one of my scores to be my highest and for me to expect it while having the two others be uncharacteristically low? I also forgot to mention that I got 730 in November in Math without any further prep… how can it drop just like that? Sorry for my demeanor, but I just can’t easily believe that the scores are accurate.
How is it possible that someone as well prepared, as intelligent, as you, taking the test for the third time had a testing irregularity on a test and needed two answer sheets instead of one?
Because you’re human, like the rest of us and sometimes makes mistakes.
That’s why you’ve taken the test 3 times; because scores fluctuate.
Yeah, I’d stop worrying so much about it and move on! . Superscored you are in excellent shape. You can pay to have the test had scored -but only by one person I believe. Your scores are likely to have reached criteria for competitive schools. Once you reach it, many simply evaluate other aspects of your application. But no school is interested in a student who devotes excessive time to prep for tests and who takes tests repeatedly. They will assume you are too grade and score oriented and earned high grades by cramming.
My DS16 has a similar issue from the 12/5 sitting. He is a high ability student who consistently scores in the 98~99 percentile on standardized tests.
On the 11/7 sitting he scored 740CR, 770M, 720W & 6E with no prep, not even a practice sitting. -4 on CR, -1 on W multiple choice, -1 & 1 omit on M. That 6E really hurt his writing score with only 1 multiple choice question wrong.
For the 12/5 sitting he decided to review the essay strategies because he had no idea about the formula required for a high score. We were all quite shocked to see a 650CR, 710M, 600W & 8E. A drop of 270 total points! He finished each section in a comfortable amount of time answering every question. Afterward he was very confident that he got none wrong on the math and felt he did very well on CR & W. He assumed he was finished with testing.
We are not sure how to proceed or if it’s even worth it. The main issue is that DS was planning on being finished with testing after the 12/5 test. Now, he needs to sit for the 1/23 session to have the ability to super score.
We are considering calling CB but do not expect to hear anything other than “scores can vary by sitting”. We really don’t want to be “one of those parents”, but I would bet my house that if he felt he got all of the math problems correct then he probably did.
I feel @joeweller 's situation isn’t that he performed at the bottom of his ability range. @bjkmom I feel the CB screwed up badly on his grading. Nov math was notoriously hard; a 740 there doesn’t translate to a 180pt drop in Dec.
@thetex I agree with you. I’d like to think I didn’t mess up that badly. I scored 740 and 730 in October and November, respectively.
@bjkmom I know; I’m human. I just can’t think though that I had all my answers confirmed with the thread on here and somehow ended up with a 600. Just doesn’t seem right! I can’t let it go, but, unfortunately, I’ll have to take January’s for a resounding 4th time because I just don’t know if the scores are right and I’ll have to wait until they officially release to do so.