<p>ive taken the SATs twice and ended up getting a 1530 on both.</p>
<p>but on the first go i got a 790v and a 740m, on the second, 750v and a 780m...</p>
<p>so my question is this... will it be advantageous for me to send in my second scores? will harvard (or any other schools, for that matter) consider only the top scores of each section?</p>
<p>i don't know how much a 1570 would help compared to a measly 1530 =)... but i thought this would be an interesting question.</p>
<p>They take your highest math and your highest verbal and combine them so most definitely send in both scores.</p>
<p>You won't have a choice. All scores are reported. But they take your highest scores.</p>
<p>So you end up getting a 770 from Harvard's point of view, which is not bad at all.</p>
<p>your scores are excellent. rejoice</p>
<p>harvard takes the highest of each section, your sat's should be of no concern to you</p>
<p>yep, your 1530 zooms up to a 1570 indeed.</p>
<p>If the OP (or anyone else in similar circumstances) would care to comment, I'm curious as to why you would retake the SATs after doing so well the first time. Even if you got a 1600 the second time, the difference between 1530 and 1600 is not enough to have any impact on the admissions decision. Either is more than good enough to make the SAT a non-factor, leaving the admissions decision to be based on the rest of the profile. This strikes me as yet another example of how neurotic students are today (or how much pressure is put on them by parents, advisors and/or peers).</p>
<p>cosar, what you've described is exactly what happened to me. i got a 1530 the first time and then retook a year later for a 1600. i did it for two reasons. i knew i had not done as well as i could have on the first test because i let test anxiety get the best of me. second, people were actually happy/malicious that i had a worse score than them. they'd be like, 'everyone thought she was so smart but she only got a 1530'. however, the main motivation was that it simply wasn't my best effort. if i had gone in relaxed and had done the best i could, a 1530 would have satisfied me. it wasn't the score that rankled, merely the feeling i had crumbled under pressure. it had been the first time i didn't feel like i'd aced a test. going for it the second time got rid of my testing demon.</p>
<p>I completely understand.</p>
<p>I understand too, though I obviously find reason #2 distressing. But I also think there is an overemphasis on the SATs that creates more stress around them than is necessary.</p>
<p>I agree as well. There is an overemphasis on the entire college admissions process. Everything minute detail of the application is worried over. It's crazy when people have to start planning for college in middle school to be competitive.</p>
<p>Understand? What is there to understand? Why do you get so upset with not doing as well as you could, when what happened to you is not anything that could bar you from any college on the planet? My first SAT score was 1570; thus, I had no reason to take the thing again. I could have made a 1600 in all actuality, but I decided to do other things on saturday mornings other than take a bubble-in test to satisfy my own ego-trip. Sure it sucks not doing as well as you thought you could, but by the same respect, why pay more money for something you really don't need. If the SAT were free, it might be a different story, but I would not pay money to take that test again. Getting back to the original post, I would like to say that the question you are asking is ludicrous, since it does not matter 1530 or 1570, those scores are comparable, and one will not merit any more consideration than the other. The SAT is objective, and every adcom knows that it is not always an accurate measurement of scholastic achievement nor is fourty points difference anything to boast about.</p>
<p>I already said it wasn't for college purposes, merely a personal issue. It had nothing to do with you. Why are YOU so upset at MY decision to retake? You said if it were free, you would take again. RESPECT the fact that I felt badly enough about letting test anxiety get the best of me that I didn't mind paying the fee. You should find better things to do with your afternoons than just attacking people in order to satisfy your own ego-trip.</p>
<p>I agree with WahooCavilier - the "first time you've felt you haven't aced a test". Come on, that's compete BS. All tests throughout your entire school life you've gotten 95+ on - complete BS if I've ever heard any. If anything, you show you can't handle peer pressure from your friends because they scored higher than you on a test where your 1530 is already 99%. God, I'm so glad I've never experienced such a vitrolic body of classmates in my public school - all this competition and everything. Gimme a break - you did have an ego trip.</p>
<p>I never said I'd gotten 95+ on every test in school. I was referring to standardized tests. And you're right, you should be grateful to have never experienced such a body of classmates, so I'd hardly call them my friends. Don't assume things I didn't post. It only serves to make you sound like judgmental, ignorant, and bitter.</p>
<p>sometimes the decision to retake a test is not up to the student...</p>