quick question..

<p>i'm on the fence about taking the SAT for the third time this october. i improved drastically from 1st to 2nd (1900 - 2130). But my verbal is still low - 620. writing and math are 790 and 720 respectively. if i take a third time to improve verbal but don't do as well on writing and/or math, will it hurt my chances at duke more that it will help? thanks for your time and thoughts.</p>

<p>Duke takes the best score on each section and combines them, regardless of which sitting it was. Your writing score is extremely high and your math is pretty good as well, so I would just try and concentrate on your verbal section. I would recommend taking it again, but it's a personal thing.</p>

<p>hey i took the SATs 4 times so dont worry</p>

<p>any other input??</p>

<p>Taking it 3x isn't bad...but just so you know your score is high "enough" to be seriously considered...but if you can do better a third test won't look bad</p>

<p>yea, statistically speaking, people typically do worse on their third try. This actually happened to me. It didn't affect my admission though.</p>

<p>the SAT's should be taken once, in my opinion. It is an APTITUDE test, and you really can't improve too much in the way you think. on my first try, I got a 790 math and 680 verbal. I took it two more times and didn't even try on the math section, focusing solely on the verbal, and scored a 670 and another 680. so don't worry too much about having THE best possible SAT score, just boost your GPA and get more involved in EC activities</p>

<p>ha, and i had a friend go 1390, 1390, 1450, 1550... whats that tell you</p>

<p>I don't agree that it's an apptitude test because there are many ways to study for the exam and change the way you approach it. It is just like any other exam you take, if you study the things that it tests, you will do better. That's what happened to me: 1150 (old), 1170 (old), 1380/2150 (new). Even though it was a new test, I studied the things that it tested (the specific grammar techniques (yes, it only tests certain things), strategies for math, strategies for verbal). Many things can change your score from one sitting to the next. </p>

<p>On the other hand, if you just take the test over and over again without any change in the way you prepare, there will be minimal to no change (i.e. 1150 to 1170).</p>

<p>You could go for it, or try the ACT. I took the ACT in October in my senior year as a last resort, and ended up doing significantly better (35) comparred to a pretty embarassing SAT I (I took that twice)</p>

<p>and if you want to apply to Duke, what's stopping you? They're in the south, they love the ACT!</p>