<p>So I've taken the SAT twice and now I have a superscore of 2290 (800 M, 800 W, 690 CR). Should I retake it a third time to get the CR to 700+? I'm applying to top schools. I know that SAT scores are used to eliminate you and not get you in, but is it worth taking it again? I had a friend who got into Harvard early with a 2220, but their CR was 710. Any advice?</p>
<p>You should shoot for at least 750 in all three sections to show an equal distribution of proficiency. (But that is merely what I read on a different thread a while ago.)</p>
<p>Yes, having CR over 700 is critical for some school (actually 1500+ for CR+M). Someone can get into Harvard with 2220 does not mean anyone above 2220 can. I know someone with over 2300 and still can’t. Nevertheless, don’t retake it until you have thoroughly practice and achieved your target scores consistently. As the third time should be your last shot.</p>
<p>@billcsho<br>
I understand that, but I’m only wondering. Firstly if I had gotten just 10 points higher on CR, I would be in the fine category (700+), and in fact had I left a few blank instead of answering them I would have (although I don’t leave any blank). Various websites say that for really competitive places, a 690 is within their range (albeit the lower end, but still within range). The applications process is holistic, so SAT’s don’t matter as much as people hype them up for - amongst all sorts of other aspects to the application. Would then just a few points off the prime be all that bad in the grand scheme of things? SAT’s won’t get you into a college, thats why perfect GPA’s and 2400’s have been rejected before, so I’m just trying to see if I’m fine to not have to take it yet again. The reason I’m saying this is because I can do fine on the practice tests for CR but I don’t know what happens on the real thing, and I just do worse. Some of it might be vocab, but memorizing thousands of vocab words will be an unnecessary task considering they might not even be on the test.</p>
<p>Start with the 500 work list and than grow from there. Since you never know what vocab would be on the test, that’s why you need to know as many as possible. Unless you are extremely lucky and it only asks those you know already.</p>