<p>Hey, I just had a quick questions on whether or not I should retake the SAT. I took it this year and got a 2270 (690 CR, 800M, 780 W), although I wasn't displeased with the overall score I was surprised at the breakdown. In the practice tests I had done previously I had consistently been scoring around 750 or above in Critical Reading and around 740 in Writing. I'm pretty sure that I could score around a 750 or above in Critical Reading if I retook it in the fall because I missed most my points on vocab (the one thing I didn't prepare for....) but I am worried that my score in mwriting might drop if I retook it . So basically would retaking it make sense (i.e would it be worth the time and effort for a 50 point change / and if I did manage to do worse in writing could that hurt me). Thx in advance :). </p>
<p>btw Im thinking about applying to a couple of ivies and upper-tier LAC's.</p>
<p>That is a ridiculously awesome score. I would just leave it alone. What do you plan on doing in college?</p>
<p>At first I was like–seriously? A 2270 and you want to redo it!!!</p>
<p>I see your point, however, that CR is a little low. This could hurt you if you apply somewhere where they don’t take writing into account. Redo it if you think having 700+ will help you out for sure!</p>
<p>Even if you decide not to retake it, you definitely have a competitive score for Ivies; as long as the other aspects of your application are equally outstanding, you should be good to go! Reeses is correct, though, that a high composite score does not ameliorate a lower score in one section. And if you do decide to retake it, there really is no downside. Say you get that 750 CR, but your writing lowers to 740. That’s still a 2310, which is higher than your current score (and a 1550/1600 instead of a 1490/1600). And on top of that, a lot of schools superscore SAT sections; your superscored SAT would be 2330+ (750+ CR, 800 M, 780 W) with *guaranteed *high math and writing scores (guaranteed because you’ve already earned them!). So even if you bomb writing your second time, you still have the security of a high superscore.</p>
<p>In the end you should look at the policies of the schools on your list; do they superscore (ask for best sections across tests)? or ask for best single sitting score? or ask for all scores? If you can answer “yes” to one of the first two questions for all of your schools, then without a doubt you should retake the test and see how you do. If a lot of your schools require all scores to be sent in, then you can weigh for yourself if you’d rather leave that 690 CR, or raise it at the possible expense of your writing score.</p>