As these tops generally have 1570~1590 as 75%, I am debating whether I should retake the SAT for a chance to get to the 75% range. Would appreciate any thoughts.
If you’re going to retake, don’t bother retaking that essay. With CB’s subjective grading criteria that’s already incredible. Also most colleges don’t ask for it so…
No. If you get rejected, it will not be for a 1550. Move on together parts of the application.
No, they don’t. Where are you getting that info? Few schools reports a 25-75 composite; the vast majority report 25th and 75th percentiles for EBRW and for math separately. One cannot simply add the numbers together with accuracy, although sites like Prepscholar make this error year after year.
Not worth your time.
You have absolutely met the threshold to show that you are capable to sitting down and taking a standardized test. Check. As others have indicated above, focus on the many other parts of your application as the standardized test portion is just one of many factors. Focus on school work to get your GPA as high as you can, invest in those activities that are meaningful to you, connect with those who you will ask recommendations from, take a couple of Subject tests…
Honestly, at that score, a 10 or 20 point difference is not much of a difference.
I agree with the previous posters. I don’t think retaking the SAT for a 10-30 point increase is an effective use of your time (you run the risk of scoring lower as well). If it were me though (although I really don’t recommend listening to what I would do hah), I might retake it just to try and get a 1600. I don’t advise doing that at all though.
To pile on - the time invested in another test, even if your score moves up a bit, could be bette spent working on other areas of an application.
Depends. 1550 is quite strong, but there are different flavors of 1550. If you have an 800 in one section and a 750 in another, you might want to retake. If you have like a 770 in one and a 780 in the other, though, I wouldn’t bother.
With regards to some other posters…
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20 or 30 points can make a difference at this level. I am not saying it should or that it is rational, but I often think, based on my experience, that it really does. We don’t unfortunately have good empirical evidence to say one way or the other. This is not to say that 20 or 30 points will make a difference in the mind of every admissions officer, but it will likely make a difference in the mind of someone reading your application.
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There is not a choice between working on improving your score and working on other aspects of you application. You can do both, especially with summer coming up in the near future. Besides, it should not take too much more time to improve your scores.
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There is a risk of scoring lower, but your average test-taker will improve her superscore from one test to another, due to variability between tests. Besides, even if your score does go down, it probably won’t be by much–1550s aren’t accidents. Still, if you do take again, make sure to study enough first that you are confident that you will do better.
Do not retake. You are very likely to get a lower score, which happens 40% of the time. You are literally talking about one more answer being wrong, or correct. No college, including HYPSM, is going to care if you got 750 in one section and 800 on another. I disagree strongly with anyone who suggests you retake. I am a test prep tutor and it’s very difficult to get a higher score. But it’s easy to get a lower one, which you will probably have to submit.
You also run the risk of appearing to be a test taking perfectionist, and colleges don’t care for that.
maybe try the act, i think theres a higher chance of getting 36 on that than 1600 on sat, depending on how you take tests