<p>I got an 8 on the essay... but a 750 on writing. Do colleges think of this as a weakness? (tbh I ran out of time, poor planning on my part, I didn't prepare for the essay) I'm thinking about retaking the SAT, it depends largely on how bad an 8 essay looks to colleges. I also feel that with preparation for the essay, my writing could be an 800. What are your opinions on this? I'd appreciate any advice. (for the record, 2280 overall)</p>
<p>@sammo3 </p>
<p>I don’t believe colleges care that much for the essay since you have to write a well-developed 5 paragraph essay in a half-hour (right?). </p>
<p>That was my thought process too @ Kawaiiii I just don’t want to feel like I will be applying with a potential weakness that could be fixed fairly easily… </p>
<p>Same here. I figure if the application essay(s) is/are good, it won’t matter. Any school that views that score as low will probably be holistic enough to place strong emphasis on the other essays.</p>
<p>I mean if the essay is the only thing holding you back from an 800, you should retake again and try for the perfect score. But I don’t think colleges will care that much if you have such a high score (750).</p>
<p>@d0texe I only got 1 mc wrong so i assume it’s the only factor restricting my score. and thanks for the input @undeadtoaster that makes sense
Edit: 1 wrong</p>
<p>I’m fairly sure that you can get 1 MC wrong and still have a perfect score, as long as your essay is 10-11. I wouldn’t worry too much, writing is the least important section. Some schools don’t even consider it (Cornell).</p>
<p>that’s interesting I’ve never heard that before @d0texe out of curiosity do you happen to have a source for what you said about Cornell?</p>
<p>Here is a report of the profile of the class of 2017:
<a href=“http://irp.dpb.cornell.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Profile2013-Freshmen.pdf”>http://irp.dpb.cornell.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Profile2013-Freshmen.pdf</a></p>
<p>@d0texe thanks I didn’t know colleges released full reports like that. I know this is slightly off topic, but do you think an 800 on CR outweighs a 730 math? or should I retake to try and improve my math as well as writing?</p>
<p>800 CR is outstanding… Generally, math scores tend to be higher than CR, so that is good to have perfect CR score. Pretty much every university super scores the SAT, so I think you should definitely take it again, considering you can only get better. The SAT Math is weird too, because as you may or may not know, it is set up in the style of X amount of questions on circles, Y amount of questions on parabolas, Z amount of questions on algebra, and so on until it covers all the different types of math from Pre-algebra to Trigonometry. But the difficulty of each different type of problem can vary from test to test; for example, you may have 3 hard parabola questions on one test and 3 easy parabola questions on another test. So if you take it again, you may just get the hard questions on material you are good at and the easy questions on material you are not so good at. For example, I took a practice math test a week before the March SAT and got a 710, but I got a 770 on the actual SAT. So yes, I would recommend taking it again.
May I ask, what schools are you interested in? Because your SAT score is excellent.</p>
<p>@d0texe I’m a junior now, and I’ve been only recently looking at schools. Schools that have interested me are Wash U, Georgetown, Cornell, Northwestern, Brown, U Chicago, and some liberal arts colleges. I’m not really sure what I’m looking for in terms of size though. </p>
<p>Your CR + Math is a 1530, and Cornell’s 75% Percentile is 1490 
</p>
<p>I don’t know about your GPA or EC’s, but your SAT scores definitely make you a competitor for top schools like the ones you named. With such high scores you should probably start looking around!</p>
<p>Cornell states they do not consider the W score and they never report the W score in any of their published material, but they do record the W score on the application portal. I was surprised to see that when my son applied whereas another school he applied to did not even post the W score.</p>
<p>Having said that, if your M score were a bit higher, I would advise against retaking b/c of the essay score of 8, but given your math score, I would retake with the hope of bumping the math score. Cornell only recorded the superscore on the applicant portal, even though they require all scores be reported. I realize that you are not inquiring about Cornell specifically, so if your M score is at or above the 75th percentile of schools you are considering, then no need to retake. </p>
<p>@CT1417 I appreciate the information and advice. I’m pretty sure I’ll retake the SAT, but seeing as I will be taking subject tests during May and June test dates, I’ll have to wait until early next year. 
</p>
<p>@d0texe haha thanks man. What grade are you in? just wondering what kind of experience you have with applications, because I’ve got some questions about the process if you don’t mind</p>
<p>Wow, that is such an amazing score, I’m sitting here with a score of 2070 (650 CR, 670 Math, 750 Writing).</p>
<p>@sammo3 got any tips for me to improve my score?</p>
<p>@AnImpAffliction thanks, and sorry not to make it sound easy but all I did to prepare was take 2 of the practice tests in the official SAT book. If I had any tips I’d tell you. </p>
<p>@AnImpAffliction test scores also don’t matter as much these days, which disappoints me, but it should make you feel more confident</p>