<p>kid scored 650 on math, 800 in CR. plans to study liberal arts or communications in college. Questions: do you think top notch colleges will more heavily weigh CR score when considering admissions since kid won't be STEM major? also, I don't see point in retaking whole SAT. it is several hours long after all and writing score is also higher than math score. so I thought maybe it makes more sense to just take math 2 subject test. I think they have to take subject test for some apps anyway. any thoughts on this? and how hard is this test? Kid is good in math; 650 probably underestimates their ability some and they will be taking calculus next year, which I hear can be helpful. or would ACT be worth considering? Thanks for any input.</p>
<p>Bump, somebody out there has got to have an idea on this!!!</p>
<p>It would depends on the schools. You can find out the mid 50% range for each sections for the schools your kid is going to apply. If you find the Math score to be at the low end or outside of the mid 50 range, he probably should retake the whole test. A good Math2 score may help if the Math score in SAT1 is just a little bit lower, for instance, for science or engineering program. It is not really a substitute for the Math score in SAT1.</p>
<p>thanks. and I’ll look up the ACT too. obviously, kid is strong enough on CR skills that they’ll be fine on SAT on retake in that area. I know I thought initially ACT would be be better match for them but since they are in NM contention, they had to take SAT anyway so we went that route. so I’ll do some more research on the above and contact schools on the “list” too and get their thoughts. I will check the 50 percent SAT range as we narrow schools this summer. do you have any thoughts on whether CR can offset math score since it’s so high and they won’t be STEM major anyway?</p>
<p>Many schools still do look at CR+M that they may offset each other to certain extend when they are comparing candidate. For instance, they may view a candidate with 750/800 as competitive as 800/750. However, you still cannot get one score too low. Depending on schools where they set the threshold, but you can guess from the mid-50 range stat. If you have one section at around 25%, you probably need to have the other 2 sections at 75% or above. One should really try both ACT and SAT, at least for a few practice tests. You never know which one you would do better although most receive comparable scores in both. Even that, you double the chances and reduce the number of attempts on any single test. Also, you would not have the time conflict between SAT2 and ACT.</p>
<p>Yeah, I thought about time conflict issues too. We will have a final list by the end of summer for schools and then can cement the above plans. Their scores are already fine for a number of schools they are interested in but they will need to pull math up if the apply to the top tier schools, some of which are on the current list. Thank you so much again for your advice!!!</p>