Does anyone else have a child who tests really well in math, but not EBRW (or vice versa)? DD is retaking the SAT to improve her math score (650), but scores above 700 in EBRW. Her intended major has nothing to do with math, and even if she changes her mind about what she wants to study I’m nearly positive it won’t involve math. Anyone else have a child in this situation? Do schools really care if their humanities students aren’t mathletes and their engineering students aren’t the best writers? She has only 4s and 5s in her humanities AP classes. How much will a lower SAT math score ding an otherwise high achieving student?
How much lower? Younger son took the older version of the SAT - 790CR, 690M. He got into U of Chicago, Tufts and Vassar. He just missed being in the top 5% of his class. I think he wrote great essays and got excellent teacher recommendations. He had 5’s on all the APs he’d taken up to that point (AP World, US, and Bio). He did like math and science - and was taking AP Calc BC and AP Physics C as a senior.
It really just depends. Some schools will look at each score individually, others the total/composite. Apply broadly and have a safety or two the student would be HAPPY to attend.
In a similar position with S19 (I created this account to respond as this is a big issue for us). We have the opposite-math 800/EBRW 600 first try and math 800/EBRW 630 2nd try. He prepped both times so he’s done, and to be honest, the scores are a true reflection of his strengths and weaknesses. His courseload at school is consistent (calc bc but regular English)…so we’ll look for schools that appreciate his profile where he can succeed. We aren’t focused on the top schools, so that makes things a little easier. But at the same time, the disparity in the verbal/math does add some challenges to the search.
Also had a son who scored lopsided. On the old SAT (on the new SAT, his scores, at least in math, would be higher according to the concordance table), he scored a 690 in math and an 800 in Critical Reading, a 770 in writing. He also presented with 3 really strong SAT2 scores (800 world history, 760 us history, 770 literature), which probably helped him get into selective colleges by offsetting his lower math score because they added strength to his application as a future English/history major. I’ve read that the SAT2s are given more weight than AP scores but I’m not sure that’s true.
He was deferred from brown ED, admitted to tufts ED2, and also heard early from these schools, mainly because he was admitted with merit awards: university of Southern California (full tuition), WUSTL (writing award), Tulane (half tuition), umichigan (honors college), URochester (half tuition), ucla (somehow they admitted him even though he had withdrawn his app). He withdrew from rest of the schools on his list bc he got into tufts ED2.
I think the combination of having done really well on the humanities SAT and SAT2s, having ECs and national awards that supported his interest in English lit/creative writing, and writing an excellent application all contributed to his getting into schools where his math score was in the bottom 25%. Also, having a reading score in the top 25% probably counter weighed the math score by a lot.
By the way, he just graduated from tufts with a BA in English and Econ, took 3 math classes, and was still able to graduate summa cum laude. Clearly, that lowish math score relative to his peers didn’t hurt him once he was in college math and Econ classes. He also took physics. He just worked really hard, and now he’ll work in a math/data intensive job as a management consultant. He even had to do lots of math in his super day interviews at various consulting firms. He was a bit intimidated at the interview days bc the other interviewees were mainly math, comp sci, Econ majors at ivies, uchicago and northwestern. Yet, he held his own despite that math SAT score that probably put him at the bottom of that pool. Tell your daughter not to let that score hold her back. With effort, she can improve that score.
Perhaps it has to do with environmental or boy/girl differences. My kid’s 3 SAT scores were 700 EBRW/800 Math, then 720/800, then 740/800. He’s not a great Math student, never once got an A in his advanced level math classes. But then, it’s pretty much the norm for all the Calc BC and the Physics C kids tonscore that high. I personally think it’s much much tougher to get 800 on EBRW than 800 for Math.
Great topic! My daughter is also skewed in the math department. PSAT, SAT II Math, and two SAT’s she hasn’t missed a math question but scores 690 and 700 on the SAT R&W. I know 1500 is excellent, but it is low for the most selective schools. She did get into the MIT WTP this summer and it was very selective so it did give me hope that when a critical set of eyes looks at the scores they do look past the composite
@ l010306. I think this next test will be DD’s last, too. She’s not interested in any super competitive schools so that somewhat makes things easier. I guess we’ll find out soon enough if the math score will be a deal breaker. I figured we couldn’t be the only family out there in this situation.
“Tell your daughter not to let that score hold her back. With effort, she can improve that score.”
Will do. She’s working with a tutor and feels more confident with the math, but really just isn’t interested in the subject. I’ve reached the point where I’m going to accept whatever her next score happens to be. Thanks for sharing your experience and congrats on having a new graduate. 
It depends on many factors, but colleges with holistic admissions system generally do consider scores (and grades) in the context of planned field of study. A higher score is obviously better than a lower one, but if you have a low score, it’s better to fall oustide your planned field of study. When I applied to colleges I scored 800 the SAT math section, math II, GRE, and just about any other standardized test that involved math or science. However, I only scored a 500 on my SAT CR. This put my math SAT score at the top of the class at any school I was interested in, but my CR score was always at the bottom, in some cases as low at the bottom 1% of the entering class. I was admitted to Stanford, MIT, and Ivies as a prospective engineering major, in spite of the skewed score distribution.
While taking more reading/writing intensive classes at Stanford than I did during HS, my vocabulary notably improved, and my reading comprehension improved to a lesser extent. This improvement combined with doing some degree of prep, led to my GRE verbal score increasing to >90th percentile. So when I applied to grad school, my verbal score was no longer at the bottom of the class. Instead it was above average among Stanford grad students, including above average among Stanford grad students in humanities/writing intensive fields of study.
@Data10 I was hoping to hear a story like yours!