<p>So this got me thinking.. I got an 800 on the sat II math (I know it's not that hard but still) but on the 2 reasoning tests i took, my highest math score was 720. I'm great at math really i am, i took the AP calculus test finished it like an hour and a half before time is called and got a 5 and my teacher actually asked to write a reccomendation for me and she's like a genius or something. Now won't the application people at colleges go, "oh this kid's sat I math isn't that great but he did much better on harder math tests so he must be good at math" i dont get this</p>
<p>Having your math teacher write your rec is probably the best thing to do. And a 720, while not amazing, will not disqualify you from many schools (perhaps MIT, Cal Tech). Did you take the ACT and was your math any higher?</p>
<p>no that wasn’t my point daddio3. what i meant was, hypothetically speaking, if i applied to say, MIT would they not see that my reasoning math score does not represent my mathematical ability. Or would they just look at my reasoning math score and not even look at the rest of the application</p>
<p>Unfortunately I believe the case is yes - SAT I math is typically much more heavily weighted than II and AP Calc. Even worse is that some selective schools will auto-screen for SAT scores that don’t meet the cutoff and it’s much easier for them to reject your application just based on your low 720 score.</p>
<p>The solution? If you’re as good as math as you say :), take it again and you’ll ace it!</p>
<p>Reading through most of the forum chance posts, I’ve read that it’s really only reasonable to submit scores of 750+ for such high-standard schools like MIT :o</p>
<p>I may be wrong… I’m not even that advanced in knowledge to be saying this eitherway</p>
<p>But is that really the right way to do this? i mean the sat I math test is a piece of cake… a 720 means like 3-4 careless mistakes, not just for my situation but i think this is where the SAT falls short on distinguishing people. I remember someone saying that the reasoning math test wasn’t even a math test. He said it was a weird challange. i can’t agree more, i think what the SAT tries to measure with it’s flock of simple questions is actually not that important. but there’s no point in attacking the windmill is there :)</p>
<p>The point of getting a 780-800 is to demonstrate that your real skill is likely way above 800. For example if you take a math genius and give him the SAT, he’d score an 800 easily - but if it was possible he’d score a 1200 or above.</p>
<p>By getting a 720 you’re demonstrating that your skill is likely around a 700-720 range, and not at the 800 range. </p>
<p>The top schools want to know that the SAT is EASY for you and that your skill level is way above the SAT. Make sense?</p>
<p>That helps me understand ^ thanks</p>