<p>Many colleges have average SAT scores for different sections that vary considerably from one another based on the students they tend to attract. For instance, many tech schools have higher math scores and many liberal-arts driven LAC's have higher reading scores.</p>
<p>By the same token, many students are much stronger in either reading/writing or math and have a wide range of difference between the two.</p>
<p>If you are much higher in one section than another and the school you are applying to is the opposite, does this help or hurt you?</p>
<p>For example, I am applying to Cornell with 800/680/800 for CR/M/W. The ranges at Cornell are 630-730, 670-770, and 640-730, so though I am above average overall I am weakest in their strongest area.</p>
<p>Haha, I’ve been thinking about this as well. I have 800CR/740M/800W. Even though math is my best subject, I’m unfortunately prone to stupid mistakes. I’ve been worried about whether my scores are weak for MIT even though the total, 2340, is fairly strong.
For math, I’ve heard that an 800 on the math II SAT subject test can make up for a lower SAT math score. Is this true?</p>
<p>I had 800 CR / 700 M / 780 W on the SAT, which was really annoying because math is one of my better subjects in school and I’m in AP calculus, but in the end it didn’t end up mattering because I got into Brown early decision. I think it helped having 800 physics 780 bio for my SAT2s to show that I was competent at non-humanities stuff as well. Ultimately though, I think colleges prefer more specialized students over too well-rounded students, so you’re probably better off with 800/680/800 than with 740/740/740. The only scenario I could see your math score hurting is if you want to apply to a very engineering heavy school, because they tend to weight the math section very heavily. At Caltech and Harvey Mudd, the math section range is usually like 760-800.</p>
<p>Going against the trend score wise will not necessarily hurt you if your scores match your interests. If you want to into engineering the 680 will hurt you. If you want to study German or History, the CR & W scores are more important. Your 800’s in CR & M are impressive.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the middle 50% numbers are for enrolled students, not admitted students. For admitted students the scores of the middle 50% go up about 20 points per section.</p>
<p>IMO, the math section is the most learnable of the 3. A retake after some prep work may benefit you.</p>
<p>I’m banking on my high math score (well not that high, but in the top 25% of most) will help me get into largely humanities based liberal arts colleges. I want to study something in the humanities but I just happen to perform better on math in standardized tests.</p>