<p>Alright guys and girls. Regarding Ivy/HYPSM admissions...</p>
<p>What score is considered the threshold? While obviously, an 800 > 750, is a 750 "good enough"? Just as a 2300+ is considered "good enough"?</p>
<p>Also, for what score would retaking a subject test be considered "crazy"? For example, a 790 probably shouldn't retake...should a 780? 770?</p>
<p>I retook a 790, though I’m not sure how that impacted my admissions chances; my admissions officer did not seem to give off the impression that he thought I was crazy when we met.</p>
<p>And to answer your question, I do not believe there is a “threshold” score; the particular score on the exam will be taken into account considering the applicant’s strengths. Someone who applied as a prospective engineering major and scored a 500 on the Math II would not be looked favorably upon.</p>
<p>The main reason I’m asking is because I often see people expecting 750+ on subject tests. In fact, most people seem a bit disappointed when they get anything less than 800. Are subject tests supposed to be easier or something?</p>
<p>Is anything less than an 800 really that bad? When I look through results threads, I don’t see very many 800*3 = 2400s for subject tests.</p>
<p>Also, now that Georgetown is the only school that requires 3 subject tests, does it even matter if you only get 2 800’s? Would a 2*800 = 1600 be considered maxing out now?</p>
<p>ksarmand, did you end up scoring higher on your 790 retake?</p>
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<p>No. </p>
<p>Unless one is a student like christiansoldier, a score less than 800 is not “bad.” You’ve seen the results thread already, so I’ll assume you already know that you don’t have to have straight 800 SAT II test scores to get in.</p>
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<p>Easier than what? The SAT exam itself? </p>
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<p>I don’t imagine that it would matter if you “only” got 2 800 scores on your SAT II exams. However, an 800-800-500 does not reflect well on an applicant.</p>
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<p>Your queries make me uncomfortable. Please, don’t excessively strategize here. Just take the exams and do brilliantly on them.</p>
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<p>Sadly enough, I did not. Let that be a lesson to you on retaking exams.</p>
<p>There is no “good enough”; there are no thresholds. Higher is better, but sometimes better just isn’t worth it.</p>
<p>There’s definitely no threshold. I got a 780, a 730 and a 720, and I was admitted. (My extracurriculars were definitely stronger than my academics, though.)</p>
<p>So at what point would “better” not be worth it?</p>
<p>Or is it just like if you have the time, and there’s no other way you could possibly improve your app (I’m mean it’s going to be senior year for many of us. There’s not much else we can do at this point), retake a 790?</p>
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<p>I can’t really provide any generalized guideline.</p>
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That’s for you to decide.</p>
<p>@Jersey & silver</p>
<p>At what point would YOU personally choose not to retake? (Specifically Math II, Bio, and Chem if that’s relevant)</p>
<p>If I had scored lower than 2350 on the SAT, I would have retaken. (Jersey13 apparently has a somewhat different threshold: he retook 2370, I believe.)</p>
<p>On Math Level 2, I would retake anything lower than 800. On Chemistry, I would have retaken anything lower than 800 once and then, if that didn’t go well, would have settled for 780+.</p>
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<p>I would’ve retaken any score other than an 800 on Math II and Chem, ended up not having to do so. Not sure if I’m going to take Bio.</p>
<p>But if you retook a 790, wouldn’t colleges think you’re “crazy/paranoid”?</p>
<p>^ Some admissions officers may interpret it that way, but not all will and Score Choice is usually viable.</p>
<p>I would’ve retaken Math II if I hadn’t gotten 3 higher scores–I got a 760, which is 85th percentile. However, as a humanities applicant with an 800 in USH, a 790 in Literature, and a 770 in Chemistry (again, would probably have retaken if it were one of my higher ones or I was a science applicant), I was just like well screw that.</p>
<p>Hmmmm…so now that colleges only require 2 (except for Georgetown), a lot of people will only take 2 tests max, so which would be better:</p>
<p>800 + 800 = 1600 OR 800 + 800 + 790 = 2390
^Would the extra slightly lower test score help or hurt?</p>
<p>800+800+790 would be better or the same, depending on whether the school happens to consider additional tests.</p>
<p>My D only took the SAT I once (740M/800CR/800W) and SAT II once (one sitting - Physics 790/Math II 800/ US History 800) and never thought twice about retaking either. She just completed her freshman year at H and is a physics concentrator. Many CC’ers might imagine that her math SAT wasn’t good enough, but apparently it was. While I don’t imagine that it hurts you to retake the tests when you have exceeded a certain threshold, I would hope that you have better things to do with your saturdays that would be more valuable to your application.</p>
<p>^ The opportunity cost of taking a standardized test on Saturday morning is negligible.</p>
<p>By the way: what does she think of the physics department?</p>