SAT: to Retake or Not to Retake?

Test Preparation
1

<p>Background:
On October 6, 2012 I got an 800 in Critical Reading, a 710 in Math, and a 780 in Writing, for a total score of 2290.</p>

<p>On January 26, 2013, I got a 770 in Reading, 750 in Math, and a 730 in Writing, for a composite score of 2250 and a superscore of 2330. I approached this test with a pretty bad attitude and a fair amount of fatigue because I felt my school was forcing me to take the test, which caused me to be rather upset about the whole ordeal.</p>

<p>The closest I've come to studying is sitting in a mandatory SAT prep class at my high school and doing a few practice drills in the month leading up to my second sitting, so I imagine I could raise my score significantly if I truly took the time to study; however, there are many things – productive things, I assure you– that I would much rather be doing with my time.</p>

<p>Questions:
Given my scores without studying, is it worth my time to actually study diligently and try to raise my scores? Would retaking the SAT and doing better significantly raise my chances at highly selective schools? Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Studying diligently and maybe taking a couple hours of classes could help you, but there’s not much room for you to improve in Reading and Writing. Your best bet is to maintain in those categories and put some hard effort in Math in. Honestly, there’s not even too much room for improvement there either. If you have a hard work ethic and are willing to change your study habits, go for gold and retake, but you know yourself best of all.</p>