SAT (without writing portion)

If my DC is taking her SAT for a second time, but this time without the essay. Will her total score still be based on 1600 total? Thank you for any clarification.

Yes, the score is still on the same 1600 scale (two sections, math and evidence based reading and writing, each on the 800 scale). The essay score is entirely separate from other scores and is not used to determine your score on the evidence based reading and writing section. The “writing” in that section refers to the multiple choice writing questions.

Just to add that if you take one SAT with essay and then retake it without essay you can still superstore for math and English. My D took it once with essay but then when she gave it a second try she did not bother again to take the essay.

@am9799 Do you know if that’s 100% true? I’ve been wondering. S19 took the test in Aug without essay since all of the schools on his list don’t need the essay and we wanted him to just focus on the math and English. He will take the test at least one more time because his whole class sits for it in March at school and that one includes the essay. If his math and English scores are better on the August test, could he still apply to schools and use the essay from the March test? I wasn’t sure if schools that want the essay will only consider the other subscores on a day the student actually wrote the essay.

Not sure if he will need it, but we don’t know if his list will change at all.

For schools that do superstore, they will consider the section scores from tests without essay. But there are also schools that only look at composite scores with writing in the same sitting. So 8 would suggest to take all SAT with writing unless you have a specific school in mind that does not need writing score.

@homerdog I guess I am not sure after all. My D sent her SATs to colleges last week and as I said they superscored the two sessions she took (with and without). But I am now looking at them and it seems that all the college she is applying to do not require the essay. I did not even pay attention before.

@homerdog My understanding is that for those schools that require the SAT essay, they will not look at those sittings where the SAT essay was taken. So if a student obtains a perfect score of 1600 without taking the essay, that score will not be considered at schools which require the essay.

Sorry, typo above. They will ONLY look at those sittings where the SAT essay was taken.

If anyone has any information to confirm, would be most appreciative of any info.

@ThinkOn Let me preface this by stating that I’m not an admissions officer, just an interested parent. However, it doesn’t make sense to me that a school that requires the essay and superscores would ignore testing sessions where the essay was not taken. What would be the reasoning? That the EBRW and Math sections are invalid because the student didn’t pay the extra fee and spend the extra mental energy afterwards to write the essay? What if a student took the SAT with essay and just scribbled nonsense to get a 0/0/0 score on the essay? Then, the zero essay score should validate the EBRW and Math sections on that date for superscoring. That just doesn’t make any sense to me. (But then again, there is no requirement that admissions policies make sense.)

I can confirm that the California UC’s will not accept an SAT score without the essay. On their website, it states they will accept the Highest SAT with essay and/or ACT with writing from a single sitting.

That’s because the University of California doesn’t superscore. But a school that superscores should look for the highest EBRW score, the highest Math score, and the highest Essay score over all testing dates. At least that is what makes the most sense to me.