Scored well on the SAT first time, scored poorly on retake. HELP!!!

Applying to College
1

Someone that knows a lot about how colleges consider SAT scores please help me!

I am a junior in the class of 2018. The first time I took the SAT in fall 2016, I scored very well on the Multiple Choice sections and earned a 1560, which is what I was aiming for. However, my essay score was a 17/24, and while this isn’t necessarily bad, I wanted to retake the SAT to try and get as high a score as possible on both the essay and the actual. My retake score came out today, and I am not happy with it at all. I scored a 1420, which is a huge drop from my original score, even though I got an 18/24 on the essay. I am still uncertain on how I could’ve scored this much worse the second time I took the SAT, but it must of been a poor test day or something (even though it didn’t feel that bad).

Regardless, I was looking at a list of colleges that require all SAT scores to be sent, and even though they say they only consider the highest score, I feel like a low score could still potentially influence their decision, especially if it is a large drop, not improvement.

What should I do? Lots of colleges that I am going to apply to (CMU, UCs, etc.) in senior year apparently require all scores to be sent. Is there any way to prevent them from seeing this score? If I retake the SAT for the third time and experience a large improvement, will this make up for my low score? Should I ditch the SAT altogether and just prep for the ACT and pretend like I never took the SAT? Help!

2

I don’t believe there’s a way that you can only show your 1560 to schools that require seeing all scores. However, you shouldn’t worry about it too much. Much more emphasis will be put on your 1560 score.

3

Thank you @BreadCrumb

Would it not still look bad though if I dropped that much (as opposed to improving by a lot)? I’m thinking of just retaking the SAT.

4

@doglover12 A 1560 is a fantastic score, so need to retake it in my opinion. I’d focus on other parts of the application more like SAT II Subject Tests or AP scores.

5

A good example of why you should not retake an excellent score!

6

I agree with post #3. Ace your APs and SAT IIs!