<p>I’m a worried senior with a bit of a delimma.</p>
<p>Last year I took my SAT Reasoning test in May and got a decent score (2080) for some of my top colleges (UC Davis, Santa Barbara and Irvine).</p>
<p>That being said, the subject tests I took at the end of last year in June I weren’t nearly as good and I wanted to retake those at least once as well.</p>
<p>But I’ve just noticed that the UC app becomes available November 1st and the deadline is the 30th, and there are only 2 dates available, one in October and one in November, to take SAT tests.</p>
<p>So my question is, would it be possible for me to retake my SAT reasoning and subject tests at least once and still be able to send the new scores into the UC’s?</p>
<p>And if not, would you recommend taking one over the other?</p>
<p>I appriciate your inputs and thanks in advance :)</p>
<p>I personally didn’t do this, but from what I understand you can choose to send your scores to a certain college (colleges?) at the time of testing.</p>
<p>If you can only take one, I’d say to go for the reasoning test since the subjects tests are optional now.</p>
<p>The UCs will take scores from the December test date as long as the scores arrive at the UCs by the end of December (if you select a UC campus as a recipient on your registration, then the scores will get there on time).</p>
<p>The UCs request the students to submit all scores. The UCs will crunch the numbers and convert everything to a UC score (in order to compare SAT and ACT on equal footing). Because of this conversion, occasionally the highest converted score may not be the same as the highest SAT/ACT score. I suppose it’s possible to calculate the UC score yourself for each SAT/ACT score and then select the highest one; but I think it would be easier to just submit everything and let the UCs sort them out, especially since lower scores are tossed (some UCs will only show the highest converted score in the application file; other UCs may display all scores but the readers are trained to disregard lower scores).</p>
<p>Take SAT II in either October/Nov, and SAT I in December. Or vice versa, doesn’t matter much.</p>
<p>SAT II retake over SAT I without a doubt, at least in my eyes. Unless you feel you can up your SAT I to a 2200+ score, you’re really better off knuckling down and getting top marks on your SAT II’s. Which two (don’t bother with more than two, especially this late) were you planning on taking?</p>
<p>Another point of note, I’m not sure if you’ve tried to tackle it, but the ACT proved much easier than the SAT I for me. If you really wanted to, taking the ACT in October along with SAT II would allow you to “double-up”, so to speak, by simultaneously making an effort to increase both your main score (SAT I/ACT) and your supplementary scores (SAT II). </p>
<p>And, since I know what it’s like to be in the shoes of a stressed-out high school senior (I was wearing them last year), breathe. Your SAT I is pretty strong for the schools you gave. Assuming your EC’s are in order and you’ve got a decent GPA, you can rest a little easier. The biggest thing you can do at this point is to make sure your essays are strong, because that will do more to help your application than one- or two-hundred points on the SAT I (or a pair of good SAT II scores) will. That being said, there’s nothing stopping you from working on your essays AND studying for the SAT II’s. ;)</p>
<p>Best of luck, and if you need help deciding which SAT II’s to take, I’d be glad to help you narrow your window.</p>