<p>Hinder: Yale, Swarthmore, Amherst, Columbia, UChicago</p>
<p>No effect: Middlebury, Haverford, Wesleyan, Tufts</p>
<p>Help: Vassar, Trinity</p>
<p>That’s very helpful information. Thank you. I guess, then, that I’ll take SAT IIs in October, then SAT Is in November, send them both to Yale SCEA, and hope for the best.</p>
<p>I also got 2170 this June and I will have a second test this October. CR 660 M 780 W 730</p>
<p>Which SAT IIs are you taking? You will want to have 700+ scores on them so you will need to do some solid review beforehand no matter how well you did in the class.</p>
<p>I’m planning on taking Math II and Literature. I might (MIGHT) consider taking Biology or French instead of Math II, but otherwise I’m pretty sure I’ll stick with those two. I did pretty well on ACT math, which I hear is somewhat similar to MathII, and I do well on the passage-analysis, so I think I’ll be alright in Literature. I should get 700+ in both, but I have not taken practice tests yet, so I can’t be sure.</p>
<p>Be sure to take those practice tests. The Lit can be harder than expected, especially if it has a lot of poetry questions. Math II takes a very high score (760-800) to be in he 80-90% range. Good luck!</p>
<p>I think I’ll buy the books for each and work hard on getting myself ready… With a 2230+ on SATI and maybe 760-800 Math II, 700-800 Lit put me in a significantly better position than I am now (with the 32 ACT)?</p>
<p>If you were scoring higher on practice tests and thought those scores (your 2170) were low when they came in then it might not hurt to brush up a bit and try taking them again in the fall AFTER you get your subject tests out of the way. If it’s going to take up a lot of additional time and energy to bring up your scores significantly (i.e. when you got your scores you were like “Whoa! That’s higher than I was scoring on my practice tests!”) then i would say put your effort towards your schoolwork or other places in your application (that aren’t “standardized”) where you really CAN stand out.</p>
<p>I don’t think that your scores will hurt you; just because you’re not in the top 25% doesn’t mean that you’re not gonna get into the school (for obvious, non-paradoxical reasons). Will higher scores make your application more competitive? Yeah. Will it make a huge difference and be the thing that makes them admit you? It’s possible, but I don’t think that’s very likely. I personally don’t see standardized testing as the thing that REALLY makes or break an application if you’re already in the range for the school (remember Penn’s Dean Furda saying that a 50 point difference in your score isn’t worth the retake?).</p>
<p>I think you should still retake it even though you have legacy. Legacy doesn’t help as much as they used to nowadays…</p>
<p>Thanks for the detailed response, gc414. I took them twice, and went up from 2120 to 2170. I just wonder if it would be worth it to get into a more comfortably-within-range score for applying. I know a 2170 won’t get me rejected (I think), but I just wonder if it would be better to work in my free time towards improving my score into the 2200s+ in order to be in more comfortable standing. Anyways, I guess there are strong arguments for both and it’s a decision that I really have to make myself. I guess I’ll see how the SAT IIs go.</p>
<p>Dusty, before you decide which SAT IIs you will take, be sure to go to the admission website of each school and make a notation of the SAT IIs they require. Sometimes, there is a requirement of one humanities, one math/science. Sometimes, if you take math, they want math 2 vs. math 1. If French is your first language, there might be a quirk about that. I don’t think your school list presents any “issues” that way, but better safe than sorry. Also while you are on the school websites, note the “early” admission plan requirements and pay attention to which test dates are acceptable. Again, I think your Nov. SAT I retake will likely be okay, but it will be good for you to see that expressly stated so you will not be stressed about it.</p>
<p>Thank you TXArtemis! All of the schools that I’ve visited say that any combination of tests is okay. Yale says they allow the November test for SCEA, so I should be alright if I decide to retake.</p>
<p>Yes, retake it.</p>
<p>you can probably have a third try, but don’t take a fourth try.</p>