Should I retake a fourth time?

<p>Alright, after my third time taking the SAT this October, I got a 2230 (CR:680, M:750, W:800). I probably can't improve my math score any more, so I'm considering taking the SAT one last time in December, this time preparing for Critical Reading only. I think I can get my CR score up to 750, which would bring me up to a 2300, with a 1500 out of 1600. I know that taking it a fourth time can look bad on college apps, but lately I've been hearing a lot about how that's not actually true and admissions officers don't care about how many times you take it. So, should I retake it?</p>

<p>No.</p>

<p>2230 is a great score-if it were in the 21 range I'd say okay go for the fourth time but I would say it could only hurt at this point. Focus on the other points of your application.</p>

<p>2250+ is considered ivy league status already, and you're only 20 points off...</p>

<p>Yeah but most schools don't look at the writing score, in which case I only have a 1430 out of 1600.</p>

<p>If you haven't been able to break 700 in CR in three tries, what makes you think you can do it the fourth time? I'm not saying it's impossible, but unless you've tried a new way of studying or learned a lot about passage analysis since your third testing, I don't see any reason for you to predict such a huge score jump on your CR from 680 to 750. 22xx is all right, depends on which ivies you're looking at, and yes you do have a 1430/1600 but then again you don't want to look like you're completely obsessed with your SATs... so I'd say to retake only if you have a reason to believe you will score much higher than you have in the past (because it's very unlikely that you were unlucky three times).</p>

<p>I honestly barely studied for CR each time. I only focused on writing and math. But now that I'm satisfied with those two scores, I can focus all of my efforts on reading. Also, I've never studied SAT vocab before. I usually get like 4 passage questions wrong and 5 vocab wrong total. If I memorize a bunch of vocab my score could increase dramatically.</p>

<p>It's just hard to believe you would get a SAT CR score that disappoints you, not study and take it again, get a SAT CR score that disappoints you, not study and take it again, and now.. get another SAT CR score that disappoints you. :O .. The more SAT testings you need to get a high score, the more looked down upon your final superscore will be even if you can raise yours into the upper 2200s or lower 2300s. And if you can only score well on one section of the SAT at a time (OK, I'm going to cram and get a high math this time, cram and get a high writing next time, cram and get a high CR next time...), that's something colleges will see and probably draw inferences from. Yes, if you memorize vocab now I agree that you can certainly raise your score. You should have done that before your first testing and not before your fourth..</p>

<p>Do you ever work with genuine previous tests to practice?</p>

<p>Let it go... Move on... Your scores are fine... Live your life....</p>