I just got my results for my first time taking the SAT. I got a 1560, 760RW and 800M. But on the essays I got 5/5/5. I didn’t really do any specific SAT prep so I guess I wasn’t prepared enough for the essay, and I also didn’t put as much effort in as I should have because I was tired by the end of the test lol
I just took the SAT subject tests in June so obviously I don’t have my results yet, but I don’t know if I did well. I took math 2, bio E, and USH. For math 2 I think I did well (omitted 2, hopefully got almost all of the rest right) but I don’t know about bio E or USH. What scores are good enough that I don’t need to retake it? For bio, I actually haven’t taken bio in awhile but based on the college board practice questions I felt like it would be easiest. Next year I’m taking AP Bio so maybe I’ll be more prepared for the September SAT? Junior year I took physics but I really don’t feel like I know the material very well so I didn’t want to take the subject test.
Does the USH subject test even matter?
Thoughts?
For SAT, a 1560 is fine…it translates into a 2300 on the old SAT, and most colleges will take that. If you really want to bring that essay grade up (5/5/5 can be kind of iffy but it’s not all that matters), then you could retake it, but the downside to that would be that you’d have to retake the entire, 4-hour long test. If you’re fine with your essay score (or if your college doesn’t even look at the essay score), then don’t retake it. Obviously, if you’re willing to put in the time and effort (and if you have enough time), then it doesn’t hurt to bring those scores up.
For SAT II, if you took Biology E or M without taking AP Bio, then I’m not sure what your chances for a high score are. Usually, if you get a score in the upper 700s, then retaking it is redundant. If you got around a 730 or below, then retaking it might be a good option. Depends on what colleges you’re going to apply to and if you have the time/motivation to do so.
Can other parts of my application compensate for the low essay score? For example, if I get a 5 on the AP Lang exam, to show that I do have some writing ability?
Would it matter much if I got something like a 1580 compared to a 1560? I feel like it wouldn’t really help but obviously it wouldn’t hurt? Because I think I do have some room to improve, at least for the super score. I got a 37 on reading and 39 on writing-- I only missed one for writing so it seem like I could potentially get a 40 on that. For reading, I feel that the May SAT was tough and the scale reflects that (I missed 7 questions), but maybe I can still get an extra point or two on an easier test.
For Bio E I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what my score is. I think I probably got an 800 on math but if not I’ll retake that. Do I even need to send my USH score if it isn’t good?
These are some of the colleges I’m thinking about applying to:
- Cal Poly SLO (first choice, essays and subject tests not considered)
- Stanford (not expecting to get in or anything but might apply…)
- MIT (see above)
- UCs (UCLA, UCB, UC davis)
- Maybe Caltech?
Those are just the more selective ones, I’m looking at safeties and stuff of course, but I think a 1560 is more than sufficient for schools with >30% acceptance rates…
Thanks for the help!
@DogsAndMath23 SAT-wise, a 1580 really isn’t going to matter compared to a 1560. Sure, it’ll help, and if you have the exact same specs as someone else and if they have a 1580 and you have a 1560, then obviously they’ll pick the other person. However, chances are miniscule that you’ll have the exact same specs as someone else. I think you’ll be fine on the SAT (unless you really want that 1600, in which case you could go for it at the expense of time and effort).
As for the essay, they do look at your other classes/tests. Of course, the essay score will be seen as a weakness and it’ll be a disadvantage, but if your other lang/lit classes/tests are phenomenal, they will likely see the essay as an anomaly.
As for which subject tests to send, I think you can usually choose which ones to send but it really depends on the college–some colleges/scholarships require you to send all scores, and I’m not sure if the colleges you listed require it (I think Stanford requires all scores but I’m not too sure about that).
Good luck on your applications! Again, SAT scores are not the only things that matter and based on your other activities, you could get into some of those top-tier colleges even with lower test scores (not that they’re low).
@koalasium Thanks, yeah that’s what I thought about 1580 vs 1560. I mean, to take a few SAT tutoring sessions on the essay and sit and take the test again is really not that many hours of my life so I guess I might as well do it?
I’m thinking I’ll retake the SAT in August and take any subject tests I need in October, hopefully only Bio, if anything (accidentally said September SAT above but meant October). For MIT the 25th percentile is a 740 so yeah, under that isn’t good. They have score choice though so I don’t have to send the results of the one I just took. Stanford doesn’t, but they also don’t require subject tests.
I’m not too set on getting into Stanford/caltech/MIT, I’m touring Stanford this summer so I’ll see how that goes. I’m leaning toward not applying to Caltech at the moment but who knows. And I know that MIT is very holistic with admissions. For my first choice, Cal Poly, I don’t think they consider subject tests or the SAT essay at all. So I think I would probably be OK without retaking the SAT I but I might as well try to bring that score up.
For MIT I just found out that they have EA not ED, I thought you had to commit, so I guess I’d want to apply EA there, which means I need my scores by then-- it says on the website I just need to take it by December so that’s fine.
@DogsAndMath23, I think your SAT math and verbal scores are fine. The essay? I don’t know. Get additional opinions. I’ve heard that some schools don’t care about it, and only want your essay in order to compare against the essays on your application if they think your application was professionally written. Other schools might look at the actual number, and this number is low for your other scores. You might want to look at the individual schools you’re applying to and see how they look at this. The harm in retaking the SAT again is that time is limited. You need to think whether your time studying for this will take away from doing other things, and if so, what.
I think only Georgetown requires 3 SAT2s. But, now that you’ve taken 3, you need to look up the individual colleges’ policy with regard to submitting all scores, or just 2. FYI, I know plenty of kids who took the Bio SAT2 after freshman year bio and got in the upper 700s and even 800, so I wouldn’t be worried about the fact that you didn’t take AP Bio yet.
I mean, I don’t think retaking it would be a huge effort, a few hours of tutoring sessions plus 4 hours of testing is only maybe 10 hours total? I definitely have 10 hours to spare over the summer. Honestly I think just getting up to 6s would be ok.
Yeah for the bio test I felt like I was making strategic guesses most of the time, so maybe I got lucky but maybe I didn’t… I feel like I remembered almost all of my previous biology classes where it came up but some of the material was not covered at all in my other bio classes so I struggled there.
MIT has score choice, Stanford doesn’t, not sure about Caltech or the UCs or UW (forgot to mention that one). But other than UCLA and UCB I don’t think subject tests will be a deal breaker since 1560 is decently above average for schools like UC Davis, IIRC.