<p>GregB777,</p>
<p>Your post was very helpful. I think the point about being a dynamic person making a difference in society is something to mull over. No, I don’t think every applicant accepted to Harvard (or other selective college) is exactly like the students you describe but I’d bet the students accepted to these colleges are dynamic, passionate, extremely accomplished, and are contributors to society in some way and that might count more than a less than perfect SAT score.</p>
<p>When is the deadline for these schools to accept SAT scores? Up until they make their decisions?</p>
<p>"my position - that you do not need to retake - is the one taken by our school’s counselors as well. They have a great track record - generally about 2/3 to 3/4 of our seniors end up with at least one ED/EA/other early option acceptance at a good to great school, and a very considerable percentage end up at their first/second choice college. "</p>
<p>The above depends on the school. East Coast traditional private Feeder School?, Well known Public (Stuy)? Good public school (top 500?), rural unknown high school with no AP’s? </p>
<p>I’ll say it again, the common denominator is the SAT. Admissions will look at your school profile to compare one HS vs. another. Often you cannot control what HS you go to, you cannot control the HS reputation, etc. etc.</p>
<p>The one thing everyone does is take the SAT (or ACT).</p>
<p>So OP - I advocate you re-take. What does it hurt? I assume you will take Math 2 for a subject test. So study hard on Math and you will do well in the Math 2 and raise your, SAT 1 math. You may not get an 800 CR, but I doubt it will drop below 750. Your superscore will now be that much better and you really didn’t study more.</p>
<p>Makes sense?!!</p>
<p>i think so - it’s just that i really DON’T want to do worse this time. especially since i’ll probably be applying to some schools that don’t do score choice. sometimes i feel like studying ISN’T a good idea, because you can psyche yourself out… idk. should i study? i didn’t study the first time. i guess i’ll just give it some more thought.</p>
<p>What? You didn’t study the first time? Are you a public school kid? Can’t be.</p>
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<p>No problem… with Photoshop. ;-)</p>
<p>haha, i’m flattered, but no, i didn’t study.</p>
<p>If you didn’t study, you should so that you can make a single sitting 2400 and be up for a presidential scholar award…</p>
<p>mehhh, see, but that’s the thing… i don’t know if studying would help me at all! i think sometimes it makes it worse because you start to over-think everything :/</p>
<p>katytx - the school is an excellent one, although also very new and without a large reputation. The kids , however, do go to very high caliber colleges. I’m not talking about kids getting into their first choice because it is nearest state school. I"m talking about the Ivies, MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech, various elite LACs, the service academies and a smattering of overseas schools as well.
Additionally, our counselors have been ‘on the other side of the table’ - they have been admissions officers in elite schools. They know what they are talking about.
ANother excellent counselor I know who has been in the business for decades agrees. The final few points don’t matter.</p>
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<p>As a parent of a kid who happens to actually have those extra few points, I find that disheartening, considering the odds of acceptance these days. :-(</p>
<p>It is disheartening but I am hoping, hoping, hoping that our children’s passions, leadership, character, and experience (both in employment and service) will shine through in their essays, interviews, and applications, and that will be the deciding factor rather than a perfect SAT I. </p>
<p>My son, a junior, was very satisfied with his 2320 single sitting in December (800M, 790CR, 730 W, even though he got a 78 on the PSAT), and yes, a few people have advised me to encourage him to retake but he is done and has moved onto other things. </p>
<p>Now, had he gotten a perfect SAT, that would be icing on the cake! :-)</p>
<p>To the OP, yes, that’s a tough one about overthinking. My son definitely does that on tests and it can work against him. There is quite a psychology in testing. He also puts pressure on himself but he can be satisfied with less than perfect scores-very good scores but not perfect-so for that, I am thankful.</p>
<p>Not everybody studies for SATs (folks here on CC are a different breed). My son (public school) just hit 2270 on his first try without any prep. Yes, I’m a proud dad. Honestly, I tried to get him to take practice tests, but he wouldn’t do it. He just wanted to get it out of the way, one time.</p>
<p>Son also questioning a retake, but to squeeze out more points has some risk. In my son’s case, of the number of kids with the same scores who re-take, the combination of those who get the same score plus those who go down is higher than the number of those who improve. </p>
<p>So what it you go down and if the school sees both scores, do colleges assume the second test was a “bad day” or that you were lucky (i.e. guessed better on those couple of “it could be one of two answers” questions) the first time?</p>
<p>In any event, all the best to any of you who try it again.</p>
<p>No. .</p>
<p>We sort of turned the idea of taking practice tests on its head: I had a few old SAT and ACT guides lying around that I had picked up over time for a buck or less at various thrift shops. I looked through the answer explanations for some of the more difficult math problems and asked my son if he could find quicker solutions than the ones provided. Sure, no problem! It’s funny how many questions you can get correct holistically just by looking at the answer choices; most of the answers are out of range or have a wrong sign or other element, and usually the right answer has a very similar wrong companion to trap those who make a careless arithmetic error – determine the sign and you don’t need to do the actual calculation. </p>
<p>I highly recommend this process for those who are shooting for a perfect score and are trying to bank time on the bulk of the test to allow more for tough problems or double-checking answers for sloppy mistakes.</p>
<p>Your score is absolutely fine. I dont find any reason at all to retake it. Start concentrating on other parts of your application such as the common app essay.</p>