<p>You are over obsessing about your test scores. It’s unproductive to do that, especially in light of what Princeton has to say about testing.</p>
<p>[Part</a> 1: Answers From Princeton’s Dean of Admission - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/24/guidance-office-princeton-answers-1/]Part”>Part 1: Answers From Princeton's Dean of Admission - The New York Times)</p>
<p>". . . it is important to understand how admissions officers read an application. At Princeton, every application is given a holistic review. Because we look at the totality of your experience, there is no formula to the process.</p>
<p>We look first at the transcript that is sent by your secondary school, and we evaluate the rigor of your program and the grades you have received. If you are in our applicant pool, we expect that you have taken the most demanding academic program offered at your school. You will be challenged when you get to our campus, and we want to be sure you are well prepared to handle our college courses.</p>
<p>We are looking not just at your potential, but at your performance. If you had a slow start to your studies in high school, we hope to see academic improvement.</p>
<p>We then review the recommendation letters that are sent by your teachers and guidance counselor. We read your essay and assess your extracurricular activities, how you have spent your summers, if you have had a job or were engaged in community service, what you may have done outside of school, and any other supporting material.</p>
<p>Admission officers understand that standardized tests measure quantitative ability, critical reading, an understanding of some subject areas, and writing skills. Combined with your grades, they only partially predict first-year performance in college. They do not predict, however, other values we hold in high esteem at the college level, such as motivation, creativity, independent thought, intellectual curiosity and perseverance.</p>
<p>When we shape our class, we look for students who will continually challenge themselves and contribute to a lively exchange of knowledge and ideas in the classroom. We seek students whose interests are varied and who have a record of accomplishment in athletics or the arts. We look for qualities that will help them become leaders in their fields and in their communities.</p>
<p>If one test could measure all these things, our jobs would be easy. Standardized test scores help us evaluate a student’s likelihood of succeeding at Princeton, but by themselves are not accurate predictors. For all these reasons, we have no cutoffs in test scores, nor do we have cutoffs in grade point averages or class rank. We consider all of these measures within the context of each applicant’s school and situation.</p>
<p>Although our most promising candidates tend to earn strong grades and have comparatively high scores on standardized tests, we look at other parts of the application, including essays, to learn more about the kind of student you are and how you approach learning."</p>