Should I take the SATs again?

<p>I've heard that you should only take them a maximum of 3 times because schools like UPenn (which I'm going to apply to) require that you send all scores and it looks bad if you take them too many times. I took the SAT in 9th grade as a baseline (b/c I didn't know that I would have to send the scores) and 2 more times junior year. I want to take them again but don't want the 4th time to hurt me when I apply (most likely to Penn). I just want to improve my reading score which is still below 700. Is it worth it to take them again?</p>

<p>We’d have to see your SAT scores to know whether or not you should take them again.</p>

<p>If it’s below a 2200, it’s probably worthwhile but otherwise I’d say it won’t keep you out of very many schools. What schools are you applying to? There are only a handful of schools where I’d say an SAT score below a 2250 will definitely keep you out, and if UPenn is the only Ivy that you’re looking at, I don’t think that having a “lowish” CR score will be that bad for you. Also depends on how good your math/writing scores are.</p>

<p>My math and reading scores are really good (1580 combined) but my reading scores are holding me down. I am looking at a couple of schools like Princeton, Yale, Wash U, Berkley, and Northwestern</p>

<p>And will it matter that I’m taking it for the 4th time?</p>

<p>Wait so a combined 1580 out of 1600 is holding you down? Are you serious right now? </p>

<p>Even though your reading score will not be great, your overall score will still be really good. A lot of colleges get annoyed when they see people just constantly chasing a perfect score. If it really bothers you that much, try taking the literature SAT II and see how you do on that. Even though your CR score isn’t great, it’s still within the middle 50% at most schools (assuming it’s almost a 700, if it’s below 650 that’s a different story) and I don’t think it would hold you back. Ultimately it’s up to you, but I would think that at a certain point your grades will demonstrate that you have a good enough understanding of reading and the English language and that the SAT just doesn’t demonstrate it well.</p>

<p>@Classof2018app‌ NO! my reading score (670) is</p>

<p>screenname, i dont know. i would get on CC;s penn page or other ivy league pages to learn about this issue or research the internet overall. i myself would not think penn is going to hold your freshman test scores against u so you could take SAT a 4th time if you are confident you will have a solid math score the 4th go around. i am sure penn would look at your freshman scores but they are awhile back and may not carry as much weight as you taking the SAT 3 times your junior year. i agree; you need to pull up your reading score, at least i think you do. My kid’s lowest test breakdown was a 650 in math and what we assume kept him out of ivy league contention. he did not apply to any Ivies so we will never know for sure. Still, i think his “chances” at penn were about 20 percent; they were considerably lower at Yale. but i do seem to remember he still had a shot at penn so you may not be as far off as you think you are. Regardless, a 720 CR is going to look better than a 670 so retesting is wise. Does Penn require the SAT subject tests? if so, you need to budget that into your schedule as well. </p>

<p>You have a 2250 lol, you’re good. Unless you wanna apply to reaches and you’re Asian, then repeat it only if you can do better? I’d probably retake it personally… just because I think that even though admissions are holistic, scores are pretty important. Well, depends, I don’t think they would take the freshman one into consideration… But don’t take it more than four or even three.</p>