<p>here's the situation....she's taken it twice and has gotten a 32 both times. She also has 4.0 unweighted and will likely be 4/300 in her class ranking. Strong ECs. </p>
<p>Here's the problem...she scored on the low side for writing....a 7 both times...despite being a really good writer...and really researching how to do well. So the plan is to take it a 3rd/final time tomorrow to raise that writing score. But who's to say if it will work...maybe she'll go down on everything.</p>
<p>We're sitting here really struggling with this...she feels very unprepared for tomorrow's test...and doesn't want to chance a lower score...on the other hand, one point higher composite....and 2 or 3 points on writing could make a difference. Are we wrong or right on this? </p>
<p>I guess she’s done something differently in that she’s studied less than before. :)</p>
<p>I don’t know…on the surface of it, it sounds nuts…yet I have talked with parents and kids who went into it without prep and did really well…maybe because of less stress? She also has this sense that she will deeply regret not trying this 3rd time…with the hope that the writing will go up…She has spent months and months studying for this crazy thing…but the last two weeks have been crazy for her and she’s done much less last-minute prep. </p>
<p>I’d let her back out and sleep in. She has good scores. No college is going to reject her on the basis of a short standardized writing test, especially if she is applying to colleges that require essays or other writing samples.</p>
<p>Have her go to bed early tonight and see how she feels in the morning? If she’s feeling well-rested and confident, then let her take it. What can happen? If her score goes down, send the older scores. If her score goes up, send the new one.</p>
<p>That said, I agree with Sally305. No college is going to reject her based on the writing component alone. You might even want to check a couple of the common data sets of her schools to see if they even look at the writing component during the admission process. Many don’t look at for admission purposes.</p>
<p>So here’s the end of the story…my kid gets up, says, “Mom, this is a big mistake.” But she puts on her “Keep Clam and Proofread” tshirt…walks into the test…and comes out 4 hours later and says, “hey, that went pretty well.” So there you go…ya never know. LOL Thanks for the Friday night late advice! </p>
<p>yahoo!!! So D just received her scores and she came in with a 33!! She doesn’t know the writing score yet (which was the reason she went in for the 3rd time) but she (and me) are dumbfounded by the 1 point jump…happy but really really surprised. So it just goes to show, NOT studying can really pay off. </p>
So it just goes to show, NOT studying can really pay off.