<p>Here's the dilemma:</p>
<p>I've taken the SAT twice: first time (December) was a 2210, second (January) was a 2250. Superscore sits at 2270 right now: 800 CR, 770 M, 700 W.</p>
<p>I'm perfectly happy with my CR (duh) and M scores, but my W has me a bit worried. It's not terrible, but it is fairly low for what I'm aiming for (Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Williams etc.). I write well, just not in 25 minutes. I've also had a personal goal of 2300+, but I'm not hugely obsessive about that.</p>
<p>Everyone I've talked to seems to think that these scores are perfectly adequate for these schools, and that a relatively low writing score will likely be overlooked considering my perfect reading score, IB English Lit. score, and application essays.</p>
<p>However, I'm also pretty confident that I could boost my writing score by at least 30-50 points if I cut down on the number of mistakes I make in the grammar sections (and keep my essay at 8+).</p>
<p>Opinions?</p>
<p>Oh, and I'm Chinese-American, but living in China now (convoluted life story for the win).</p>
<p>You realize a 700 in writing is still either 98 or 99 percentile in the world right?</p>
<p>96, actually.</p>
<p>But yes, I understand your point.</p>
<p>A lot of schools don’t look at Writing too closely… don’t think its too much of a problem. But if you’re confident you can boost it then just go for it.</p>
<p>SimplyBMW that is terrible reasoning, does Harvard accept the top 1% of all SAT takers? No, Harvard accepts the top .0001% of top SAT takers so that’s just dumb. Also, a 700 writing is pretty bad compared to your other scores. I got a 720 CR 730 M 790 Writing</p>
<p>“No, Harvard accepts the top .0001% of top SAT takers so that’s just dumb.”</p>
<p>Considering that ~2,000,000 students take the SAT annually, 1 out of a million seems pretty ridiculous, even for H.</p>
<p>My main concern is whether a 700 W will detract significantly from the rest of my scores. I’ve heard conflicting stories from counselors and internet resources about how the writing section is weighted, so I’m trying to gauge whether a retake would be worth the stress, 5 hrs, and 75$. I know that SATs are of relatively little significance in hypercompetitive college admissions once you’ve passed a certain point; I just want to know if I’ve passed that point.</p>
<p>Your score is at a level where an increase would be relatively insignificant. </p>
<p>With that said, the writing section is pretty easy to improve upon, and I’m confident you can score higher with a little bit of practice (even just honing your essay skills should yield 750+ on a good day). Though I’d worry about dropping your CR/M, mostly CR. </p>
<p>Anyway, I have a nifty PDF of writing questions that you can use to study, so feel free to PM me for that if you’d like.</p>
<p>Do you have any wisdom to offer about CR? I got a 2260 with 700CR on my SAT and am hoping to retake for something north of 2300, with hopefully a mid to high 700s CR.</p>