Hello! I am an upcoming senior for the 2016-2017 school year, and this past April and May I took two redesigned SAT tests. The first time I received a 700/800 in reading/writing and a 800/800 in math. The second time I took it I improved in reading/writing with 750/800, but for the math test my calculator broke halfway through the test, so I only scored 700/800. I plan on applying to competitive colleges that require all you send all SAT scores from every test (like Stanford, Yale, and Dartmouth) but don’t necessarily super-score. I’m happy with my 750/800 and 800/800 scores on their own, but I don’t think the 700-800 and 750-800 score combinations are as strong as they could be. Since most of the colleges I am applying to will see all my SAT scores no matter what, do you think it is worth it for me to retake the SAT again just to get it so both scores are high, or do you think colleges will kinda super-score on their own? Thank you!
Your result was not a “natural” consequence of your ability to perform well (broken calculator). You might consider retaking the test for that reason. (Yes, there may be informal superscoring, but since it’s informal, its impact may be hard to estimate.) Good luck.
Also be aware that Dartmouth allows score choice. And not sure about Yale, but Stanford (and most schools that don’t allow score choice) says they basically superscore on their own. I don’t think it’s worth a retake.
Thank you! Also, I forgot to add that for both tests I received two 6s and a 5 for my essay. Do you think this will significantly hurt my chances?
I forget what the new essay max score is - is it 24? Standardized essay tests are so subjectively graded and so meaningless to college-level work that it will only raise a flag of the score is really low - single digits low. Don’t worry about it.