<p>My son has taken the SAT 3 times this year, with a superscore of about 2100 (from the first two attempts).</p>
<p>Math has been his problem, hence decided to take it the 3rd time. But his performance was the worst of all three - his scores were much lower for each section (M/W/R), and I don't think he opted for score choice.</p>
<p>He is registered for one last attempt this November. Should he take it? I know some schools frown upon numerous SAT attempts... or decided to leave with his current score?</p>
<p>If you have not sent scores to schools, take it as many times as you want and send only the best score(s). That is what all students should do anyway.</p>
<p>Depending on his individual scores your son scored in the top 5-7% on this test. Doesn’t he have anything better to do with his time than take it for a fourth time?</p>
<p>The advice we were given at S’s school was not to take the SAT more than twice as typically there is no benefit. If this were my child I would not retake.</p>
<p>As you said and shown, your son’s scores are getting worse. Unless he has a real reason to think he’ll do better this time around, I’d stop spending my money on it.</p>
<p>By the way, are you allowed to take the SATs as many times as you want and only send in your best scores? So in essence the colleges you are applying to will only know your best score and think you only took it once if you only send it one score?</p>
<p>As much as you may not like it, the SAT scores show your son’s relative aptitude at English vs. Math. He should pick a major/college that also reflect those abilities.</p>
<p>We were only hoping he could at least get 2200, but as of now, I agree there is no benefit to taking it the 4th time. He is a humanities / social sciences guy and will be majoring in that area. </p>
<p>I also thought he could select to send certain scores - for example, the first two attempts. But don’t / can’t schools have access to all the other scores?</p>
<p>If he is applying to any schools that do NOT allow score choice, I would definitely not have him take it again. Four times is frowned upon… If he is only applying to schools that allow score choice, then it doesn’t matter as much how many times he has taken it - but as he has not seen much of a benefit, I would caution against taking it again since now the common app asks now many times it was taken.</p>
<p>Proudpatriot, I think the superscore is 2100. OP, my daughter took the SAT a 2nd time, when she had a terrible cold, and her superscore went up 10 points. She opted to take it a 3rd time, and her superscore went up an additional 30 points. Part of the rationale for taking it a 3rd time was that she doesn’t get nervous taking tests (in addition to the fact that she was sick for the 2nd sitting). And she doesn’t sweat about the results, either. I had to remind her this morning that the results would be made available today. It depends on the kid, but I would tend to agree with dvader, there doesn’t seem to be a good reason to take it again. Good luck.</p>
<p>I really think that he has already overdone it. He should have stopped after the second try. At this point, his best CR score is looking like a fluke. I don’t think that is what you want. If for some reason he needs a certain score–say, for a scholarship program–you might want to try the ACT instead. But I think he’s done with the SAT.</p>
<p>BTW, it is my impression that the CR + M scores are still the ones that really matter, so pointing to a total where a great W score makes up for a mediocre-to-poor M score doesn’t really give a good picture of where he stands. The breakdown matters. That said, his scores are good enough to get into most of the schools in the country.</p>
<p>He might want to try a practice ACT and see how he does.</p>
<p>My son had the similar SAT CR/Math scores…750 and 580…or something close to that. He got accepted to 6/7 of the universities to,which he applied. Two were music conservatories so…maybe don’t count those. The other four were universities that required academic admissions.</p>
<p>DD had the opposite…and not as high…scores…660 for math and 570 for CR. she got accepted to 4/5 colleges.</p>
<p>What is your concern? There should be plenty of colleges where your son would gain acceptance.</p>
<p>I’ll get to the point quickly. When it comes to college applications, MOST advice given within the four corners of a high school is either uneducated or dead wrong. </p>
<p>In today’s admission world, there are no penalties for taking the SAT as many times as one think it is necessary. While common sense dictates, that one should only do it when there is a GOOD chance to improve, there are no reasons why an arbitrary number of 2,3, or 4 is advanced. </p>
<p>The real question should not be about the number of tests, but entirely about what the student did to improve the chances of a higher score. Repeating the test WITHOUT proactive preparation does NOT offer many benefits. And that is where that poor advice by GC found its origin. However, repeating the tests after preparing in earnest should pay dividends, unless a student DID reach his or her natural limit. </p>
<p>To keep it simple. If the student did not show signs of improving the math score (the area that responds the best to adequate preparation) there is little benefit to take it again. If the student did improved in practices, there is a tremendous benefit in taking it again, and probably no downside except for ruining a Saturday morning.</p>
<p>
Yet, there is little evidence to support that often repeated claim. And few admissions officers who will go on record to confirm that they not only frown upon but also ACT on it. On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence that the schools do want the higher scores, and that they rely extensively on superscoring the tests. If they really frowned upon multitesting, they would simply abandon superscoring. And they … are NOT about to do that! </p>
<p>For the interested, grab a copy of the seminal research on this issue. Google Tom Fischgrund and perfect 1600.</p>
<p>What about trying the ACT as well as the SAT? Some students do better on one test compared to the other, and that gives one additional chance to get a higher score.</p>
<p>^^ there is a reason that some schools (some of which are “elite” schools) do not allow score choice. They want to see exactly how many times a student took a test to obtain the scores that they did. From having worked in admissions, I know that for these schools repeated testing does more harm than good. On some of the university websites it actually says that they urge students not to take it more than twice.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine letting a kid take that test more than twice. It’s supposed to be a reflection of your aptitude in various areas, not of your perseverance or endurance. (There are other measures of those two qualities!)</p>
<p>Unless your child is ill, has a concussion, or is dealing with some other issue that inhibits clear thinking, I say get the test over with and accept the score you get. There will be a place in college for your child.</p>
<p>I am surprised to hear about taking SAT so many times becasue of math. Math socre is the easiest one to improve. But you have to work on it, not taking test over and over. It is impossible to improve Verbal, you can only get more lucky next time, but math, all you have to do is to practice many many times and go over every single mistake and completely understand every solution.<br>
If the decision is to re-take, then I would advise to practice math, take timed practice test math section until the desired score (which should be a bit higher on practice test than your actual goal) is achived.<br>
Frankly, D. did not even attempt to prepare for other sections. How you can improve your Reading? Impossible. she only prepared math, which also happened to be her strong subject. She had to have a very high score, we knew that her verbal will be low and she had to compensate for that. This strategy worked! And as predicted, her Verbal (or Reading, whatever the name) was wooping points below the rest of exam, but her total score was solid for her goal, which was accomplished.</p>
<p>More than a decade ago, when similar discussions arose, I usually responded by issuing a “challenge.” I asked people who “reported” the positions to share the name of the school and the admission officer and promised to follow up on it via email. To this date, nobody has ever responded. Here, it would be nice to know where cba practiced his or her skills! </p>
<p>Again, the issue is not what adcoms might say in private or even in those execrable “townhall” meetings, but what they do. Are we really to believe that they will look negatively on a superscored 2380 and positively on a 2050 obtained in one session? Does anyone get a brownie for NOT taking the SAT and reporting a score that is lower than one could obtain.</p>
<p>Further, the issue of schools such as Stanford who have rejected Score Choice and want to see all scores, is also pretty simple. They want to see a complete and accurate history, but do not look negatively on the repeated efforts. </p>
<p>Lastly, how many adcoms are there who actually see the entire scoring sheets as opposed to a reader file that only contains the superscores entered by technicians?</p>
<p>And, with the purported equality between the SAT and ACT, why would schools treat the tests differently and accept the de facto score choice possibility of the ACT and frown upon the SAT?</p>