Taking SATs multiple times

How much will it affect the admissions process at the elite colleges such as Ivies, Stanford, Duke, etc. I’ve taken the old SAT 3 times without studying too much, and plan to take the new one three times as well. This is because my guidance counselors told me it wouldn’t matter how many times I’ve taken it, but I have picked up from the general internet talk that it could matter a little bit and it is better to get THE SCORE in one try.

So… how much will it affect me if I get fairly poor (relative to Ivy standards) SAT’s in a lot of the tests, but come out with a stellar score at the end. I’ve registered to take the new SAT this saturday… but I haven’t studied at all (2 hours max). I’m assuming it won’t hurt much if they do consider it, but at that level, anything can matter. If it helps, I’ve sent the scores to my top choices when I took the SAT’s the past 3 times, and they were all pretty poor scores, even for my own standards. So they definately have them.

I don’t want any assumptions, because that might just confused me… but anybody know for sure or is everything just an assumption?

I feel like my guidance counselors have let me down everytime, and my parents not being very college savy, I’ve had to do all the research and studying myself. Sigh…

<p>They will certainly see your other scores and they will take that into account in the overall impression of your application. If you get poor test scores the first several times and then get a high score, the impression given might be that you took a test prep course to boost your score. So, it can be bad, but it can also be good. If you think the pros of getting a very high score outweigh the cons of the impression you will make, go ahead and do it.</p>

<p>another point to consider....unless you do some serious prep work, your score will not likely change much after three tests. Thus, you are better off working hard and taking the new SAT once. </p>

<p>Yes, colleges will see all the old scores, and, in theory, they don't care how many times you take it, but psychologically they WILL wonder if you had nothing better to do on Saturday mornings.....EC's come to mind.</p>