<p>so i've taken the sat three times now - once in 9th grade, once this past december, and once this past january. </p>
<p>the first time I took it, I just wanted to test run what I'd get in a regular SAT testing session. I was stupid not to realize I could've done the same thing with a practice test. I didn't have any prior prepping, and it was terribly stupid, especially because I'm in an environment that already stressed years of prepping before actually taking the real test. but I took the test, and didn't cancel it. Needless to say my score was terrible. absolutely terrible. i'm so ashamed to admit it on collegeconfidential, or to anyone I even know. I'm actually not sure if I told my family my exact scores, either.</p>
<p>So i prepped over the summers preceding my sophomore and junior year (which makes me currently a junior.) I've come to realize that at this point, I generally get at least a 2100+ score (700-low 700s for CR, barely 700 for math, and 740+ for writing) and was very confident about the sat. and that's why I signed up for the december test. HOWEVER, i'm also an international student, and any international kid who took the test then also knows that the CR section was not only a copied version of a domestic test, but it was also fairly difficult with a rather weak curve. to be concise, my CR score fell around 70 points from what I usually got. it's an ok score, but not what I usually get. so i signed up for the january test immediately after to mediate my botched sat score.</p>
<p>and while I believe I've gotten a good score for january (enough to be finished with SAT I forever), I'm still extremely paranoid - if I DON'T get the score I want (I'm aiming 2200+), what am I supposed to do? I know taking the SAT multiple times is a total taboo, but first of all, my 9th grade testing was, well, in 9th grade. I'm not sure how heavily universities would weigh it. Plus, I didn't take it at my school so I'm not entirely sure if my counselor is even in possession of it (although I suppose that doesn't matter since I'm the one who sends score reports.) With that in mind, could I take the SAT a fourth time? (Only if it came to that option. I'm dearly hoping my January SAT score is enough to be rid of the reasoning test once and for all.)</p>
<p>I thank anyone who took the time to read through all this, and I hope I can get some well-reasoned answers.</p>
<p>if you don’t get the scores you want, i don’t see any reason not to, besides your decision that it’s just not worth it. for example if you’re aiming for a 2200 and get a 2190, if you’re happy enough with that then don’t take it again, but if you really feel you can do better, why not go for it? colleges don’t care how many times you’ve taken it, and score choice allows you to send whichever scores you want, so if you wanted to you could send in just 1 or 2 test dates if you don’t want schools to see all of them. i don’t see any downside to retaking them other than it’s a pain and for you it might be unnecessary.</p>
<p>and do colleges really not consider how many times you take the sat? i’ve heard that it was a myth that colleges don’t like it if you take it more than 3 times, but then again there’s a lot of untrue gossip at our school in terms of academics, so I didn’t take it seriously. </p>
<p>I just checked with the schools I’m considering applying to, and surprisingly more schools accept score choice than I originally thought. that was some valuable information, thanks for letting me know!</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard (mind you, I’m far from an expert on this topic; I only know what I HEAR from others), most people take the SAT 3 times. It won’t hurt you to take it 4 times or maybe even 5. But taking it more than that is far too excessive for 2 reasons. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>If score choice is unavailable, and you have to send all your scores, then you’ll look like you spent way too much time on the SAT, which you most likely did, and could have spent your time doing better things, like taking harder classes or doing extracurriculars. </p></li>
<li><p>After taking the SATs 3 times, your score will most likely not change no matter what you do. My counselor told me about how she knew a girl that took the SAT 3 times, took a $600 SAT prep course, and signed up to take the SAT a fourth time. She said she felt more prepared and ready this last time, and (surprise) she got the exact same score as she did the third time. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>However, because you took the SAT as a freshman your first time, I do not think taking is a fourth time would necessarily be a bad thing. I say go for it. Just don’t be too surprised or upset if your score is not as high as you wish. We all have limits. And guess what? The SAT isn’t as easy as everyone on here makes it sound :]</p>
<p>I took it 4 times. Same reasons as you; I just kept taking them, hoping I would get better with each test. I didn’t even have practice tests till just before the 4th time i took. I went 1850, 1940, 2040, 2280. Lol I was freaking out about how colleges would look at that when I got serious about applying, but I feel ok about it now. Just explain your situation in your essays and make sure you really aren’t obsessing over it and investing too much time into SAT rather than more meaningful ECs. If you are being real, then it should come across in your application.</p>
<p>thanks guys again for your responses. in reality i’m not really that sat obsessed, but i live in an environment that pressures you to have the highest scores possible with mass prepping (influenced my parents, who didn’t let me go for summer programs to go to sat prep courses like the one triffle mentioned, except a lot more extensive @_@) but because i’ve had to spend so much time on the sat, willfully or not, i feel like getting a subpar score to the time i invested renders all my prep time obsolete. and despite the fact that i hated sat prepping, i also dont want to know i wasted my time on it for nothing.</p>
<p>thanks guys, ill consider this after scores come out tomorrow. best of luck to everyone!</p>
<p>^ score is a 2150. it’d sound like such a better score if my writing score weren’t the lowest of the three. this sounds a tad ironic to my prior statement about not being obsessed with the sat, but what do you guys think i should do. this is one of the iffy moments, because i’d really like a good ivy-worthy sat score to balance out my lack of grades (i know 2100+ is a good score, but numerical value wise, 2200+ is also a very good score)</p>