<p>Ok so I've taken the SAT twice so far in December and March. My best scores are CR: 660, M:690 (should be 720+), W:760 (1350/2110) I'm applying to UPenn, Georgetown, ND, Johns Hopkins, and of course some matches and safeties as well. I plan to take the SAT again in May and SAT IIs in June, which would be my third time taking the test. However, over the summer I'm going to be tutoring kids at my school to prepare for the SAT and I feel this will also prepare me better for the test in October if I choose to take it. I think I have three options:</p>
<p>1) Take in May, do well, don't take again. (best choice of course)
2) Take in May, increase 40-50 points, take again in October.
3) Do not take test in May, take in October, but risk doing poorly. </p>
<ul>
<li>My other dilemma is the fact that taking the SATs four times may have a negative affect on my application when viewed by an adcom. I know my score won't go down for sure if I take it a fourth time, but I'm paranoid... </li>
</ul>
<p>Definitely do NOT take the SAT more than three times under any circumstances. That will just make any good score you get be written off as luck/repetition rather than achievement.</p>
<p>Honestly, I remember a Harvard adcom saying something to the extent of how it didn't really matter how many times you took the SAT; instead you should be focusing on your activities.</p>
<p>On that note, North Wales? :) Wissahickon, I'm guessing :P</p>
<p>2110 is not a bad score. I have a 2130 and have been accepted to schools like Boston U, Duke, WUStL, U Rochester, USC, and Cornell (and others...). If you are tutoring students for the SAT, you seem like the type of person who is involved in your community and extra currics. You can take the SAT again, but how many points can you improve by? If you think it will be significant, go for it, but why go through the torture of a four hour test if you may not improve?</p>
<p>oh I wasn't really concerned about subject tests. But sylenteck if you mean Wissahickon High School, no I don't go there. I go to La Salle High School. don't know if you've heard of it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Definitely do NOT take the SAT more than three times under any circumstances. That will just make any good score you get be written off as luck/repetition rather than achievement.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I disagree with this statement. Empirically, most people's scores rise from one time to the next, </p>
<p>and, yes, Harvard and other elite colleges don't care how many times you took the test, as long as you do other worthwhile things with your time. </p>
<p>Colleges have given up trying to distinguish one-time test-takers from two-time or three-time or even four-time test-takers, because that wasn't useful information to the colleges. There are a number of reasons for that. </p>
<p>1) The colleges have utterly no way of knowing who spends all his free time practicing taking standardized tests and who takes them "cold." </p>
<p>2) The colleges are well aware that students who have actually taken the tests sometimes cancel scores, so they have little incentive to give students bonus consideration if the students submit only one test score. </p>
<p>3) The colleges are aware that students who take the admission tests at middle-school age, who are numerous, do not have their earlier test scores submitted by default. </p>
<p>5) Colleges are in the business of helping students learn, and they don't mind students taking efforts to improve their scores. They know that students prepare for tests. </p>
<p>
<p>These arguments make sense to Mr. Fitzsimmons [dean of admission at Harvard], who said, “People are going to prepare anyway, so they might as well study chemistry or biology.” He added that “the idea of putting more emphasis on the subject tests is of great interest” to his group.
<p>Apparently, your score typically plateaus at or before the 3rd test. </p>
<p>Also: "Research shows that the average student who retests increases his or her combined critical reading and mathematics scores by approximately 30 points." </p>
<p>Also also: "Overall, 55% of juniors taking the test improved their scores as seniors, 35% had their scores decrease, and 10% had no change.
On average, juniors repeating the SAT as seniors improved their critical reading scores by about 12 points and their mathematics scores by about 13 points. About 1 in 25 gained 100 or more points on critical reading or mathematics, and about 1 in 90 lost 100 or more points."</p>
<p>^ that's a good point. I don't think I bombed the SAT, but I did do better on the ACT. Well... I took the ACT first, and it was a mistake to take the SAT because my ACT was super good</p>