<p>I have improved substantially (from a 2150 to a 2300), but I have taken the test three times, while Columbia recommends that I take it no more than twice.
Will this hurt me?</p>
<p>Also, I plan to apply for engineering, but my required SAT science score for Physics or Chem (in my case, Chem) is 640. If I take the Physics one in October (and do much better), will Columbia totally disregard my Chem score? They state that they will consider the highest of the required scores, but I am still uneasy about this because my darned 640 will still be on paper.</p>
<p>Bear in mind this is entirely my own idea/thoughts based on all the college seminars and infosessions i’ve attended and stuff i’ve read online.</p>
<p>The SAT I is not a measure of how smart you are - it’s how well you take a test. Also, even with the 1/4 subtraction for an answer wrong rule, luck and guessing play a fairly large part in your score. ie: my friend took the SAT twice. He signed up for consecutive months because he knew his test was bad. He got a 2230 and didn’t study because he was busy with other things and got a 2400 second time. Unlike other people who brag about how they don’t study and are brilliant, my friend admits it was all luck he got a 2400. Thus theoretically if you keep taking the SAT infinite times after your first score, it WILL increase and probably by a good margin. However, as long as you showed an increase in your 2nd test, and then an increase in your 3rd testing (to a 2300) that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. After all, with the new score choice policy, many colleges have reiterated the fact that students who graduated this year and in previous years shouldn’t feel it’s unfair because they look at your cumulative highest score (the super score). </p>
<p>Your SAT score for chemistry is quite low for the engineering department. I took the SAT II chemistry twice. I got a 760 first time and it was a 78% percentile… so a 640 would be like a 50 something percentile? I got an 800 on it after taking AP chemistry. As long as your school isn’t extremely easy, try taking chem again after AP chemistry.</p>
<p>Colleges say they let you choose 2 or 3 SAT II scores and “disregard” the others, but in my opinion they still factor that in. It’s most likely given much less weight than the 2 you chose, but SAT II scores are used to balance out your transcript. SAT II and AP (AP scores aren’t even required for admission/not even sure it’s used) tests are the only tests that mostly everyone applying takes. Thus it is used to determine the difficulty of your school’s courses. If you got an A in your AP chemistry class but got a 640 on the SAT II and somebody else got a B but got an 800, it shows the person with a B is much more acquainted with chemistry than you are and just had a much harder class. </p>
<p>Remember, it’s all my surmising/guessing. Good luck though :)</p>
<p>I took SAT Chem twice, got a 680 then 690. But I got a 5 on AP Chem as well. </p>
<p>So if your AP is high enough, they may look at your lower SAT Subject scores a little differently. But they may not. Who knows. But it is possible to make it into engineering with below a 700 in your science subject test.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if Columbia follows the new score choice policy. If it does, then you have nothing to worry about, as you can just send your best scores.</p>
<p>there are still certain colleges still wanting all your scores, for example, Dartmouth, UCLA, Rice, Akron, and Columbia is one of these colleges.</p>
<p>WAIT. So even though schools like Stanford and Yale and Columbia do not support score choice, I can still use the service when I apply to these schools? Is there a risk?</p>