<p>So I'm going into senior year in PA and I really want to go to UPENN. I took the SATs twice:
October 2011: r600, m660, w710
March 2012: r600, m780, w750</p>
<p>I'm kind of upset about my reading score and I want to take it again to try to improve the score, but would colleges look down on me for taking the SATs a third time. I'm also taking the ACTs in September so we'll see how that goes. What should I do?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1356034-self-answer-should-i-retake.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1356034-self-answer-should-i-retake.html</a></p>
<p>I think that if you take it a third time, it won’t have a huge negative effect.</p>
<p>If you are confident you can significantly improve the reading score (preferably into the 700s) then I’d retake. If you think that you probably wont have a significant change in your scores then dont.</p>
<p>You did a great job improving from October to March! I’d say if you could improve your CR score to 730+ you would be a very competitive applicant at UPenn (and almost any other college of your choosing)!</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s a problem with taking it a third time, since people generally seem to say that taking it up to three times is perfectly fine. I think it’d be better to take it than to regret not trying to improve the CR score.</p>
<p>It will not hurt, but since UPenn does not participate in Score Choice, I suggest you to not do so. </p>
<p>There is more to your application than a set of numbers.</p>
<p>Not to barge in on your topic or anything (i see no real point in giving this a whole topic of its own) but; if you took the SATs in seventh grade (Duke Talent search thing), will that count towards how many SATs you’ve taken? I took it as a 7th grader, and got a 1330, and a 9th grader and got an 1820, definitely planning on taking it again, but not sure if i should only take it one more time or two. </p>
<p>But for you dude, try reading some tougher books (possibly in a sparknotes version so after you read something you make sure you correctly comprehended it.), look online and find some vocab lists and just start trying to learn as many words as you can (when you see a word you dont know, seriously look it up in the dictionary). Take alot of practice tests online (or you can buy books with practice tests) and just keep on practicing… I would take it again because I’m pretty sure UPenn is an Ivy league (no?) and most ivy leagues want all the scores above 700. Not that a <700 reading score will kill your chances. You might have tons more to offer (like great ECs, recommendations, GPA, etc).</p>
<p>It technically counts because SAT scores are good for 5 years, BUT colleges don’t care about 7th grade so I’d say twice more.</p>
<p>No, middle school ones don’t count.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! The first time I got 5 vocab wrong and 12 wrong in comprehension. The second time I got 2 vocab wrong and 13 comprehension wrong. So I think vocab is not the issue. I’ll work hard this summer for sure and I guess give it a shot. I’d think id regret it If I didn’t.</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, how did you improve your math scores so much? Also how did you improve your writing scores?</p>
<p>for math i basically did all the practice math sections i could and realized that a lot of the same problems were repeated. Im actually pretty good at math in school so improving was quite easy for me in that subject. Just familiarize yourself with the kinds of questions they could ask so you’re not sitting there thinking of how to answer it. For writing i kinda just answered at first with whatever sounded right and like i said i just practiced more and found out what kinda questions they asked because i repeat themselves in the types of questions they ask so you can really answer it in like 2 secs. Like the neither nor or either or questions are so easily noticeable you can answer them quickly and focus on the harder questions. If anyone has any tips for reading that would be great!</p>
<p>I took the ACT 6 times… Half of those times were unnecessary, but at least I’m not taking it during senior year. 
If you’re gonna retake a standardized test, make sure you’ve prepared for it or else it’s a waste of time, energy, and money. I would know. Haha. :)</p>
<p>hahaha yeah ive been preparing a lot. Thanks for the advice!</p>
<p>That is a significant increase. I believe you should take the SAT one more time because there is an “increase”. Most likely you an increase your math scores to 800 as well.</p>