Basically, a lot of people say that taking the SAT 2 or 3 times is bad for colleges, because they will think you are obsessed/ too focused on grades…but here why I don’t understand that argument:
if you take it multiple times and get a good score, it showsthe school it wasn’t a one shot deal.
if you take it multiple times and improve, it shows that you are motivated enough to study harder and do better, OR it shows that something went wrong the first time that you did badly
I don’t see how it is being obsessed if you simply want to show your true academic capability- maybe you were sick the first time, random thing X happened the second time, and neither score is truly representative of you.
it’s a double standard- so taking the SAT’s >2 times is <em>bad</em> because you are obsessed, but taking as many AP’s, honors, and difficult courses in every possible area isn’t bad?
can anyone else explain how universities look down on multiple tries at the SAT?
<p>for the most part, they don't care how many times you take it. BUT, once you exceed 3 times, the odds of significant improvement are small (at least that's what CB research shows). Moreover, colleges will start to wonder if you have nothing better to do with your Saturday mornings than be a professional test taker.</p>
<p>It is what ASAP said. If you take it 3 or less times, they will use your best verbal score, your best math score, and your best verbal score. If you take it more than three times, they will just average the verbals, the maths and the writings. It is to your advantage not to take it more than three times because of the way they calculate the final numbers that they will use. I'm sure that they do it this way to keep from encouraging applicants to take it ten times hoping that they will eventually get lucky.</p>
<p>"After that, some colleges average your scores."
"If you take it more than three times, they will just average the verbals, the maths and the writings."</p>
<p>I have a question though. Would colleges really WANT to average out the scores? If they always just took the highest individual scores, wouldn't they be able to boost up their average and thus help boost up their US News rankings? (Remember, a drop in rank = less applicants next year due to perceived decrease in quality = admissions dean might get fired).</p>
<p>That's an interesting point. Maybe we should give them some credit for not doing it that way. If they didn't average the scores after your third time, there are people who would take the SAT every single time it was offered after 9th grade. Maybe they just don't want to see the CollegeBoard make too much money.</p>
<p>There is no one-way of doing anything. Each college does it however they do it, but the guides say that there is a tendency for colleges to average the scores if you take them more than three times. </p>
<p>Since nobody has had time to take the New SAT more than three times, I think that JMAN1211 has hit the relevant point for chanman's question. Since the New SAT is so "new", it is hard to tell what colleges will do with the old SAT scores. They might not use them at all. Perhaps someone can email the CB and ask if they are even reported. If they are, then perhaps someone can ask a college how they plan to handle it. They may not even know yet. It certainly would not make sense to average the old scores with the new scores. As we used to say in algebra, that would be like adding apples and oranges.</p>
<p>if you get a 2390 and decide to take it over again, you look anal and obssessed with your test scores. Colleges hate kids who are completely obssessed with test scores and cannot stand any sort of "imperfection". Colleges want people, not machines that study for the SATs 5 times to get the perfect score.</p>
<p>asap & dufus: pls list the schools that average. I have personally been to numerous info sessions and the answer has always been 'we don't care how many times you take it'.</p>
<p>When you think about it, it is NOT in their best interest to average scores, since their average app pool then goes down....</p>
<p>Each college decides how to handle multiple test administrations. Given the fact that the SAT changed this year, I imagine that colleges will be very flexible when it comes to judging multiple SATs by members of the h.s. class of 2006. There are plenty of excellent reasons why such students may have chosen to take more SATs than has been typical in previous years.</p>
<p>There is not even necessarily a set policy at many schools on how to handle multiple SAT sittings. As NSM says, the fact that the SAT has changed makes this even trickier. A student who is from a challenged background who takes the SAT too early and gets a lousy score--retakes late junior year and does much better, then twice more senior year is not like to get the same treatment as someone who keeps taking the SAT and is getting small increases or some ping ponging. Also if your ECs show that test taking and prep look like your main activities, you are not going to be perceived as a very interesting applicant at many selective schools regardless of how high you bring up your score. You can increase your chances by doing some more worthy things when you are dealing with such schools, I assure you.</p>
<p>As you can imagine, I can not give a list of what colleges handle SAT scores in a certain way. Anything that an adcom does is secret. If an admissions officer for an Ivy can say that they consider many other factors besides SAT scores and that a person with a low SAT (1200) should still apply, then I think that that admissions officer might just be trying to keep their selectivity numbers high. "The Gatekeepers" and "Admissions Confidential" both support this opinion. At least five guides that I have read mention the rule about averaging SAT scores. For a lack of better information, I am mentioning that the guides say that. As far as the number of times that someone takes the SAT this year, I agree the New SAT has put an entirely different slant on things for this year. I would be amazed if they would average scores from the old SAT with the new SAT since they are different tests.</p>
<p>"The Gatekeepers" by Jacques Steinberg - very good book on college admissions! It's not one of those "how to get into ivy" type books. In fact, I'm reading it right now for my Education class at UCLA (taught by Professor from Graduate school of Education, US News ranked #2... so, I highly recommend it!)</p>
<p>How many times can I take the ACT?
Many students and parents are under the impression that repeating the ACT is not a good idea. They often feel that multiple scores will "look bad" or that good scores will merely be averaged with weaker scores. Both points are incorrect. First of all, you have the ability to send the highest scores. If you have taken the ACT multiple times, the ACT will only send colleges the score from the date you specify. </p>
<p>In addition, virtually all colleges use a student's highest scores in evaluating his or her application. They choose the highest scores in one of two ways. Some schools will combine the highest English, math, reading, or science reasoning scores from one test date with the highest English, math, reading, or science reasoning scores from another test date. If thats the case, then you can send multiple test results (if you have taken the ACT multiple times) to that school. Other schools take the highest composite score from a single test date. Ask your college counselor or call a college directly to find out a schools policy. In no case, however, is repeating the test detrimental. Most students now take the ACT 2 - 3 times, which is adequate for a well-prepared test-taker.</p>