<p>Hey. Standardized tests have not been my strong point. I think im at best above average at em. In the SAT, my reading was a 600 (its really hard for me to improve) my writing was a 720 Essay:11, and my math was a 760. My SAT 2s are; Math IC: 740, Chemistry: 750, Biology: 710 and i plan to take Math IIC in Nov. Im also retaking the SAT in Oct. But my weakness is reading and im really afraid that that'll hold me back. I'm doing well in school though; my gpa is a 98. Do you think that my standardized tests are too low for the competitive schools? Thanks a lot for any advice.</p>
<p>not that your scores are bad, but for MIT and Stanford you need around 2300 SAT and closer to 800 on your SATIIs but if you have great APs and recs and essays and ecs, who knows. also if your a girl you have a much better chance at MIT</p>
<p>oh and average technically is 1500. 2080 is not average. Maybe for your crazy prep school it is, but not for the rest of the country.</p>
<p>740 on the mkath IC makes MIT out. And yes, a 1360 will make ivies out unless you're a URM or athhlete or have an amazing talent.</p>
<p>First of all, your SATIIs are perfect. A 740 on MathIIC and 750 on Chemistry is enough, though I guess taking a stab at one more couldn't hurt.</p>
<p>Verbal, you'll want to get your score up to the high 600's or low 700's at least. That's a challenge, but it is actually quite possible with effective studying: review vocab words and do practice tests.</p>
<p>for MIT you NEED 800 on MathIIC. i got 800 on mine and it said i was in the 88th percentile. remember, top schools dont care about all the kids you are better than, but the ones as good and better than you. from my school MIT passed on the male valedictorian for 3 girls and one boy with alumni status.</p>
<p>Oh lord, you do not either need an 800 math IIc to get into MIT.</p>
<p>If you search posts on CC by the user benjones, who is one of MIT's admissions officers, you will see that he has said many times that any SAT II above 750 is viewed equally -- the person who gets an 800 on the math IIc does not have an advantage over the person who got a 750.</p>
<p>will the 1360 (CR + M) really keep me out? o man....... i dont know if ill improve at all.... i really hate how schools put so much importance on standardized tests!</p>
<p>And you probably hate that cause you haven't done as well as you might have hoped. That 600 will really hurt you, to tell you the truth. If I were you, I'd try as hard as I could to improve and it would relieve a lot of the pressure.</p>
<p>And God no, you don't need a 2300 to get into Stanford nor do you need an 800 on IIC to get into MIT. You do, however, need pretty high scores to be in the running most of the time so those aren't bad scores to shoot for.</p>
<p>2300 for Stanford? I think you are extremely disillusioned. Collegeboard.com and Stanford's site has different stats that don't say you need a 2300 to get into Stanford. If you look on Stanford's college board admission profile you see they prioritize Character/personal qualities far above standardized scores.</p>
<p>My reccomendation to you(the original poster) is try to bring your critical reading up...it is possible! What helped me a lot was doing AP practice language tests with my AP teacher...and studying vocab! I got my crit. reading up 110 points that way! Trust me... you really can do anything if you work hard enough.</p>
<p>I'd get an SAT book(not the collegeboard's because I think there are much better like Baron's) and do critical reading excercises.</p>
<p>^Amen. (10 char)</p>
<p>ive tried really really hard to the point that trying any harder will not improve my scores.... ive bought the princeton review, kaplan, barrons and collegeboard books and tried to improve on every practice test. my vocab wasnt the problem, rather it was the reading. i have a hard time understanding passages quickly. Since i want to major somewhere in the sciences, will they really look at my CR that harshly? ill try for the last time to improve my CR by this oct, but i really hate to think that that ONE section will hold me back, or rather i dont believe it. Academics is half of what they look at. That half is then divided into SAT and School. Within SAT there is SAT and SAT2s. SAT2s i think im set, hopefully. within SAT there are 3 sections. So Critical reading is basically like 4.1% of the whole circle graph lets say. I don't believe that small percentage will hold me back. Sorry im a really frustrated.....</p>
<p>Don't think of it so much on the individual level . . . put yourself in context with the tons of applicants to the very selective schools you have chosen that have statistically everything you have except a higher verbal score.</p>
<p>Well let me ask you this...does reading science papers give you the same trouble as the passages on the SATs? If you answered no, then you need to rid yourself of that negative attitude...anything can be done by focusing hard and working toward your goals...I don't care of any excuse that you give. Just because you want to major in sciences doesn't mean they will necessarily look only at your math.</p>
<p>Have more faith in your ability.</p>
<p>seriously, don't worry about it. don't listen to the person who says a 2300 is needed for stanford and mit. that person has clearly never visited collegeboard.com.
so, unfortunately your SAT1 Reading is low, but if you write good essays and have gotten good grades in English, you should be fine.</p>
<p>can i claify what i meant by needing the 2300. ofcourse they wont deny you admission for having a lower score and ofcourse stanford and mit do not have cutoffs for grades and test scores (unless you have a 2.0 and 1000 on the sat). but what a 2300 does is put you on level with the top candidates at these schools. your 2080 is very much on the lowside of admitted students at these schools and you can get in with it, but it requires better essays, recs, grades, etc. honestly, all you need to do is raise your CR by 50 points or so, which is what i raised mine by, and your other two scores will go up naturally putting you in great shape to get in sat wize.</p>
<p>O, and your IIC grade will be higher than your IC. it is curved more and i have several friends who took both tests on the same day and scored much higher on the IIC.</p>
<p>How are your grades? Grades are way more important than standardized tests. A 1360 won't keep you out of HYPSM, but you'll increase your chances of getting in immensely.</p>
<p>Also, MIT only takes people who they know can do the work, and it's intense. Be sure it's what you want before you apply. i don't think it makes much difference if you get an 800 or a 790 or a 770 on Math IIC.</p>
<p>This is so rediculous! I don't think anyone on this board is an admissions counselor. They are just saying the SATs are the apex of your decision because they probably have a low GPA but high SAT scores. Check the CollegeBoard.com for a "real" idea. If you are below the 25% admit range, you have a slim shot unless you have legacy, minority, or other status. If you are above the 75%, then you have a very decent chance. Good luck!</p>
<p><a href="http://web.mit.edu/ir/cds/2004/c.html%5B/url%5D">http://web.mit.edu/ir/cds/2004/c.html</a></p>
<p>About half-way down the page it shows that 32% of freshman admitted had verbal scores between 600 and 699. You are still at the very bottom of that interval (only 5% were below 600), but it goes to show you do not have anything TOO serious to worry about.</p>
<p>Considering the competition you'd face and given your current SAT and SAT2 scores, it's very unlikely you'd get into MIT, Stanford, or any of the Ivies. But, if you're interested in tech and science, there's a bunch of very good, not quite as murderously selective schools that you'd have a decent chance of getting into. A short list is below:</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon
Case Western Reserve
Georgia Tech
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
Purdue
Rochester Institute of Technology
Lehigh</p>
<p>There's more, of course. Do some research. There's lots of schools out there that would love to have a kid with your stats apply.</p>