<p>Hello,
So I recently took the SAT test for the first time and received a 2140, which seems like it is sort of an okay score, but when looked at closely, it's not. I received an 800 for critical reading, a 750 for math, and then a mere 590 for writing! I do not really know why I failed so badly on the writing section haha. But anyways, I was wondering what I should do. I feel that if I retake it again, I will not receive as high scores in math and reading, although my writing score will probably improve. What should I do? Also, are there any colleges that would look at just CR+M, because then my score would be 1550/1600? (I'm not sure how that compares to other people's scores though). Also, I am wanting to know my chances for Ivy League schools. Thank you!</p>
<p>800 Math
800 CR
650 Writing</p>
<p>I know. WTH?</p>
<p>My suggestion is to take the ACT. You already have a decent SAT score, so you can choose not to send your ACT if you choose not to. Also, the ACT has a writing section, which will allow you to gauge any progress in its similar writing section. If you get sexy scores on the ACT, try to retake the SAT. If not, stay put. Anyway, having both together does look better.</p>
<p>In terms of competitiveness, however, your SAT score looks suspect. Somthing 650+ would be okay with the 1550, but not something that doesn’t reach the 25% for any of the Ivy Leagues.</p>
<p>Yeah, I was doing this one section with vocabulary didn’t know the words, so I moved on to finish the section while planning on going to finish, but I never got the chance so I didn’t answer a ton of questions. The thing is, I didn’t really study for the last SAT test (except I did do one practice essay… which did not help obviously), so should I study and retake it then? Because my writing score is really out of whack… GiveMeReason, I am jealous of your test scores 
After this additional info, what do you think? Study more on vocab and writing or still take the ACT?</p>
<p>Although I hate to say this since I know it’s not what you want to hear… But in my opinion, I think you should retake the SAT because I agree with Givemeareason in that for Ivies, you really do need a solid writing score. Back in the day, Ivies required that one of the SAT II tests be the Writing test (when writing was a stand alone SAT II exam). So that should also speak for its importance. I also had an abnormally low writing score compared to my other sections, but I just retook the whole thing too. If you’re scoring the way you are on the writing, you might want to try out the Bellbright writing book because it’s got more practice drills than any other book and has really good videos of each drill being worked out. It breaks out every grammar topic so that helped me concentrate. It is more expensive than the other books out there, but it was hands down the best prep outside of private tutoring, which I couldn’t afford. Good luck and I’m sure you’ll do fine on the math and CR too!</p>
<p>Unfortunately a 2140 is not super competitive for Ivies. I would retake. Or take the ACT and see how you do there.</p>
<p>Btw, if you got a 750 on Math, very likely you could get an 800. It’s probable that you simply made some careless mistakes. I find students with a 650+ on Math typically know all (or at least most) of the math they need for the SAT, but they struggle with silly calculation or careless errors.</p>
<p>Okay, I was originally planning on retaking the SAT anyways, but then I got worried about my other scores. @macrohard, thank you for your book suggestion! I will look more into it, although it sure is pricey.
@wcpeng, if I do improve on Math and writing, but do worse on Critical reading, will the schools superscore my SAT scores or will they take the highest score?</p>
<p>Most schools will superscore (I see it in their interest to do so because now they can brag about their students getting higher scores), but you’ll have to check with each specific school to make sure.</p>
<p>Btw, I don’t mean to say 2140 is no good. It’s very good, but when you’re competing with the cream of the course, really try to get at least a 750 on each section.</p>
<p>Most schools superscore the SAT (use highest scores in each section), so I would study the writing, and especially pay attention to the essay part and how to do that better - then take it again. My D went up 100 points on writing when she retook it.</p>
<p>@pwcpeng, when you say to try and get 750 on each section, does that mean through several tests, or all in one test? Because on this first test I have 2 sections w/ 750 and above, but because of that one really bad score, my overall score dropped a lot.
and @kathieh1, it’s nice to know that retaking can have such a big difference :)</p>
<p>Look at what colleges you plan on applying to first. MIT, Uchicago, Cornell (and others) disregard your writing score completely.</p>
<p>@Eunhae: if you can get 750+ on each section in one sitting, that’s ideal of course. But if you can’t, then just get 750+ on separate tries. You’ve already gotten two 800s, so you should be able to do at least 750+ again on those two sections…just make sure you get that other score up there too. Good luck!</p>