<p>I am a senior and have taken the SATs twice. the first time I got these scores: Reading: 570, Writing: 530, and Math: 640. The second time I got on Reading: 640, Writing: 620, and Math: 670. However, I am going to take a gap year and am thinking of taking the SATs again, because I am fairly confident that I can do considerably better. Is it true that colleges only take your highest scores into account? Is it possible to only send my highest scores, or is the whole packet automatically sent?</p>
<p>Come on guys! Just give me a short response.</p>
<p>I think CB's new Score Choice policy allows you to just send your highest scores. Some college, though, usually the top competitive ones, still require all of your scores to be sent to them. As far as I know, colleges only look at your highest scores. If you're confident you can do better...I'd say go for it! =)</p>
<p>Don't worry about it- just don't retake it over three times because then it's just excessive and adcoms will think you have nothing else to offer them than a passion for the SAT. But you seem to have plenty of room to improve so you go girl.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input guys.
PS: Zenbadabing, not a girl, but it's all cool.
Anybody with my current scores that took the SAT again and got significantly higher scores? If so, what did you do to study?</p>
<p>my october sats i got 640 math, 580 writing, and 560 reading... and my december sats jumped to 660 math, 640 writing, and 630 reading.. so ours are pretty similar... i raised my score simply by just taking practice sat's and finding out my mistakes and improving on them.</p>
<p>Read the FAQ I post all over on CC: </p>
<p>ONE-TIME TEST-TAKING </p>
<p>Colleges have given up trying to distinguish one-time test-takers from two-time or three-time or even four-time test-takers, because that wasn't useful information to the colleges. There are a number of reasons for that. </p>
<p>1) The colleges have utterly no way of knowing who spends all his free time practicing taking standardized tests and who takes them "cold." </p>
<p>2) The colleges are well aware that students who have actually taken the tests sometimes cancel scores, so they have little incentive to give students bonus consideration if the students submit only one test score. </p>
<p>3) The colleges are aware that students who take the admission tests at middle-school age, who are numerous, do not have their earlier test scores submitted by default. </p>
<p>SAT</a> Younger than 13 </p>
<p>Hoagies</a>' Gifted: Talent Search Programs </p>
<p>Duke</a> TIP - Interpreting SAT and ACT Scores for 7th Grade Students </p>
<p>4) Colleges are aware that the majority of students who take the SAT at all take it more than once. </p>
<p>5) Colleges are in the business of helping students learn, and they don't mind students taking efforts to improve their scores. They know that students prepare for tests. </p>
<p>From the New York Times: "Although coaching would no doubt continue if subject tests replaced the SAT, at least students would be focused on content as much as test-taking strategies, Mr. Murray said. There would also be pressure to improve local high school curriculums so that students were prepared, he wrote.</p>
<p>"These arguments make sense to Mr. Fitzsimmons [dean of admission at Harvard], who said, 'People are going to prepare anyway, so they might as well study chemistry or biology.' He added that 'the idea of putting more emphasis on the subject tests is of great interest' to his group." </p>
<p>6) And now the College Board is back in the business of letting students choose which test scores to send into colleges, </p>
<p>Score</a> Choice - New SAT Score-Reporting Policy </p>
<p>so now there is less reason than ever to suppose that colleges care how many times you take the test, because the colleges have no way to know how many times you took the test officially. </p>
<p>Colleges treat applicants uniformly now by considering their highest scores, period. </p>
<p>From the Harvard admission office: "If you submit more than one set of scores for any of the required tests, the Admissions Committee considers only your best scores—even if your strongest SAT Subject Tests or portions of the SAT Reasoning Test were taken on different dates." </p>
<p>See also a Newsweek article about the renewed score choice policy adopted by College Board. </p>
<p>Reactions</a> to College Board's SAT Score Choice | Newsweek Education | Newsweek.com </p>
<p>Some colleges want to see all scores a student has ever obtained, period, but as one admission officer asks, if "a student submits a single best sitting of 2320," does anyone really care "how low were her other score sets?"</p>
<p>Thanks a lot. Really helpful, tokenadult. I read the reference to the new SAT score-reporting policy. I guess that means that I can take the test 20 times and the colleges will never know (not planning on it). Really good news, though. Too bad some colleges still want the whole packet, and I already sent scores to Earlham, Oberlin, Grinnell, and Carleton just because CB offers 4 sends free, and back then all my scores would be sent anyway. Don't know if I can get a 2320 though! My minimum aim is just a mere 2100! If anybody wants to offer tips, they are welcome!</p>