I am a sophomore. I received an A in my school’s APUSH class (we are a little grade inflated; i actually had a high A but colleges won’t know that as my school doesn’t do+ or -). I got a 730 on the US subject test and anticipate a 4 on the AP. I want to major in polisci, but I guess I could apply to colleges as an English major instead as it also matches my narrative. I’m aiming for highly competitive schools, and know that much more enters a decision than the scores. I’m frustrated with my sub par scores. I think I got them because I had a rough second semester emotionally and became slightly (again, not enough to lower my grade to a B) unmotivated, and took shortcuts. I have a 4.0 and I would love to not have things hindering me this early in my HS career for a top college. Almost Everyone I know got 760, 780, 3 800’s which makes it worse. I’m angry with myself. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I am a perfectionist and want to aim high.
Should I retake the test? What would happen if I did worse on it?
Well, you’re still a sophomore. You have plenty of time; the only issue will be that you might forget everything you’ve learned in US history as time passes, and if you’ll find the motivation to study later on. If you do worse on it, colleges usually take the higher score (like they won’t average the two scores or anything). 730 is a decent score and there are other factors that colleges look at besides your SAT subject tests; however, if you believe that you can get a higher score and don’t mind studying for it, then retaking it wouldn’t be a bad idea (again, 730 is a decent score and that’s not all colleges look at).
@koalasium through score choice wouldn’t I be able to send only the better score or does it not work that way?
@lightsgoout I know that for SAT I, even if colleges superscore (take the best score from each section), you have to send all your SAT scores; however, colleges will only look at the superscore. I believe it’s the same for SAT II, so you’ll have to send in all your scores (you can’t hide bad ones) but colleges will only look at the best score, if they have a best-score policy.
I think that you should relax and move on to your next set of courses. There are a lot of very good universities in the US (hundreds of them) and you will do well as long at you have some realistic match and safety schools on your lists of places to apply.
Personally I would be nervous about retaking a history test because there are so many details that are easy to forget over time.