I doubt that the replies to this thread are going to discourage me from retaking it for the third time in October, but I was just wondering whether or not there was any actual justification behind the suggestion.
Life is too short. When somebody’s on their deathbed, you only wish that you could spend another day with them. You’d be willing to give up nearly everything for that day. You’d be willing to spend everything to play frisbee with them one last time, tell them a joke one last time, give them a hug one last time. But no. You spent your time testing. You spent your time studying. You spent your time on a test administered by a greedy yet unreliable company (i.e. CB).
Most people don’t improve all that much after the second time around, but I know of some exceptions. If you feel you can study hard over the summer and do better in the fall, by all means give it a shot.
Because usually there is not a significant point increase from the second to the third time. But it’s up to you.
@Newdle That’s dark…
The chance of improving a third time is extremely low. Even the second time it is low. I got the same score…twice. You’re better off trying thrice for the ACT.
@Frigidcold I’m just annoyed with SAT now, haha.
Nothing’s wrong with taking the SAT more than twice. Nada. Zip.
@jdschooled5 I’m pretty sure I’m gonna stick with the SAT (I don’t really like the ACT). And I witnessed a 140 point increase the second time I took it, so theres that
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. I took it for a third time in November, mainly because I went to a concert the night before I took it the second time 
But I was glad I did; I managed to raise my math score about fifty points.
Nothing. It depends on why you need a better score and how important that reason is to you. Also: Do you have time and patience to review and make it worth it?
FWIW, my D’s score did go up significantly on third try. (160 points)
My D needed a confirming SAT score after (likely) making NMSF cut-off so it was very much worth it to take it three times.
Nothing’s wrong with taking the SAT more than twice…as long as you’re not excessive. I’ve taken it three times since my PSAT and have had significant increases each time. Third try, I went up 110 points. Those 110 points affected my merit considerably. So yeah, take it if you’ve studied and believe you can do well; do what works for you!
Go for it. Many universities consider the best individual section scores from multiple Tests. If you have figured out which section you are weak in and why, and can concentrate more on it, you could definitely improve it score and get a much better “superscore”.
My girls each took it three times, once a year starting in 10th grade. Their best scores were the third time although not a lot higher overall. However the fact that SAT is superscored for the schools they applied to made increase in one area worth it - but likely would have had similar admission results without it. If it doesn’t stress you out and can afford it I say give it a try.
I have a bigger problem with students who don’t take it at all until late in junior year or worse, fall of senior year. You need some kind of benchmark to use when making a college list. And no your “anticipate X score based on practice tests” is not a good way.
@scmom12, thanks, that’s actually fairly useful advice. And I’ve already taken the SAT but I do really want to work on my math score (even though my overall composite score is, in my opinion, pretty good).
Definitely take it again. S took ACT thrice (different school years) and improved 8 pts from 1 to 2, then 3 more from 2 to 3. Big difference was no studying for first, some studying (and older) for second, targeted studying for third.