firecy

I'm planning on applying ED to the College of Engineering this year, and I know they require subject tests in a science and math. However, since the last chance for me to get into the advanced science track was in 5th grade, I was only able to take a regular physics course junior year and had to teach myself the majority of the material on the Physics subject test. I took it for the first time this October, and my scores haven't come back yet but I left 10 blank and took educated guesses on a few.

My question is, should I retake the test this November? I know Cornell says they may or may not look at it if you take the November test, but I feel like any increase in my score may help. I may still have difficulty however. (I'm in Physics C this year, but we won't get to electricity and magnetism by then anyway so that won't help). How strongly will a sub-par score on the SAT Physics hurt my chances of acceptance?

If it matters, I got an 800 on Math II, 780 on Sat US History, 800 on regular math and 760 on critical reading. Also, I'm not actually applying to be an engineer but rather to major in computer science within the college of engineering. Finally, my course load/GPA are good and I have decent extracurriculars but no real leadership positions, so I'm somewhat relying on test scores and essays/letters of recommendation to have any chance. Thanks for any advice!

I forgot to mention, I have to choose whether or not to sign up for the November SAT before the results from the October test come in.

GraceTone

They definitely won't look at it if you're applying ED.
Deadline for your application is Nov 1st.
You should just apply RD if you really want to retake it,
or you can take the easy way out and apply to CALS (joke college) & transfer.

firecy

This may be outdated information, but I was basically going off info from this site

Early Decision | Undergraduate Admissions Office

An admin said "I recommend sending in the scores that you have by the November 1 deadline. There is no guarantee that scores from the November test date will arrive in time to be considered with your application. If you want to try to have your November scores sent in time for review, you need to send them immediately. If you wait to see your scores before sending them, they will not arrive in time for early decision review."

So basically I felt that there was a decent chance my scores would be reviewed if I took the November test.

Natalion

I'm in almost the exact same situation! I took honors physics as a junior but had a teacher that didn't require us to memorize any formulas. Now I'm in ap physics b (with the same teacher) and I took the sat physics in October. Ive already signed up to retake in november:/ I'm applying early to princeton, and they said that they may or may not see the November scores. But hey, it couldn't hurt to send the November scores and hope for the best.