Welcome to College Confidential!

The leading college-bound community on the web

Sign Up For Free

Join for FREE, and start talking with other members, weighing in on community discussions, and more.

Also, by registering and logging in you'll see fewer ads and pesky welcome messages (like this one!)

As a CC member, you can:

  • Reply to threads, and start your own.
  • Post reviews of your campus visits.
  • Find hundreds of pages of informative articles.
  • Search from over 3 million scholarships.
Home / /
New Discussion

help! high verbal, low math

kateschmiddykateschmiddy Registered User Posts: 28 New Member
edited March 2005 in College Admissions
I consistently score 800 verbal on practice tests but only 640-660 math. It seems to me that everyone in the world has the opposite problem! Does anyone know what to do?! I've wanted to be a writer since I could write, and math has never interested me. Because it appears that math might keep me from the top english programs, I am trying to learn to love it! What can I do to raise my score, and if I don't improve, what schools would accept me?
Post edited by kateschmiddy on
· Reply · Share on Facebook

Replies to: help! high verbal, low math

  • KirbusPrimeKirbusPrime Registered User Posts: 368 Member
    lol, i want to be an engineer and i got an 800 verbal and a 700 math... some people are just like that, who knows. I wouldn't worry bout it though, 650 is a good math score for a writer.
    · Reply · Share on Facebook
  • awakenedreamawakenedream Registered User Posts: 1,269 Senior Member
    schools want 800 verbals so that's a definite plus.

    and relax... an 800v660m is awesome. 1460 is like 99 percentile!

    it depends what kind of schools you are aiming after
    · Reply · Share on Facebook
  • anicerdadanicerdad Registered User Posts: 28 New Member
    It would probably be a plus as the norm is a higher math score. Of course if your desire was engineering at MIT than I would be concerned. As far as what schools to look for you would have to give more details on your EC's and where you want to go to school, what size school, etc.
    · Reply · Share on Facebook
  • kateschmiddykateschmiddy Registered User Posts: 28 New Member
    Well as you might guess I am a very non-math and science oriented person. ^_~

    ECs-
    Piano 5 years, won some theory awards, 2nd and 3rd place different years (not too exciting)
    Art-Gold Key Winner, sent to New York to be judged
    Photography-2 years, summer camp
    Involved in school art publications & newspaper
    Dance-2 years
    I've gotten some poetry published and been invited to attend the International Society of Poets meeting
    Applying for a Duke creative writing program, pretty sure I'll get in
    Won the annual "excellence in honors english" award for my class ^_^
    been in various choirs for over 7 years! all 3 years of high school so far, madrigals next year
    · Reply · Share on Facebook
  • bettinabettina Registered User Posts: 1,236 Senior Member
    Well no one would guess that you are non-math and science, since you score so well. I guess you just talk them into it.

    What to do is to practice, learn and drill, do 10 Real SAT's, if you really think your score needs to be raised. The math score is the easiest to succeed at. it's not really high math skills, more an exercise in critical thinking and logic.

    I don't think you need to do anything more to get into top schools if your other credentials are obvious. Plus or minus 100 pts are not considered critical, I think. my dd has a 790 Verbal and only 710 math, but she considers herself a math/science person (I'm convinced she will discover otherwise.)
    · Reply · Share on Facebook
  • m3ssim3ssi Registered User Posts: 218 Junior Member
    my friend started off with like a 440 in math... she claims she sucks at it .. i think it's due to lack of practice.. now she goes to prep school once a week.. and her math is up to near 700.. so just do the practice problems... the math problems for SAT are pretty much the same types of problems just differnet numbers, you'd get used to them. my math was in the 600-700 range.. when i did practice tests, way lower than my verbal which was up in the 720+ range.. but when i took the actual test, i ended up with 760 math and 740 verbal.. so go figure. (i think the math for my test date was particulary easier though.. a few of my friends who never got past 700 got past 700 that test..) oh yea.. and i'm supposeldy an writing/english person... majoring in journalism.. *shrugs.
    · Reply · Share on Facebook
  • ohio_momohio_mom Registered User Posts: 4,045 Senior Member
    Kate -
    if your math score is in the middle 50% range of schools you are considered, and your combined score in the top 25%, you are probably ok except for the most selective. You might see how you do on the SAT II math level 2 (IIC) test - my son's SAT I math was a 670, but he scored a 750 on the IIC with only a moderate amount of review/prepping.
    · Reply · Share on Facebook
  • pyewacketpyewacket Registered User Posts: 1,682 Senior Member
    My daughter is a high verbal, low math performer. Her Math PSAT was 50. But she worked on 10 Real SATs and learned to recognize recurring problem types and also to skip very difficult problems to do the maximum number of "easier" ones. She scored 620 on Math. The new SAT Math is supposed to reflect learned school math more than "natural mathematical insight".
    · Reply · Share on Facebook
  • kateschmiddykateschmiddy Registered User Posts: 28 New Member
    hm, I'm a little intimidated by the math IIc-although I would have to take it, since I'm in Pre-calculus, and taking math IC would look pretty bad. I've heard that it's not very hard, but I'm still debating between math IIc and u.s. history. I'm also taking biology and literature, literature should be a breeze and I'll have to study for bio but I'm confident I can do well. (chem or physics would be another story, lol)

    Should I take math IIC? something tells me yes...
    · Reply · Share on Facebook
  • ohio_momohio_mom Registered User Posts: 4,045 Senior Member
    If you take the subject tests in June, you will have completed all your classwork for them. Try taking a practice test for each one about 4-6 weeks before you take them for real. The will give you time to review any areas that need a little world. My son used Kaplan for the math II - went from a 670 on the first practice to a 750 on the real thing. A lot of kids like Barrons - and if you are going for an 800 you should probably use it. But, if you are just going for a decent score (say, 700+), one of the other prep books should be less intimidating.

    One final suggestion - try to schedule your test so that you only take two (or one) at a time, and that you leave the December slot open for a retake, if needed (for either the SAT II or I).
    · Reply · Share on Facebook
This discussion has been closed.