<p>My opinion is to move on to other things. But I will tell you the situation. For most schools it won’ t make a bit of difference. The way the most selective schools assess a student is giving some sort of score for the testing profile or the academic profile. The difference between a 1600 and the beginning of the next category is zilch. Both kids get the same rating, say a 10 out of 10. The catch is that schools vary as to what their break points are and they are not telling what they currently are. It also differs from school to school. Some schools use all 5 SAT scores-the SAT1 plus 3 SAT2s and assess on that basis. You can see that in a case like that, 40 points again could possibly bring a student up from one breakpoint to another category. Also if the academic mark is calculated adding the SAT score to the calibrated GPA or class rank. So there are situations where it could make a difference.</p>
<p>But in the scheme of things, the chances of it making a difference are very small. And yes, you can go down. In fact you have more room to go down than up. If you do decide to retake it, you might consider sending the score you have now and then sending the future score later, only if it is higher. It’ll cost you more doing this but gives you the option not to send a score that goes down.</p>