I was wondering how colleges perceive fluctuation in your SAT score. I took it 3 times. The first time I didn’t study at all and I got 1320. The second time I only studied for math and I got 1420. Even though I studied more than ever for the 3rd one (Dec), I was really exhausted because I was performing until 10 pm for the previous 2 nights but I didn’t want to cancel my scores since I had to pay for it and I received 1330. I’ve already sent the Dec one to USC and my UCs (UCLA, Berkely, Irvine, and Sand Diego). I was wondering if it’s going to hurt my application in any way.
Just in case this might help, my UC GPA is 4.6 and my regular weighted GPA is 4.4 and I performed worse on the English part, but my essays are about me being an immigrant so they are going to know that I’m a second language speaker who’s been here for 4 years. However, I fear that after looking at the fluctuation in my scores, they will not take the time to read my essays.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. I just want to know where I stand and prepare myself for the results.
Thank you all in advance!
They require that you send all your scores, but they will only consider the highest score. This fluctuation will NOT be the difference between an accept and a deny.
The first time I took the SAT I got 1240. The second time I took in December I got diarrhea during the Reading test and I was looking for a bathroom for 20 minutes. But I got 1380.
The schools will take your highest score, but there’s not much difference between a 1320 and a 1420 – those are both within the margin of error for the test. (See point #3 at http://www.fairtest.org/10-myths-about-sat)
To put it another way, the colleges see you as a student who is capable of scoring 1420 on a good day.
^Fair Test has noble intentions, but the fact is they hate Standardized Tests like the SAT. They are completely biased against the SAT.
Also, that link you provided has information from Aug 2007. Seriously outdated.