<p>I need a little clarification regarding taking SATS for admission in Fall 2005.
D is scheduled to take SAT 2’s in Nov. She wants to push that to Dec. I was hoping she would retake the SAT in Dec. Can she take the Jan test date for regular decision.<br>
Carolyn you might know the answer to this one-Also she says that she can take the SAT 2’s in Dec and have them count for the UC’s. From what I have read it says by Dec. Would that read to mean that Dec is fine.</p>
<p>I’m not Carolyn, but the Dec SAT sitting is acceptable for the UC’s. January won’t cut it for UC’s. </p>
<p>Each college has their own policy of which is the last date by which you can take your tests. Check in their literature or give them a call. Jan testing may be OK with some schools, but too late for others.</p>
<p>Thanks- the important one is the Sat 2’s. I am happy to hear that she can skip Nov. Hopefully it will translate to a happier kid at least for a few days. She hasn’t decided yet about retaking the SAT. Her present Sat’s are fine for the UC’s she would only retake the Sat if she ends up applying to a few reach schools on her list. I think for the most part she is fed up with standardized tests and the thought of taking it again does not appeal to her at this point.</p>
<p>When I said that the Dec SAT sitting is acceptable for the UC’s, it includes both the SAT I and the SAT II. </p>
<p>Re whether she wants to retake her SAT 1:</p>
<p>You may want to check out the following website that was discussed on the “olde forum”. It shows scatterplots of SAT 1 scores vs. GPA’s at Arcadia High School (large public high school in the Southern California area) for each college to which AHS students applied, and whether they were successful at getting into that college. It gives you an idea of whether her present SAT’s REALLY are fine for the UC’s. </p>
<p>We had an example of a student at my D’s hs in the recent past who was #3 in the class, took the SAT once in his junior year and got in the low 1200’s. Looked good to him, after all the average SAT is 1000. Was shocked when he did not get into Berkeley or UCLA. But I wasn’t shocked and had I known the particulars about his application, I would have strongly suggested that he retake the SAT in his senior year.</p>
<p>Check the individual UCs she is interested in applying to to get a general feel as to where her GPA and SAT 1’s would put her. She may want to reconsider re-taking the SAT 1s.</p>
<p>As for the SAT 2’s, taking them in December leaves your D no room for error. The SAT 2 Writing test is notoriously subjective in its grading. Also, taking 3 SAT 2’s in a single sitting is quite grueling and can affect results. In addition, I don’t know what third SAT 2 your daughter is taking (besides the writing and math), but my D found that her high school class did not cover enough of the material to take the SAT 2 test. This is not uncommon. Sorry to say this, but she should get a SAT 2 prep book for whatever that 3rd category is and prepare for it.</p>
<p>Another option - take one of the SAT II’s in November, and the others in December. If she signs up for 3 tests in December, she can retake the one if needed.</p>
<p>She has already taken 3 Sat 2’s. She will retake the writing since she feels she can do better. It is probably fine as it is for most of the UC’s. She did terrible on the US History so was going to retake. But after some thought has switched to taking the Lit. She is happy with her Math score as well. So she is only taking 2.<br>
She is only interested in UCSC and UCSB and her Sat is in the 1300’s which should be more then adequate with her UC GPA and she is a Ca resident.
If she wanted Berkeley or UCLA I would push on the SAT retake.</p>
<p>Mom60 raises a question in my mind. She says her D took the US History SATII, did poorly and will now take the Lit SATII instead of re-taking the History. I suppose this means that her D will present 4 SATII scores, one being a poor history score. I don’t know of any way to withold any of the scores, so the colleges will see ALL scores, including the history. How does the college decide which scores to use as a judgement? Will they use the highest 3? Do you get to say “please only consider Math, writing and Lit”? How does a student avoid the penalty of the poor score if they don’t retake that particular subject test?</p>