<p>How does an admissions committee look at a student who scores poorly on the SAT I but fine on the SAT II or AP? I’m going to exaggerate but what if the student had an SAT I math of 550 but an SAT II math of 700? Or an SAT I Reading of 550 but Eng AP scores of 4 or 5? </p>
<p>What if that SAT I was <em>below</em> the invisible ‘minimum threshhold’ that the school usually holds? </p>
<p>And if there was a reason (illness, death in the family), would you have the student or counselor call or write the admissions office or would it seem like whining? </p>
<p>I do not know about reading, but I think that it is virtually impossible to have SAT I math at 550 and SAT II math 700. Correct me please if I am wrong.</p>
<p>I’d consider trying the ACT or retaking the SAT if you think there were extenuating circumstances. But taking the ACT is invisible if you don’t send the results while a re-take of the SAT will be sent along with SAT II scores. If taking the ACT, I’d suggest doing a practice test. Timing is an issue and the science portion has graphs and tables that need to be interpreted (so I’m told). But a number of kids who don’t do as well on one test tend to do better on the other.</p>
<p>By the way, I really do need to know if you would advise calling or having my guidance counselor call. I have an early decision app in this situation.</p>
<p>Ummm, isn’t it a little obvious? Not that I have any inside information, but it’s hard to imagine that an applicant with a 550 SAT I M and 700 SAT II M isn’t regarded somewhat differently than one with 550-600. On the other hand, he or she is probably also regarded somewhat differently than one with 750-700. Every picture tells a story, and it’s amazing how many different stories can be constructed out of just a few elements.</p>
<p>The big questions are: (1) Is the low SAT I score such a disqualifier that it won’t matter what mitigating circumstances exist? (2) Do admissions committees pay enough attention to the SAT II for it to take away the sting of the SAT I? Also, (3) given the universal policy either of superscoring or of looking only at the best single-date test, will an applicant get any mileage out of the argument that he had a bad test day?</p>
<p>My guesses on those are:</p>
<p>(1) It depends. The secret threshold is secret because it’s so low it’s barely there. But if you are talking about Harvard (or the equivalent), and the 550 is in the ballpark, you are probably pretty close to the non-existent line.</p>
<p>(2) I wonder. Most schools don’t even look at SAT IIs. If you need to rely on the offset argument, I would try to make certain the guidance counselor <strong>REALLY HIGHLIGHTS IT</strong> in the GC letter. But I would worry about this a little. The test scores doubtless go into a standard formal on a sheet of paper, and you are hoping that people are paying a lot of attention to it, when they’re probably not. At some schools that you may care about, the SAT II score may not even be on that sheet.</p>
<p>(3) If it was a bad day, you really ought to take the test again (or take an equivalent test). Failing that, sure, the GC should talk about the reason, but an excuse and a question mark is nowhere near as strong as subsequent results proving that the one score wasn’t characteristic (and rendering the previous score irrelevant and maybe unseen).</p>
<p>On the other hand, who knows? Maybe they would look at this application and say “Yippee! We can accept a non-athlete, non-development kid who has a 550 Math SAT I. That will drive those a-holes on College Confidential nuts!”</p>
Do you mean any retake of the SAT or ACT is not an option because of timing or that some school would look askance at an ACT score? </p>
<p>If the latter, you are wrong. </p>
<p>If the former, is this an ED/EA app? I’d be taking the ACT anyway to get ready for the RD round. I might not take the SAT again because if they hit another 550 the “550 as outlier” argument goes away at new schools where you have the SAT scores sent. (At the old ones, you just don’t resend.)</p>
<p>It’s ED. I also get accommodations (time and a half). I was told I could apply for accommodations for the Feb test but none of my colleges say they’ll look at the Feb test. I’m considering going through with it anyway but I guess I want to know if I should get in touch with the college or have the counselor do it.</p>
<p>clever. Can you give us an idea of what level of school we are talking about? ED to a top 50 LAC or ED to one of the usual suspects IVY, Top 20 Research, Top 10 LAC?</p>
<p>There have been long threads about this issue before on various forums here on CC. The bottom line is that today the SAT and the ACT are essentially interchangeable at all selective colleges. The applicant, of course, has to test very well on one or the other to have a shot at a highly selective college.</p>
<p>Harvard, at least, has no qualms about its admission officers saying that a competitive applicant will have SAT I section scores on each section of 650+. Of course most of the admitted applicants score well above that level, or have very amazing accomplishments outside the testing room. </p>
<p>Tokenadult, As I explained, my schools all say they won’t accept the Feb SAT. It’s too late. </p>
<p>Curmudgeon, ED to a top (top 10) LAC. Oh, and I am URM but I think an SAT subscore under 600 (and I have 1) is still below the threshhold for URMs. </p>
<p>For RD, I am applying to several top 30 LACs.</p>
<p>clever, if both scores were low - math and verbal, then that is a real problem. Both below 600 may well be a killer even with the rest of the app spectacular and a URM. But , hey- there’s a chance (and you’ve already applied, right?).
It might not look like whining but they would sure wonder why no retakes if one of those events had happened.</p>