<p>I am a home schooler so I know the SAT weighs more for me but honestly I a just a bad SAT taker, I do well with classes I can really study for but I just can seem to master the SAT. Second time I took it I got a 1780 (CR:680, M:520, W:590 E:8), I took it for a 3rd time Saturday but I don’t feel very confident I did much better than the last test. </p>
<p>I do make good grades both in my homeschool classes (videos/books - parents grade), online classes (outside graders), and my Community college classes, so it is not a matter of grade inflation. </p>
<p>If I get excellent grades will it off set my terrible SAT score? I’m not looking to get into an Ivy or anything just a quality school, my highest goals are UNC-CH and VA Tech.</p>
<p>I sometimes wish I taught my SAT classes Catholic school nun-style so I could smack my students on the hand every time they say “I’m just not a good test taker.” I need to start taking money. Charge $1 every time I hear that.</p>
<p>The reason being is it’s just a defeatist attitude. If you have the attitude that you’re just not good at the SAT and you won’t do anything better, you’re not going to get better. There are actually studies in educational psychology that show that self-efficacy (belief in oneself) has an impact upon students’ performance in many areas. On the flip, the phrase is a defense mechanism that only serves a purpose in coddling students’ egos, not in helping them do better.</p>
<p>In any event, a 1780 is not a terrible score. It’s an above average score, even, especially that CR score. I don’t know whether you’re in-state or not, but your CR and writing scores fall within the middle 50% of accepted students, and your math score is solid if not stellar. I think if you are in-state to UNC you probably shouldn’t worry too much (same with VT). OOS you may have more of a problem, but again, your scores fall squarely within the middle 50% of accepted students.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply, the 1780 is up from 1510 after a lot of self-work and tutoring. I know all the material I just can’t do it fast enough, which is why on normal bases I <em>am</em> a good test taker.</p>
<p>Thank you for the reassurance my score isn’t awful. It sometimes is discouraging reading the CCs where a 1900 is low (albeit they are aiming for ivies).</p>
<p>just get a prep course, dude… if its simply a matter of bad test taking, then a prep course will help institutionalize the SAT into you, getting you practice out of the drills they give you. get the most help in math. let me tell you something…i am very good at math, always hittin g 800 or close at home on self administered tests, and 690’s on the actual tests! if u take a prep course like i did, u will get a good many chances to practice the right pacing, and eventually end up with 800 like i did.</p>
<p>lol how do you have grades as a homeschooler? wouldn’t the colleges (and everyone) just think that you’re parents gave you A+s? And *** do you have a transcript or something?</p>
<p>I think you definitely should take the ACT. I make good grades and am an IB student, but my highest score after taking the SAT twice was an 1870. I took the ACT and got a 30 (I thought it was actually harder than the SAT). The article attached states that the ACT is more curriculum and mastery based and hard-workers who are not pure geniuses are more suited to it. Oh and you can see by my name that I am going UNC.</p>
<p>Many of my classes are taken online and graded by teachers, my maths I took through video programs (nearly the same as having a teacher teach it, just no personal interaction) and my Mom checked and graded my work using a teachers Mannuel, my core sciences I took through a local CC so I could have the labs.</p>
<p>I have taken the same classes as a public school students, I have failed tests and recieved incompletes. The biggest difference is that I do it at home and my hours are amazingly flexible.</p>