Shoot to improve SAT I or SAT II?

msa62001
Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:24:28 +0000

My son is probably going to apply to Dartmouth ED. I think he shapes up pretty well (All A’s except for one B at an elite semester program away, decent EC’s, captain of his primary sports team, lots of interesting travel experience, some volunteer work). 5’s on the three AP’s he’s taken. National Merit. Understand, of course, that it’s a crapshoot.

On the SAT I, he scored 800 on both CR and W, and a 720 M. He’s a really good math student, and feels like another 800 (with some studying…something he didn’t bother with first time around) is achievable. His SAT II scores weren’t great. I think he scored 790 on History, but his Math 2 and Lit scores were closer to 700.

There’s only one more test date available for scores to be ready for the 11/1 ED deadline. Should he do the SAT I and go for the 2400 superscore, or should he get those SAT II scores up?

Also, Dartmouth only requires 2 SAT II tests. Will submitting only 2 SAT II scores leave him at some sort of disadvantage? Thanks!