Hi, im an AA female that will hopefully be doing the Questbridge college match process looking to get into the Ivies, MIT, etc. Currently my highest single sitting SAT score is a 1460 but I have a 1500 superscore (730 cr and 770 math). I don’t know whether or not I should take it again a 3rd time because I’ve heard that after a certain number of tries, you’re score most likely won’t go up. Also, I don’t know if it would look bad to schools if they saw that I took the SAT 3 times. Should I just leave my score alone and hope for the best or should I give it one last shot?
Taking the SAT 3x is pretty typical. the 1460/1500 is a pretty good score. How do you feel about CR? Were your mistakes “silly”, did you run out of time, such that you think with some practice you can pull up your score? Are you in good shape with your SAT2’s and AP’s? It’s all about prioritization and allocation of time, including things outside of testing and school.
@BKSquared My mistakes were kind of I ran out of time and I still haven’t exactly had a breakthrough on how to answer critical reading questions. I still have to take sat2s which I’m taking in June and August and the only time I would take the SAT would probably be in october.
Could you take your SATII’s in June and then have the August SAT date as a possibility for a third try? October may be too late.
It is quite doable to take three SAT II in the same day.
Regarding regular SAT, I would continue to practice. If you don’t see improvement on the CR, then it may not be worth it to retake.
Most colleges only require/recommend 2 SAT2’s. I am not really familiar with Questbridge deadlines, so that should control for you, but most EA/ED deadlines are around November 1. You would be cutting it close in terms of knowing how you scored on your Oct test before that deadline if it is applicable to you. If you decide to take the SAT a third time, I agree with @mamaedefamilia that August is a better date. It would also be easier to cram in August. You will be busy in Sept/October getting app’s ready.
Practically, the admission rate at the ivies is teensy. There are sufficient qualified applicants rejected that the elites could probably choose from among denials to generate another wonderful class who would never attend. It seems ,unlikely that a higher EAT would materially improve your chances.
To answer more quickly, limit the time to individual items, answer those you know immediately and record accurately, move on without looking back. If you can reduce chances to two, think quickly about each in terms of the question, mark accurately and move on. The trick is leaving the item on the Scranton blank so you can fill it in later. Answer really difficult items in the remaining moments. Your goal is answering as many items correctly, not answering any individual item correctly. There is no extra credit for answering the most vicious questions accurately.
About reading, quickly check test items before reading the passage. If you know the answer to a question, mark it immediately. It’s equivalent to another question. Don’t read too slowly. Instead, skim quickly for answers. Passages are sorta like fancy stories that you can understand. You don’t want to be sidetracked by apparent difficulty and fret over that, rather than reading and comprehending.
Good luck on your applications!