Should I take the SAT based on the schools I am applying to?

Test Preparation
1

<p>I am applying to USC (Cinematic Arts), Northwestern (Communications), Carnegie Mellon (Fine Arts AND Humanities & Social Sciences because I’m applying for the Bachelor of Humanities and Arts program), UCLA (Film), NYU (Tisch), SUNY Purchase (Film), Columbia College (Film), Wisconsin-Madison (Letters and Science), and Temple University (Communications). I’m not really worried about sending test scores to the last few on my list since they aren’t extremely difficult to get into, but I am worried about the first five. </p>

<p>I got a 31 on the ACT and am taking it again in September. However, I feel like my ACT score is somewhat low compared to the rest of the applicant pool.</p>

<p>I took the PSAT as a sophomore and got a 57 on CR, 50 on Math, and a 69 on Writing. When I took the PSAT again as a junior, I got a 72 on CR, a 54 on Math, and a 73 on Writing. I think that with a lot of studying I can pull off at least a 600 on the Math section of the SAT, and definitely 750s on CR/Writing… what do you think? Would it be a good idea to take the SAT as well?</p>

2

<p>Definetely. In my opinion, I think taking both tests shows consistency to a college. If you’re confident your ACT and SAT are relatively equal then it can only be beneficial to show that you are a solid candidate. I would really study for that math section SAT, with practice I’m sure you could raise it to 650.</p>

<p>Adam</p>

3

<p>Thank you for the advice. I think I’m also going to take the Literature, US History, and Math 1 subject tests… math has always been the bane of my existence.</p>

4

<p>If your retake brings the ACT score up at all, you might want to skip the SAT reasoning test. A 32 on the ACT is about equal to a 2100 SAT, and your math scores might make it tough to do better than a 2100. I’d see how it goes on the ACT, and then decide. IMO, taking some SAT subject tests might be a better way to supplement your application, because they’re different enough from the ACT to provide new info. The SAT reasoning test, in contrast, may be seen as redundant; colleges will typically use the highest score from one or the other.</p>

5

<p>Why are you applying for comm at Temple and not film? We have a great film school (albeit a great comm school too)</p>

6

<p>I’m applying for the film major but I thought it was part of the School of Communications and Theatre.</p>

7

<p>It is, I just assumed you were looking at comm because you wrote comm instead of film.</p>

8

<p>I think you should take the SAT too. In the end you don’t want to regret not taking it and wondering if things would have been different, or if you would’ve gotten into X school if you had…</p>