Should I take the SATs?

yangmaster
Wed, 08 May 2013 14:08:10 +0000

At the beginning of my junior year, I got a 34 on the ACT and I felt sorta satisfied with this score. Then, I took the PSATs and did horribly (204). Because my decision to take the SATs seemed to be based on my PSAT results, I felt discouraged. My parents recommended me to retake the ACTs in order to get a 35 or 36, and not to take the SATs. However, looking at most of the threads on this forum, especially the Stanford admissions thread, I saw that many people took the SATs and scored in the 2100s and above. I know I am capable of scoring in that range since, on the PSAT practice tests I did, I scored around 211 or 212.
My question is: should I take the SATs next September (beginning of my senior year) or should I focus my energy on studying for the ACTs… or should I not do any of these?

Note: I plan on applying to colleges like Stanford, UChicago, UC-Berkeley, and Northwestern.