Hi! Hope y’all are doing well. On my last SAT, I scored a 780 R/W and a 680 math. I have my next SAT this Saturday, and I’ve noticed a trend in that I do substantially better (+50 points) on Math when I don’t do the R/W section prior to it. Will colleges frown on me submitting a 200 R/W score with a high math score, then superscoring it with my 780 R/W from my latest SAT? Thanks!
P.S To clarify I do know that I submit both reading and writing scores for both, I just am curious if they’ll care about the 200 R/W if I’m replacing it with a far better score with superscore
This is what I told my daughter when she had a similar score differential. Take the verbal seriously, but relaxed. Don’t check over the answers but use any extra time to sit quietly and clear your mind. She practiced this on a test the week before the SAT and brought her math up 100 points and kept a similar verbal score.
I don’t mean to argue at all, I came here for advice after all lol, but even with a score as high as 780? It seems very unlikely that I can improve on that.
Agreed but in the majority of cases colleges won’t know until matriculation and technically the student didn’t do anything wrong.
OP make sure to check the policy where you are applying because if the school does score choice or requires all testing results the strategy may backfire.
So, the reality is for schools that allow self-reporting of test scores, they would never see the 200 because OP would report their highest composite score and highest section scores in the common app. So, for those schools, the 200 would never see the light of day.
Schools that require official score reports from CollegeBoard could see the 200, assuming OP needs that test’s math score as part of a superscore.
Schools that require all test scores (like Georgetown), would also see the 200.
And I agree with you that a 200 may raise some eyebrows…but enough to impact the admissions decision? I don’t know.
So, OP should go thru their list and see what the test reporting policies are.
I would encourage OP to try their best on that EBRW section, but not overextend. I expect they would get much higher than 200 at less than full effort…a level of effort that likely wouldn’t be much more than just sitting there for the 64 minutes during the two reading modules.
Well, it seems that a clear inference to draw would be that this is someone who games the system. Is he/she the only person doing that, of course not. Is that a positive trait for someone you want at your college…I’d say probably not. (I’m guessing it’s the same reason some colleges say, either overtly or unofficially, that they don’t like to see more than 3 sittings for a standardized test.) So yes, probably really important to understand what the colleges you’re applying to see if you decide to do that.
I can only speak for myself, as one who reads apps for a highly rejective school…if I saw this 200 I wouldn’t necessarily think this is a person who games the system. I really wouldn’t think about it too long (assuming there were much higher scores they also reported), but if I did, I might think the student felt sick during the test, had a headache, whatever. It would be a non-issue for me. (But as a former counselor I would still tell OP to do the reading modules!)
This is an interesting question. I grudgingly agree there isn’t a compelling reason for you to concentrate on the first 2 modules, other than being plagued with worry and doubt about “what if.” Others have mentioned that some schools do require all scores.
But, you are certainly going to draw unwanted attention at the testing venue if you literally just sit there with your head on the desk. The proctor and other students will surely notice, which won’t really be fair to them. There is no reason to just not do it at all. It’s highly likely you will still get a decent score.
Or, will you feel self conscious if you just click A for every answer and then twiddle your thumbs for a long time? Are you perhaps going to then psych yourself out and mess up the math? Honestly, just do it, but take it easy.
Could a student be flagged for possibly cheating if their score went down so considerably? (I’d certainly be concerned about that with the ACT based on their track record).
Thank y’all so much for the info! I think my current plan then will probably be to do the first reading section, then just click a “A” or something on the 2nd harder section. I will look at if all schools are self-reporting or not; I’m applying to a stupid number of them, so odds are at least one requires official reports. i appreciate the input!
@momofboiler1@Lindagaf@Mwfan1921 All the schools I’m looking at except Princeton (which, let’s be honest, I’m not going to get into anyway) do self-reporting. With self-reporting scores, do I need to show I took 2 SATs or can I just submit it as one test with my highest scores?
Also, some clarity about Princeton’s test submissions would be great if anyone knows. Do I need to send them every single SAT I took? I got a 1360 prior to actually studying over the summer, and I’d rather not submit that if possible.
Any college you submit the score to will ask for your official score reports before you matriculate. I don’t know specifically what P’ton requests, but their website will explain. Look at College Board too and it will detail how they send scores.
I’m not sure I understand your reason for doing nothing or close to it on the CR section of the SAT. Why would you just fill in any old answer on one section? Just do the section!
It sounds like you prepped better for the math section so hopefully you will do better on that section. But really, what’s the point in not just doing the CR section? Your score probably won’t go down much, if it does at all.
That’s what I thought initially too, but everytime I try to do both my score lowers a consistent 20-40 points. It was an actual trend in the 6 Practice SATs I took. Otherwise I would do both without questioning
You have an amazing score on EBRW. So just pretend you’re trying to solve logic puzzles, which is by and large what those sections are. If you do worse on those sections, it truly doesn’t matter, apart from one or two colleges. Doing 20 points worse when you already have 780 isn’t an issue. 760 or even 720 would still be an excellent score.
By posting here, it’s clear you’re making more out of this than you should. Stop overthinking.