Various q's about SAT

crazybandit
Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:05:31 +0000

Check the percentiles of your physics and chemistry scores and see which one is better in that respect (as I don’t know), and send that one, but only if you only want to send one of the two. You should send both unless (by your judgment, or by that of someone more knowledgeable than I am) the scores are not at all decent at the schools you are applying to, a case which I doubt. I believe there is only one school in the U.S.–Georgetown–that requires you to send 3 subject test scores, so it won’t hurt to send all 3 unless the physics subject test is required for the program you’re applying to or something. Schools won’t reject you for a decent but not excellent score, especially if they don’t even require the third test score. They also won’t look down on your physics score just because you did well on every other physics-related credential. SAT II scores are for the most part supplemental, so they can only help (unless they are horrible).


For competitive schools, is it necessary that I get my critical reading up?

No, it’s not necessary, but it helps. If you can pull off a 2300+ there’ll be a very significant difference in your application. The SAT is viewed as a set of objective numbers and that’s it. Demonstrating your strength in math in some other credential does not do anything for your SAT score or how it is viewed.


Look at the SAT score ranges of the schools you want to apply to in order to see if your score is sufficient. I’d say if you break the 75th percentile significantly (meaning you’re around the 90th percentile) you should not worry about retaking it. However, it is almost always better to retake it if you don’t have close to a 2400 and are able to increase the score relatively easily because it helps your application and, in some cases, scholarship awards.


Go to a different test center and by chance you’ll likely be fine there. If it happens again, simply correct the proctor. He or she should be recording the times on the chalkboard (that’s only how it was in my experience though). Otherwise there’s obviously nothing you can do.