very naive SAT question

Bartleby007
Fri, 01 Nov 2013 01:55:38 +0000

If your daughter plans to take the SAT multiple times, I would recommend that she not use the 4 free score reports the first time she takes the test. Most first-time test-takers are nervous; consequently, their focus and time management on that first SAT is suboptimal. Often times this situation results in significant score “deflation.”

In my experience, students who prepare properly post improved scores on subsequent tests. Using the “regular” score reporting option (not Score Choice), students can send all previous SAT scores on file with College Board to a given college. Theoretically, this means that your daughter could use one of the four “free” score reports on a subsequent SAT to send scores from that test date (and all previous test dates) to a college.

FYI, some colleges request that all SAT scores be sent, whereas others accept only the scores students reveal via the Score Choice option. To complicate matters, score reporting policies can change from year to year.

For more information about Score Choice, check out [this webpage on the College Board website](Send SAT Scores to Colleges - SAT Suite | College Board).

Personally, I wish that College Board did away with Score Choice. It complicates matters for everyone involved…but I do realize that it makes the company a little extra money in the long run and some students like the option of “hiding” a bad score from their dream college.

Hope you find this info helpful…