Retake High SAT?
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Anonymous
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Junior is being told by peers to re-take SAT, he and I think it's bad advice and would only do so if he needs it to for NMSF (PSAT scores not in yet and SAT was taken end of sophomore year). He has ruled out apply to CS at Carnegie Mellon because 25th-75th percentile is 800-800 (only school where this is the case) and feels it is too much of a pressure cooker school. Son"s score 1530 (790 M 730E).
Isn't 99% good enough? Is there a difference between a 1530 and a 1550 or a 1530 and 1600? He will be applying as math or CS major and the rest of his application is excellent. |
Anonymous
| Lord I can't imagine asking him to retake it, but I suspect someone will come on here and say he should. The only thing I've heard is that Jr year math (which was probably sophomore year math for your son) is helpful with the SAT, but if he already got a 790 there's not a lot of room for growth there. |
Anonymous
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He's done. I agree with you that his peers are wrong. Great to be done.
As far as NM, the confirming score window for class of 2023 should be Aug 2020-Dec 2022. His score from sophomore year should work. CMU's middle 50 percentile ranges for their enrolled class of 2024 were EBRW 700-760 and math 760-800, though I realize it's higher for CS and I can't find the school-specific data. |
Anonymous
| I wouldn’t retake anything above 1500 (I probably wouldn’t retake anything above 1450 but I might at least think twice) |
Anonymous
He is actually taking Diff E and probably Linear Algebra this year. He took Calc A/B and Calc C as a sophomore. Just typing this makes me realize how insane college admission has become. |
Anonymous
| I thought you could only use it if the PSAT wasn’t offered. I didn’t think you could actually take the PSAT and chose a different SAT score but I know covid has changed some policies. |
Anonymous
| Don't take it again. A school will not ding him for having that score. |
Anonymous
He took PSAT, if you make MNSF you have to provide a confirming score from SAT (possibly ACT) taken during a specific time frame. |
Anonymous
| NMSQT timeframe is 27 months long. His sophomore SAT should be fine for NM as a confirming score, if he makes NMSF. |
Anonymous
| Nah. Once you hit a 1500-1520/34 you’re done. There is a set amount of time to get good grades, do ECs, write college essays, and have a life. He should take the time he would use to do one of the above. Take a breath an do something fun. Or put in the work to get his B+ to an A- or A- to an A in a tough class. If he doesn’t get into Harvard, it’s not going to be based on 1530 vs 1550. |
Anonymous
| No need to retake. He is over the threshold. |
Anonymous
| My daughter is in the same position (same scores as sophomore) and is not going to retake. |
Anonymous
| Keep in mind none of us responding “know” the answer to this, but I agree with the opinions not to retake at that score, plus that both are high (eg, a friend’s child scored 34 on ACT but wanted to retake bc she had gotten a 36 on the verbal part and 30ish on the math part, and she wanted to show a higher math score). |
Anonymous
It is totally insane. My kid is on the same math track. Took multi var and diff eq last year and taking linear algebra and complex analysis this year as a senior. Got 1530 on 1st sat and decided to take again for 2 reasons: 1, it was free (school announced free test after she had already signed up and paid for first one). 2. Applying to some tippy top schools for which it might make a difference. Also, 1530 had a high math, so retaking also seemed a good bet for raising verbal. Result was a 1570. So, I guess it depends on where he is applying, really. 1530 is a great score, but it does affect the scattergram chances at some schools. It's all a matter of what matters more. Good luck@ |
Anonymous
| my DD has exactly the same score/breakdown and we were fine with it but her peers did the same thing. Now she's insecure. So annoyed by this. |