One and done, thank goodness. One thing off DC’s plate. We were planning for three attempts junior year.

Mine took the ACT twice. Got 35 and 36 in all sections, except Science, which was a 32. That annoyed him, so he took it again to boost that section. So, 35 overall on the second try.

My older kid got a 1490 on the SAT. He was disappointed he didn't crack 1500, but he was so busy junior and senior year that he didn't think it was worth the time to take it again for, basically, a single question. It worked out well for him in the end. His ECs mattered more than a question or two on the SAT. If you're shooting for competitive schools, time management becomes important.

Both kids go to top 20 schools now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is going for his 4th attempt in Dec.

Why? Did he not start taking PSAT from 8th or 9th grade? Did you not inform him (after educating yourself) about this common-sense strategy?

My kid gets NMS money each year of undergrad in state flagship and also scored 1590 in SAT. Scored 100% in PSAT in 11th grade after having taken PSAT in 9th and 10th (and scoring quite low in 10th). So, in reality, his SAT in 11th grade was counted as the first attempt of SAT and the 3 PSATs did not count.

What checked out parenting!

Is this supposed to be helpful?

Anonymous wrote:Mine is going for his 4th attempt in Dec.

Why? Did he not start taking PSAT from 8th or 9th grade? Did you not inform him (after educating yourself) about this common-sense strategy?

My kid gets NMS money each year of undergrad in state flagship and also scored 1590 in SAT. Scored 100% in PSAT in 11th grade after having taken PSAT in 9th and 10th (and scoring quite low in 10th). So, in reality, his SAT in 11th grade was counted as the first attempt of SAT and the 3 PSATs did not count.

What checked out parenting!

Anonymous wrote:Child #1 took 3 times
Children 2,3,4 took 1 time
Child #5 did not have a good first test, so will be taking multiple times.

You have FIVE kids?!

DC1 = 1 and done
DC2 = 2x with a huge improvement second-go-round. Happy with that score so done.

Both were <1500 :p

Child #1 took 3 times
Children 2,3,4 took 1 time
Child #5 did not have a good first test, so will be taking multiple times.

3 times- 1380, 1390, 1410

Anonymous wrote:Does SAT super score like ACT? I am confused about this. Someone told me you can super score and someone else said some colleges see all attempts.

Colleges do the superscoring. To superscore SAT, if the college accepts self-reported scores, you just report the highest score from each section along with test date in Common App. If the college does not accept self-reported scores, then you go into your College Board account and order a report using Score Choice, selecting only the two test dates where you had each of your highest section scores.

Colleges do not see all attempts. For starters, they only see what you submit to them; they don't magically have access to your testing record. Only one college requires you to submit all scores (Georgetown).

Anonymous wrote:If everybody is getting a 1580, does that mean nobody is getting a 1400?

Virginia's population is about 3% of the United States population. There are fewer than 500 NMSF in Virginia. If there are approximately 10,000 1580 SAT scorers in the country, Virginia would have about 300. Because it is a relatively high achieving state, you can probably double that amount. At 600, that is more than NMSF recipients. A 1580 superscore is equal at least to a getting a 224 selection index.

So it looks like all these 1580 scorers are on this forum!

My high scoring student was in DC, some are from MD, and perhaps some others from other states.

Thrice in 5 months.

Needed the test experience to help focus on where to improve, and a deadline to provide motivatation. Went from 1410 to 1580

Anonymous wrote:If everybody is getting a 1580, does that mean nobody is getting a 1400?

Virginia's population is about 3% of the United States population. There are fewer than 500 NMSF in Virginia. If there are approximately 10,000 1580 SAT scorers in the country, Virginia would have about 300. Because it is a relatively high achieving state, you can probably double that amount. At 600, that is more than NMSF recipients. A 1580 superscore is equal at least to a getting a 224 selection index.

So it looks like all these 1580 scorers are on this forum!

I posted about 3 and done for my kid- she got a 1230. I know it's shocking for many to see!

One kid 3, one kid 5. A lot of this has to do with your math sequence. The kid who took it 3 time was a year “behind” in math, so first attempt was end of junior year. Did June, August and October (end of junior year, beginning of senior year). June of junior year is awful because of AP tests. He really didn’t have the mental bandwidth or time for any other SAT attempts.

The kid who took it 5 times did precalc in 10th grade so could SAT prep summer before junior year, took it August and October, then really wanted to get a particular score so tried again in March, May and August. Totally overboard but tests don’t stress her out, she had the time, didn’t prep for theast 3 and thought she might get lucky, which she did. My older kid didn’t have the stamina for that.

So very kid and math sequence dependent!

2.5

His plan was to take it twice, but there were tech issues during his 2nd test that caused him to not be able to finish it. So he took it a 3rd time.

My experience talking with others at my DC's school is that 2-3 times is the sweet spot. Don't waste years taking it, and by 3rd time is enough variety of test experience to garner a strong score.

Anonymous wrote:1 and done for both the ACT and SAT. I wish colleges made everyone report all attempts.

I wish colleges nitpicked the weakest part of all kids’ apps and made them disclose it. Wouldn’t that be more equitable?