Should I Take a 760 Sat Subject Test Again

This post will assist you figure out whether you should retake the SAT, whether you were disappointed the offset time or simply feel you could do a lot better the second time effectually.

There's a diverseness of factors to consider, and the decision to retake ultimately depends on your unique situation, so I'm just going to walk you through the determination process I use with my own students and through that, you lot'll hopefully be able to make your own judgment. But before we get to assessing your state of affairs, there are some general guidelines to consider.

A) Full general Guidelines

1. Never Retake a 1530+

If you score a 1530+, you lot are in the tiptop ane% of all test takers (based on 2017 numbers).

The Sat User Percentiles are what matter since they're based on the bodily scores of students. The Nationally Representative Sample is pretty meaningless. A student'southward percentile represents the per centum of students whose score is equal to or lower than his or her score. And so if you scored a 1520, 99% of the students scored the same or lower. Therefore, the summit 1% scored at to the lowest degree a 1530.

Scoring in the elevation 1% is more than enough for any university out in that location, including the Ivy League. To utilize Harvard as an case, the 25th percentile for admitted students on the Sabbatum is about 1470; the 75th percentile is most 1570. A 1530+ is in the upper end of that range. You would be doing yourself a disservice by retaking a score this high, not only because it would be a waste matter of your valuable time but also considering yous'd be putting yourself in serious danger of scoring lower. At that level, the bend is and then sensitive that one or two questions can mean the difference between a lower score and a higher one.

Once you lot accept a 1530+ (~34 on the ACT), the attention of the admissions officers shifts to the residual of your application.

2. A Ameliorate Score Ever Betters Your Chances

According to the admissions statistics at top-tier universities, college scores are strongly correlated with higher acknowledge rates. If college scores are always better, and then wouldn't this contradict our commencement rule in a higher place? We'll get to that. Let's first expect at the information.

Hither'southward Stanford's Class of 2020 (source here):

• Stanford applicants with an 800 on Sabbatum Reading are 71% more probable to be admitted than applicants with 700-790 (12% vs 7%).
• Stanford applicants with an 800 on SAT Math are fourteen% more than probable to be admitted than applicants with 700-790 (8% vs 7%).
• Stanford applicants with an 800 on Sabbatum Writing are 63% more likely to exist admitted than applicants with 700-790 (thirteen% vs 8%).

The following is Brown University'due south Class of 2020 (source here):

• Brown applicants with an 800 on Saturday Reading are 53% more likely to exist admitted than applicants with 750-790 (23% vs 15%).
• Brown applicants with an 800 on Sabbatum Reading are 14% more probable to be admitted than applicants with 750-790 (sixteen% vs 14%).
• Brown applicants with an 800 on Saturday Reading are 33% more likely to exist admitted than applicants with 750-790 (20% vs xv%).
• Dark-brown applicants with a 36 Deed Composite are 155% more than probable to be admitted than applicants with 33-35 (28% vs eleven%).

Every bit you can see, at that place IS in fact a departure between an 800 and a 760, or a 36 and a 33. The higher your score, the higher your chances of getting in. This may seem obvious, but I can't tell you how many students get conceited with their scores and their studying. Aim high and put the effort in. A lot of students who SHOULD retake the exam frequently don't considering they don't believe an actress 100 points would make a difference in college admissions. Well, it does.

At this bespeak, you might be asking If higher scores are so much better, why shouldn't I retake a 1530+? At that place are a couple reasons. Kickoff, practise non confuse correlation with causation. Just because Stanford applicants with an 800 on Saturday Reading are 71% more than likely to be admitted than those with a 700-790 does not hateful that an 800 on Reading causes the entire 71% increase. To use grades every bit an example, those who get an 800 on Reading likely have higher grades on average than those who don't, and that accounts for some portion of the increase.

2nd, the statistics don't give us the total picture because of the way the applicants were categorized. Stanford compares 800 scorers with those in the 700-790 range and Brownish compares 800 scorers with those in the 750-790 range. What we don't get to come across is the admit rates for 800 vs. 790 vs. 780 vs. 770, etc. If nosotros did, the differences in admit rates would be less pronounced. And then aye, the statistics definitely indicate a clear preference for very loftier scores, but the benefit of a few extra points is not as dramatic every bit it might announced when you lot're already at a 1530+.

Some other reason y'all shouldn't retake a 1530+ is the time and effort information technology takes away from the rest of your awarding. When you're juggling a full course load, helm of varsity tennis, and studying for half dozen APs, you don't need the stress of Saturday prep for the sake of another 30 points. The other aspects of your college application should take priority—personal essays, grades, extracurriculars, etc.

The takeaway from all this is that you should exist retaking the exams to get the best score y'all perchance tin can because it volition brand a departure. But once you lot've reached a 1530+/34+ (this applies only to the tiptop universities), your time and effort is meliorate spent elsewhere.

3. Most People do Better on a Retake

Most students are nervous and don't know what to await when they have the examination for the commencement fourth dimension. They may non be aware of the pressure and the timing or they merely might not be fully mentally engaged. One time a student gets past that initial experience, yet, a retake usually goes much better simply because of the newly established comfort level.

Furthermore, many of my students have said that later on the first test, they naturally learned to tweak certain things, whether it exist fourth dimension management, what questions to skip, or their approach to certain question types—things they but fully internalized by taking the SAT under existent conditions. These "test-taking" factors should not go overlooked; testing experience matters a lot more than you lot call up. In fact, I would say that over 80% of my students accept improved afterward the first exam.

iv. Don't Retake the SAT More than Than 3 Times

Most students are aware of this guideline. Take the test more than three times and admissions officers volition start to think twice about your abilities. Even if you do well, some will view you as a score-obsessed student with nothing better to exercise.

Even though you'll likely score amend on retakes, make sure you put in plenty preparation before a retake to justify it. A lot of students retake the Saturday before they're set, get the same score, and end upwardly having to retake it again.

If you all the same can't get what you want afterward 3 takes, you lot're probably not going to score much better on the 4th take.

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B) Your Decision Procedure

At this betoken, you might be thinking, "Ok, I don't have a 1530 and I oasis't taken the SAT 3 times yet. Given guidelines 2 and 3 to a higher place, it looks like I should retake. No brainer." But hold on! Nosotros haven't yet considered your particular situation. A lot of students actually don't need to retake, even if they would score higher past doing then. For a final decision, follow the steps beneath:

i. Figure out your target score

First, listing out which universities you're interested in. If y'all have a dream school, great!

At present google your school's SAT/Human activity statistics. For example, if Carnegie Mellon was one of my target schools, I would google "Carnegie Mellon SAT Statistics". Click on any links pointing straight to the schoolhouse's official website and try to find out what the 25% and 75% percentile scores are.

If you tin't observe them on the official university website, try higher database sites similar College Information, College Simply, or Niche. Simply go on in mind these sites aren't ever upward-to-date.

One time you've found the statistics, you lot desire to focus on the scores at the 75th percentile. If yous desire to have a solid chance of getting in, your target score is one that's a little less than the 75th percentile (~65th percentile). Obviously, your chances (and thus your target score) will be afflicted by the balance of your application, but in general, the 65% percentile is what y'all want to shoot for. The people who get in with much lower scores will be those who accept hooks (recruited athletes, minorities, legacies) or those with otherwise very strong applications (incredible extracurriculars).

To complicate things even more than, your target score might vary with the schoolhouse y'all're applying to inside a university. Carnegie Mellon, for case, has a Higher of Fine Arts (CFA), a College of Humanities and Social Sciences (DC), a Higher of Engineering, a Schoolhouse of Informatics (SCS), and several others. A educatee applying to the School of Computer Science, which is known to be quite competitive, should aim for a higher score than one applying to the Higher of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Now, Carnegie Mellon was nice enough to publish statistics with 25%-75% percentile ranges for each of its schools, but not all schools do, so you might need to come up with estimates based on your enquiry.

Estimating from the section-specific score ranges above, I would fix my target score to a 740 + 760 = 1500 if I were applying to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (DC) and a 750 + 780 = 1530 if I were applying to the Schoolhouse of Computer Science (SCS).

Make sure to do the research and work out your target score. If you've already exceeded your target score, there's no signal in retaking the test. Conversely, if you lot oasis't reached it, you should be more open up to doing and then.

Non getting your target score does not mean yous won't get in. Your target score is just that—a target, a nice goal to have. It's a good way to estimate whether y'all should exist retaking the examination. It'due south non something that should stop you from applying to colleges you have a chance of getting into.

ii. Reflect on Your Test Twenty-four hours Performance

Think virtually why you got the score that you did. Was it considering of silly mistakes? Did yous run out of time? Was there a concept that you entirely forgot? Or did you simply take a bad day? The answers to these questions help signal your potential for improvement the adjacent time effectually.

If The College Lath released the questions for your particular examination date, yous'll want to look back at them. Effigy out what went wrong.

If you lot got quite a few easy questions wrong, you could probably improve just by existence more conscientious and reinforcing the basic concepts. If y'all got hit past the hard questions, so information technology'll be a lot tougher for you to ameliorate because it takes a lot more than practise and written report to get those questions right.

If you walked in unprepared or felt that you didn't perform up to your usual standards, a retake might exist worthwhile.

three. Prioritize

Final simply non least, think well-nigh your priorities. If you're anything like the typical high-schoolhouse go-getter, you're probably busy juggling extracurriculars, AP'southward, and your classwork all at once. Practise you have the time and effort to devote to SAT study? Every bit I mentioned earlier, a retake is a bad idea if y'all can't study enough to make it worthwhile.

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Hopefully this post has given y'all some things to consider when it comes to retaking the SAT. Unfortunately, there isn't a black and white way to make up one's mind whether it'southward worth it. You'll accept to weigh the above factors and decide for yourself. My hope is that afterwards reading this, your decision volition be an informed ane.

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