{"id":2798,"date":"2014-10-20t09:00:29","date_gmt":"2014-10-20t16:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/?p=2798"},"modified":"2021-01-06t14:33:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06t22:33:55","slug":"should-i-retake-the-sat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/should-i-retake-the-sat\/","title":{"rendered":"should i retake the sat?"},"content":{"rendered":"

if you\u2019re taking the sat, there\u2019s a pretty good chance you\u2019re going to take it twice\u2014once at the end of junior year and once at the start of senior year. if you\u2019ve only taken it once so far, going through the test again might sound about as pleasant as an leisurely afternoon of waterboarding (not to be confused with the arguably more enjoyable wakeboarding<\/a>), but this is actually a good thing\u2014a very <\/strong>good thing.<\/p>\n

the biggest plus is that it gives you room to have a bad day. everybody knows or has heard about that guy in their grade who fell asleep during his chem final and flunked. what if he\u2019d been allowed to take the final twice, and only the higher score counted? that\u2019s what the sat is like: even the worst experience on test-day is alright, because you can try again, and that worse score will almost never count against you.<\/a><\/p>\n

besides that, on average, students\u2019 scores go up<\/a> when they take the sat for a second time.<\/p>\n

so with that in mind, if you\u2019re reconsidering taking the sat, there are probably two scenarios:
\n <\/p>\n

you\u2019re in junior year, and your score seems high enough<\/h2>\n

you know you could<\/em> take the test again, sure, but do you have to? <\/em>alright, so if you\u2019ve already scored a 2200 – 2400, then there\u2019s not really much point in taking the test again. schools will be impressed (or at least satisfied) and that\u2019s that. but that\u2019s only a very, very small percentage of people. usually, your \u201cgood\u201d scores could <\/em>be a little bit better. and if there\u2019s room for improvement, there\u2019s good enough reason to retake the test. remember that you\u2019re very likely going to see a higher score the second time\u2014especially if you study for it. and the summer before senior year is the perfect<\/em> time to do a bit of sat prep.<\/p>\n

also, if you already know your target and reach schools, that helps add context. if your sat score isn\u2019t as high as the average score at your reach schools (or is just about equal to that average), then it\u2019s worth taking the test again, clearly. that\u2019s how you get into your first choice school\u2014or part of how, at least.
\n <\/p>\n

you\u2019re in senior year, and your score seems too low<\/h2>\n

if you\u2019ve already taken the test three or more times, stop there\u2014if you have that many tests under your belt, i can bet pretty safely that you did some serious prep, too. and if, after all that prep and all those tests, you\u2019re still not where you want to be, but you know deadlines are coming on fast, it\u2019s probably time to focus on the other<\/em> parts of your application. remember that sat scores are just a part of the larger package. some schools<\/a> don\u2019t even care that much about sat scores.<\/p>\n

but if you\u2019ve only taken the test once or twice, and you have one more shot at a higher score, then yes\u2014go for it: especially if you are under the average test scores of your targets schools. be sure to study the test this time, if you haven\u2019t already (or even if you have). i’d recommend starting with our posts, guide to retaking the sat<\/a> and how to study for an sat retake<\/a>. <\/p>\n

after all, a few weeks or months of getting familiar with the question types, strategies, and wrong answer types of the sat can translate into a very real score increase\u2014try doing that to your cumulative gpa in such a short time! and keep in mind that most schools only look at your highest score on each section of the test across all of your test dates, so even if you just see an increase in one<\/em> section, that\u2019s still worth it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

if you\u2019re taking the sat, there\u2019s a pretty good chance you\u2019re going to take it twice\u2014once at the end of junior year and once at the start of senior year. if you\u2019ve only taken it once so far, going through the test again might sound about as pleasant as an leisurely afternoon of waterboarding (not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[24883],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nshould i retake the sat?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"if you\u2019re taking the sat, there\u2019s a pretty good chance you\u2019re going to take it twice\u2014once at the end of junior year and once at the start of senior year. determining whether or not you should retake the sat is a very personal decision, and there are many factors to take into account.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, 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