Unsure about if you should retake the SAT or the ACT?
Here are some general tips on retaking the SAT or ACT exams:
It's NORMAL to Take the SAT or ACT more than Once
Many students might not realize that a majority of students take the SAT or ACT more than once in order to improve their score. This is completely normal, and admissions officers understand that this happens. You could even take the SAT and the ACT to see which one you score better on, and admissions officers are fine with seeing that as well!
Most Students do Better on a Retake
Most students are nervous and don’t know what to expect when they take the test for the first time. They may not be aware of the pressure and the timing or they just might not be fully mentally engaged. Once a student gets past that initial experience, however, a retake usually goes much better simply because of the newly established comfort level.
Furthermore, many of my students have said that after the first test, they naturally learned to tweak certain things, whether it be time management, what questions to skip, or their approach to certain question types – things they only fully internalized by taking the SAT or ACT under real conditions. These “test-taking” factors should not go overlooked; testing experience matters a lot more than you think.
Don’t Retake the SAT or ACT More than 3 Times
Furthermore, many of my students have said that after the first test, they naturally learned to tweak certain things, whether it be time management, what questions to skip, or their approach to certain question types – things they only fully internalized by taking the SAT or ACT under real conditions. These “test-taking” factors should not go overlooked; testing experience matters a lot more than you think.
Don’t Retake the SAT or ACT More than 3 Times
Many students are aware of this guideline. Take the test more than 3 times and admissions officers will 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 do.
Even though you’ll likely score better on retakes, make sure you put in enough preparation before a retake to justify it. A lot of students retake the SAT before they’re ready to, get the same score, and end up having to retake it again.
If you retake the SAT or the ACT, how do colleges look at your scores?
Most colleges will Superscore the SAT, which means they will take the highest of all the scores you submit. For example: You take the SAT in March and get a Critical Reading (CR) score of 550, Math (M) score of 650, and Writing (WR) score of 540. You then take it in May and get CR600, M620, and WR550. You take it again in October and get CR620, M590, and WR510. The Superscore would be CR620, M650, WR550; it is this set of scores colleges should use for placement.
The same goes for the ACT. Schools will look at the highest combined score based on all of the official ACT tests you took.
However, keep in mind that you cannot combine SAT and ACT scores to make your highest score possible!
Here are some general points about score changes from taking the SAT or ACT more than once:
Even though you’ll likely score better on retakes, make sure you put in enough preparation before a retake to justify it. A lot of students retake the SAT before they’re ready to, get the same score, and end up having to retake it again.
If you retake the SAT or the ACT, how do colleges look at your scores?
Most colleges will Superscore the SAT, which means they will take the highest of all the scores you submit. For example: You take the SAT in March and get a Critical Reading (CR) score of 550, Math (M) score of 650, and Writing (WR) score of 540. You then take it in May and get CR600, M620, and WR550. You take it again in October and get CR620, M590, and WR510. The Superscore would be CR620, M650, WR550; it is this set of scores colleges should use for placement.
The same goes for the ACT. Schools will look at the highest combined score based on all of the official ACT tests you took.
However, keep in mind that you cannot combine SAT and ACT scores to make your highest score possible!
Here are some general points about score changes from taking the SAT or ACT more than once:
- 55 percent of juniors taking the test improved their scores as seniors.
- 10 percent had no change.
- The lower the initial scores, the more likely the scores will go up.
- On average, juniors repeating the SAT as seniors improved their combined critical reading, mathematics, and writing scores by approximately 40 points.
- About 1 in 25 gained 100 or more points on critical reading or mathematics.
