Why Is My SAT Score Lower Than I Expected?
In the game of life, sometimes things don’t go as expected—and that’s okay. If you took the SAT, received a lower score than anticipated and aren’t sure where to turn, the tips in this post can provide some guidance.
Is this a misstep? Would it be advisable for you to get your test rescored? Likely not. Except if it turns out you addressed more inquiries effectively, your score is precise.
So what was the deal?
A Difference in Difficulty
Despite the fact that the College Board strives to create tests with a similar dimension of trouble, a few renditions of the SAT are somewhat harder than others.
In the precedent over, the Math segment of the principal SAT was more troublesome than the Math segment of the second test, so the inquiries on the first merited more. This is the manner by which we ensure scores are reasonable for all understudies, paying little respect to which SAT they took.
The Scoring Process
Some people confuse “equating” with “grading on a curve,” but it’s not the same thing. When a test is scored on a curve, your score may change depending on how everyone else performed on the test. Your SAT score is based only on how you perform. It’s never affected by other students’ performance.
Here are four tips for what to do if you’re not happy with your SAT scores.
1. Figure Out Where You Went Wrong
First things first. To get a clear picture of what went wrong when you took the SAT, you’ll have to do a little investigating. The College Board, the organization that oversees the SAT, has a service that allows you to verify your scores and answers for up to five months after you take the test.
2. Study Your Heart Out
After you’ve determined which SAT questions you answered incorrectly the first time around, you can begin to focus your study efforts on any specific areas of weakness. Review those topics and do the practice section test specifically for those topics till you get a good score on the practice test. Take a full-length practice test from the College Board Blue Book and score them using some of the online practice test scoring tools. Socrato also provides Practice test grading and diagnostics.
3. Retake the SAT
Once you feel comfortable retake the SAT again. Many colleges super-score, meaning they’ll take a combination of your highest scores.
The good news is that according to The College Board, 67% of students who retake the SAT do better their second time.
4. Strengthen Other Areas
If you’ve taken the SAT several times and can’t get your scores up, make sure the other aspects of your application of your application are very strong. (This is, of course, true even if you have a great SAT score.) You’ll need to have a stellar GPA and recommendation letters.
