HELP! i am starting to worry! my gpa is over 4.0, i am very involved in school, but my sat score is horrible!?

Question

I will start my high school senior year in September and start applying to colleges: NYU, UCONN, Rutgers, and Villanova...so, I have a great gpa of 4.61 and finished junior year perfect, i am very involved in hs, president of my sr. class, and very active in other clubs...but i am concerned that my sat score will break me, yes, i plan to take them again, but i am a horrible test taker and do not think there will be a great difference.

i received a 620 in math, 570 in writing, and 480 (ouch) in critical reading, what should i do? am i worrying for nothing? do you have any experience? and any way to improve my scores? (i looked into the colleges, and my scores are too low)

Answer 1

You should take some SAT prep class and do a couple of books. YOU WILL GET AMAZING RESULTS! (:

Idk about the others, but for NYU, try to shoot for 2000+

If you have any questions on the books or prep classes, feel free to ask (:

Answer 2

The first thing you should do is  Calm... down. Secondly, if money is as big of an issue for you, as it was for me, than go to your public library, check out an SAT review book, preferably from Princeton Review that is post 2006 version, and PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Thirdly, recognize that the fact you are so involved and have such a high GPA means you are smart and a much better test taker than you seem to think you are. You have two more opportunities to retake your SAT, (although I would advise you take the SAT II during one of those if you already haven't.), and it is statistically shown that most people do better the second time around. Keep in mind something I learned a long while ago when I first took the SAT I, that it is simply a little mind game. The SAT, with its bad reputation and mythos, tries to psyche you out. Study from prep-books, keep a clear mind until you take that test again before 2008 ends, and remind yourself that no test can truly measure your academic prowess. It is not some magical test that came from heaven. As Princeton Review has shown, it is like any test with consistencies and patterns and traps that one can train to see and use to his or her own advantage. Other than that, my best suggestion for the reading is to simply read more literature. Try John Steinbeck or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or many others (A particular recommendation would be Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel). Reading more will increase both your writing and your critical reading, trust me. Don't let the SAT overshadow your life, however. You are a good student who is involved and clearly devoted. At most, colleges only put the SAT up to 25% of their admissions procedure because ultimately they care about the whole package, not just your performance on one particular Saturday morning. Good luck, Work Hard, and Godspeed.

Answer 3

Welll I live in CT and obviously go to school there. &Every person that has applied there from my school has basically gotten in.I think SATs scores cant nessarally break you , btu they can make you. Your scores arent making youlook great but they're not making you look horrible either.

But if I were you I woudl take them over.

Answer 4

I am sorry to say that your score is something to worry about, especially the composite of the traditional two subjects, math and critical reading just being 1100. If you can just get your critical reading score into the upper 500 range I think you will be fine, you seem to have a sparkling resume!

Answer 5

that just means your school sucks lol i was in the top 5 and perfected the math no problem, so yea it's probably the school

Answer 6

You may also want to try the ACT, too.  I'd say to take the SAT up to three times and take the ACT as many times as you can and use which ever score is the highest.

Good luck!

Answer 7

Practice, practice, practice.    You just have to practice with SAT prep classes and/or SAT prep books.   It sure sounds like you've got a good shot at moving your scores way up from where they are.

You presumably didn't achieve your 4.61 GPA by panic'ing at test times.   So I see no reason you shouldn't score proportionately well on the SAT's.