With SAT season upon us, many of our students have been asking whether they should use the new SAT Score Choice. The answer to that question, like those to many questions in life, is…IT DEPENDS. It depends on your profile, your year in high school, your goals, your situation, your universities. Lots of factors!
Should You Use SAT Score Choice?
To keep it simple, different situations can be grouped into several scenarios. See if you fit one of them:
1. I’m in my last year in high school and this is my first time taking the SAT. I do not intend to take it again. It does not matter if you choose Score Choice because you will only have one set of scores to send to universities.
2. I’m in my last year in high school and this is my first time taking the SAT. I do intend to take it again. I would not recommend sending your scores to schools. If you score well on the SAT this time, you can always have those scores sent to the universities later. If you don’t do well, universities will have a copy of your scores, which means if you do better the second time, they will see both scores anyway. You should select Score Choice the second time so that universities will see your best score.
3. I’m in my junior year of high school and I want to see how I would do on the SAT without much preparation. If you’re taking the SAT as practice, I do not recommend sending your scores to universities. Once again, if they see these scores and your future scores, they will already know your complete scoring profile.
4. I’m in my junior year of high school and I have been preparing to take the SAT all summer. I have not taken the SAT before. In this scenario, selecting Score Choice does not matter because you only have one set of scores.
5. I’m in my junior year of high school and I have been preparing to take the SAT all summer. I have taken the SAT before and I’m sure I will score higher this time. Bingo! This student should use Score Choice. This new set of scores will be higher than the previous ones and it benefits the student to show only the highest scores.
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Don’t send scores to any universities until you completely finish the SAT testing process.
You’re offered four free scores but if you send scores every time, Score Choice won’t matter because universities will have all your scores. Wait until you’re completely finished taking the SAT, then send scores.
Send the best scores from each category (Math, Reading, Writing), NOT NECESSARILY the best overall score.
Many universities select the best test scores from each category and put them together for your new admissions composite score. If you select to send only one set of test scores, you may be hurting your chances of getting in.
Still haven’t taken the SAT with deadlines looming?
Email us to find out how you can prepare for the October, November, and December SATs.
