How important are SATS for college?

M

mjpayo

Member
My GPA is solid, my transcript is pretty good too, and my critical reading score and writing score are good too. But my math SAT score absolutely blows. Does anyone know how much sas weigh in?
 
I'd say in most schools SAT/ACT scores weigh as heavily as GPA. My highschool GPA blew and I didn't have any clubs/volunteer crap but my ACT score got me a scholarship. fu SQHS
 
I would hope they count more than GPA just because its the only way they have of comparing students from across the country/world and GPAs are horribly inflated anyway. I'd say they're pretty important.
 
i dont think youll have a problem unless your trying to get into a really competitive college. i have kinda the same deal, except its my english scores that sucka nd my math is good, and everyone ive talked to says i have nothing to worry about
 
differen't schools weight the SAT differently. Most schools look at your SAT but not as heavily as your GPA. If your not a senior in high school you can always take them again. most colleges don't look a the writing anyway on your SAT. If you are a Juinor I would suggest taking the ACT instead, much easier
 
I didn't find the ACT much easier than the SAT. I've taken both. It all depends on what school you want to go to. Anywhere in the Midwest area prefers the ACT, it is much more of a standard. Out west I believe it is more towards the SAT, I'm not sure about the East. Your best bet is to take both, and if you did bad on the SAT, STUDY STUDY STUDY and do better again. The biggest mistake I had in High School was not taking my AP Classes and Standardized Tests seriously enough. I still did well, but I know I could have done alot better if I would have just bit the bullet and prepared for them more rigorously.
 
I know that my GPA will probably only top out around 3.5 or so but im counting on a good SAT and I have FFA. I took the old SAT when I was in the 7th grade and got about a 900 when it was a 1600 format. I should do ok by the time Im a junior next year right?
 
theyre pretty important especially if youre applying to somewhere selective. but write some good essays and youll be ok, i think that is the part they care about most
 
I got a 1000/1600 when I took it in 6th/7th grade i think. When I took it as a Junior i got about a 1300 I believe if you were on the 1600 format. I don't remember what I got on writing which they had just added recently. I think this is about normal statistics, you can expect a few hundred points higher.
 
i don't think it weighs in as much as they make you think. if you have a solid GPA, transcript, and extracurriculars, then you should be set. it takes a certain kind of intelligence to stomp the SAT so if you don't do as well, it doesn't mean you aren't smart. i find that the test doesn't reflect one's academic intelligence very well. and be sure to try the ACT out, i did a lot better on that than on the SAT, the test makes much more sense.
 
their important if you want to get into the shit colleges

the shit colleges i mean like really good ones

also it really doesnt matter if you get recruited for a sport you can get in with really bad grades if your nasty at something
 
if you go to university in Canada, there's no such thing as SATs, not to mention its about 15 times cheaper at some places. One of the most expensive Universities in Canada if not most expensive is Acadia, with all expenses, its about $8-9K a year
 
SAT and ACT is beginning to fall out of college's eye. namely because it's a system not set up to show how smart a person is but to show how good they are at test taking. which is why it shouldn't be let go. The entire world once you're out of school is taking tests and completing challenges. So study relax and let it flow on your sat. never know where it might get you.
 
SATs are basically a way for colleges to get a clue as to your IQ. The two are directly related. GPA sucks cause retards at retard schools can study their whole retard lives and get non-retard grades. A for effort though.
 
i think they use it more as a guideline. like if u got bangin grades and did mad shit in high school and got 1200+ on sats you should be set for a bomb school. they just use it to make sure you arent retarded, most schools consider the potential for fluctuation and depending on the test a student can do something like 120 points better or worse so its just one of like 10 factors weighed equally in the admissions process unless you are going to yale or harvard in which case they will just throw your application out the window if you didnt get at least a 1400.
 
Its pretty important dude. More and more schools are looking at the breakdown, but you have to have that total score in order to pass most of the cut-offs. If you have taken 3 or 4 SAT practice tests (which I recommend everyone to do before the SAT, tutor or not), and you still arent happy with your score, take the ACT. Its not as evil as the SAT, as in the questions do not intentionally mislead you (they're just harder on average). Give it a shot, see if its your thing - most colleges accept either. If you still dont have that awesome score, you'll just have to buckle down and get some good letters of recc to win the admissions people over once you sneak onto the wait list.

For math, just some advice - slow down. If you do just the 2/3 of the math problems that are 'easy' or 'medium', and get 90% of those right, thats a solid 500. Dont be afraid to leave it blank - getting easy questions wrong because you misread them is a common score dropper, and why spend 5 minutes on a hard question you might get right when you can earn the same amount of points spending 2 minutes on a easy one and double checking your work?
 
i think it mostley matters for scholarships because i got the deans scholarship with my score but if i had gotten like another 20 points or something i would have gotten the presidential scholarship which was like another 5000$...
 
... no, most colleges have a cutoff level of SAT scores, and they use them to weed down the 20,000 applications most get. Smaller schools might actually hand sort them, but most just use this method, at least in the US. Your SAT's can get you scholarships tho, but honestly, unless you've scored at least one 800, the chance of you getting actual money instead of just a useless honor is high.
 
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