Taking the SAT/ACT multiple times


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You are allowed to take it as many times as you want.. of course you still do have to pay.

I don't know about the limit, and the only way you would be penalized is if the college you want to go to doesn't like it. Say you took it once and got a 1100, then you took it again and got a 1300 and then a 1450, maybe the college might take an average. I know colleges here in Georgia do look at how many times you take the SAT.

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You are not limited as far as taking the test as many times as you want. There is a time limit for each section of the exam and you arent allowed to exceed those limits.

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yea, theyre right, you can take as much as you want, but some colleges view more than 4 times as excessive... some colleges in florida don't look at the number of times, AND will take ur best scores from each test for the best combo.... its would have been helpful if i went to college in florida

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Check with your college.

Some colleges will take the average. Some colleges will take the highest in one sitting. Some will take the highest english and the highest math, even if it wasnt in the same sitting.

Most colleges will take the highest in one sitting, up to 3 times. If you take it 4 times, they will take the average.

Tips? Take an SAT prep course. Dont study the day before. Have a good breakfast. Dont be nervous. And, if you have no conscience and dont mind cheating, load a dictionary onto your TI-89 (although, this is VERY morally wrong since its a curved test.. not even I would do that :p)

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i took it twice, did better the first time. none of the schools i looked at cared how many times i took it, just what my highest scores were.

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i wouldn't take it more than 3 or 4 times. it's a waste of time, effort, and money. i don't think sat prep courses help that much either. get yourself an sat prep book, learn some words, and get used to the exam format. it's not hard, just tricky. if you see the trick, the question dissolves.

don't take it too seriously or you'll get nervous. just go in and take it. you probably think it's more important than it really is. ;)

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Suppose things may have changed since I was last aware of policies, but:

You have to pay each time you take the test.

Schools will vary by if they take highest scores, averages, etc.

Generally, all your scores will get reported to places, and it's up to them what they take and why.

Though most say you can't "study" for things like the SAT, sometimes books like those put out by Barron's can indeed make a huge difference, even if it's just by offering practice tests and being better familiar with time limits and such.

Personally, I wouldn't bother taking the thing more than 3 times **max** unless one's score has improved by an average of 100 points each time.

Two times, perhaps, in general, but you do take the risk you'll score even lower, which doesn't look good depending on how any given place views things and why.

Overall, the SAT is worth only so much, perhaps a "filter" for better understanding what else one presents in college application essays, grades, and such. Long-term extracurriculars, grades, recommendations, interests, general "fit", you name it, depending on some schools, tend to matter one heck of a lot more.

Don't believe there's any limit on number of times you can take the SAT, and "penalties" depend on how you score and how places assess things for their own reasons. Some will indeed only pay attention to the highest scores you get no matter what, and ignore everything else. In the meantime, *do* try working with various books that are out there first if you're thinking of repeatedly taking the SAT.

You don't have to consistently pay and go on record each time to experiment to some degree with the thing if that's what you want to do.

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