In today’s competitive college admissions landscape, many students take the SAT multiple times to try to maximize their scores. If you’ve taken the SAT more than once, you probably want colleges to focus on your highest score and ignore the others.
But do colleges see all your scores or just the ones you want them to? In most cases, colleges do not see all your SAT scores. You can choose which ones to send them. Some highly selective schools require applicants to submit all their test scores. Other colleges have “superscore” policies, which can make it advantageous to send multiple scores.
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Will Colleges See All of My SAT Scores?
Every college has its own policies on SAT scores. These policies cover several areas when it comes to SAT score submission. These areas include:
- Whether you have to submit all your scores. Most schools allow you to submit only your highest score, but a few schools want to see how many times you took the test and what you scored on each attempt.
- Whether you’re allowed to superscore. Most schools allow “superscoring,” the combining of your highest section scores from multiple attempts into one composite score. Other schools will only consider composite scores achieved in a single sitting.
- Whether you can apply test-optional. Many colleges don’t even require you to submit the SAT or the ACT. These are called “test-optional” colleges. However, even at these colleges, if you made a good score — meaning above the school’s 50th percentile and definitely if you scored above its 75th percentile — you can usually boost your chance of admission by opting to submit your SAT. If you scored below average for that college, then you should consider taking advantage of the test-optional policy.
- Whether you can apply test-blind. Some schools have gone completely test blind, meaning they don’t look at your SAT or ACT scores even if you choose to submit them. As of the 2022-2023 school year, the highest-profile university system to adopt this policy is the University of California.
This guide breaks down these policies and elaborates further on each of them.
Multiple SAT Test Attempts
If you have taken or are planning to take the SAT multiple times, most schools will allow you to choose which scores to send and which scores not to send. In fact, both the SAT and the ACT offer something called “Score Choice,” which most colleges and universities participate in.
With Score Choice, you can choose which test dates get sent to which colleges. So, if you took the test in August, October, and November, you can select just the November test, for instance, to be submitted.
But not all schools participate in Score Choice. Most of the Ivy League colleges require you to submit all of your SAT scores, as do many other highly selective schools. Even Ivy League schools that don’t explicitly require you to submit all your scores, such as Princeton, recommend it. And when the admissions office at a school with less than a 4% acceptance rate recommends that you do something, it might as well be a requirement.
If you have a huge disparity between scores — for instance, you scored 1,100 on the first attempt and then improved to a 1,450 on the second attempt — you should check with each school where you’re planning on applying so you know their specific policy and can prepare for it.
Superscore Policies
Before you decide to send your dream school only your highest composite SAT score, you should find out if the school accepts superscores. Your SAT superscore is your highest EBRW (Evidence-Based Reading and Writing) score combined with your highest math score, even if those two scores were achieved on different attempts.
For instance, if you scored a 600 on EBRW and a 700 on math for your first attempt, giving you a 1,300 SAT score, and then you scored a 750 on EBRW and a 600 on math for your second attempt, giving you a 1,350, your highest single composite score would be the score from your second attempt. But your SAT superscore would be 1,450 since it would comprise the 700 math score from your first attempt and the 750 EBRW score from your second attempt.
If you’re applying to a college that superscores the SAT, you should look at all of your scores and determine whether you should send just your highest single score, or if you should send the two scores that combine to make the highest superscore.
If you aren’t sure about a specific college or university’s SAT superscore policy, the admissions office should be able to answer that question.
Test-Optional Policies
In decades past, it was unheard of for a college or university not to require applicants to submit their SAT or ACT scores. Today, however, hundreds of schools around the country have test-optional policies.
Test-optional schools don’t require you to submit your standardized test scores but will consider them if you elect to send them. Colleges have adopted these policies out of a somewhat controversial belief that test scores are not actually a strong indicator of how well a student will perform in college.
(In actuality, the evidence is mixed with regard to test scores predicting college success. Several studies have shown positive correlations of varying strength between SAT/ACT scores and freshman year grades, while the results of other studies suggest that high school GPA has better predictive value.)
Even if you’re applying to test-optional schools, you should look at each school’s SAT and ACT midrange and compare it to your score. If you scored better than most applicants who get into a particular school, you should consider sending your scores even if they aren’t required. However, if you scored below the school’s 50th percentile, you’re probably better off applying with no test scores.
Test-Blind Policies
Some colleges and universities have gone a step beyond test-optional and have enacted test-blind admissions. The University of California system, which includes the two most selective public universities in the country, UCLA and UC-Berkeley, made a big splash when it adopted a test-blind policy in response to the Covid pandemic in 2021.
Test-blind schools do not consider your test scores, period. Even if you scored 1,600 on the SAT and 36 on the ACT, it’s all for nothing if you apply to test-blind schools because they won’t even look at your scores if you ask them to.
If you’ve attempted both the SAT and ACT multiple times and scored poorly on every attempt, you might want to consider applying to at least one test-blind school. The problem with test-optional schools is that while they don’t explicitly require test scores, they still look at them for the students who submit them, and this gives students with high scores a major admissions advantage over their peers who don’t submit scores.
At a test-blind school, even a highly competitive one like UCLA, your SAT or ACT score won’t hurt you, no matter how bad it is, because the school will never see it or ask for it.
Unlike at a test-optional school, where the admissions officer can’t help but assume your score was subpar if you elect not to submit it, at a test-blind school you’re on the same playing field as everyone else.
Do Colleges See All Your SAT Scores? The Bottom Line
It is up to each college whether or not they want to see all of your SAT scores. Most schools allow you to choose which scores to send them and which to keep to yourself. As a general rule, the more selective the school, the more likely they are to require you to submit all your scores.
If you have multiple scores, it’s a good idea to find out the policy of each college you’re interested in ahead of time so that you know what to expect. Good luck!
