SAT Superscore and Score Choice: How Colleges See Your Scores

If you take the SAT more than once, many colleges will not judge you by a single sitting. They take your best Reading and Writing score and your best Math score, even from different test dates, and add them up. That is a superscore, and knowing how it works changes how you should plan your test dates.

What a superscore is

Say you take the SAT twice:

Your best single sitting is 1310, but a college that superscores sees 1350. The superscore is calculated by the college from the score reports you send, not by College Board. Your score report itself always shows each test date separately.

Which colleges superscore

Policies differ by school, and they change. Broadly there are three kinds:

• Superscore: the college combines your best section scores across all dates you send.
• Highest single sitting: the college looks at your best total from one test date.
• All scores required: the college asks you to send every SAT you have taken. Many of these still superscore, but they see the full history.

Check the admissions page of every school on your list. Search for "SAT superscore" plus the college name, and read the school's own answer rather than a third party summary.

Score Choice: deciding which dates to send

Score Choice is College Board's free option that lets you pick which test dates go to a college. It has two rules worth knowing:

1. You send whole test dates. You cannot send the Reading and Writing score from one date and the Math score from another as separate pieces. Send both dates and let the college superscore.
2. Score Choice does not override a college's policy. If a school requires all scores, you are expected to send all of them.

Choosing which dates to send costs nothing extra beyond the normal score report.

Free score reports and fees

Every SAT weekend registration includes four free score reports. You can choose or change those four colleges until nine days after the test. After that, each additional report costs $15, and rush delivery costs $31. Students with an SAT fee waiver can send unlimited score reports for free.

There is a trade off. If you list colleges before seeing your score, the reports are free but you send the score blind. If you wait, you pay $15 per college but only send scores you are happy with. When a school superscores, sending early is usually safe, since a weaker sitting cannot pull your superscore down.

How superscoring should shape your plan

• Plan for two attempts. A first sitting in the fall of junior year leaves time for a second one before applications. Pick dates on our SAT test dates page.
• Focus your retake. If your Reading and Writing score is already where you want it, put most of your preparation into Math before the second attempt, and the other way round.
• Do not overdo it. Two or three attempts are common. Beyond that, the time is usually better spent on grades, essays and activities.

A note on the third attempt

Scores tend to rise most between the first and second sitting, when nerves and unfamiliarity fade. A third attempt helps when your practice scores are clearly above your official result. If they are not, more practice comes before another registration.

To see what your section scores add up to, try our SAT score calculator. To learn what total to aim for, read what is a good SAT score.