Postsecondary Counseling Newsletter

June 19th, 2024

Seniors and Families,

Happy Juneteenth! I hope your summer is going well so far.

SAT scores from the March free test day administration at AHS are now available in your College Board Portal. I have also posted each of your scores in your Scoir profile (instructions below).

If you are new to AHS: your scores should be available if you took the test in March or April. However, you do not have a Scoir profile yet and cannot view your scores there. I do not have access to your SAT scores - you will need to access your scores through the College Board.

What do my scores mean?

First and foremost, I want to stress to you that your SAT score is not an indicator of your potential to go to or succeed in college.

The most common question I inevitably get from students is: Is this a good score?? This is a really tough question to answer and my response is always: There is not really such as thing as a good score or a bad one. It's all about context. Colleges are interested in learning the following things from your SAT scores (in order of importance):

• Do you meet the college ready benchmarks? The college ready benchmarks are:

530 for Math

480 for Reading and Writing

• How does your score compare to the scores of the rest of your class at your high school? They want to see the context of how you did relative to your peers in the same learning environment as you.

• How does your score compare to other applicants?

Here are some of our school stats from the March test from AHS:

Average total score: 1005 (see graphic below for score distribution data)

Keep in mind that the majority of 4-year colleges and universities are now test optional. This means that you can choose whether or not to send your test scores and it will not negatively impact your application.

Should you retake the SAT?

Are you planning to apply to any colleges that require testing? If the answer is yes, then you should definitely retake the SAT.

Are you close to the benchmark score and are you willing to put time and effort into studying? If the answer is yes, then maybe. If the answer is no, then definitely not. You might gain a few extra points simply from having taken the test once before, but you will not get a significant score increase if you don't study.

What is a significant score increase? Usually about 100 points. If a 100 point score increase would bump you into the top 25% of students at Animas or get you to the college ready benchmark, then it might be worth it to retake the SAT.

Another instance where it might be worth it to retake:

If you're cumulative GPA is closer to a 2.5 than a 3.0 and you want to go to a 4-year college, your SAT scores could be a helpful data point for admissions officers to show that you are college ready. In this case they are not really comparing you to your peers at Animas or other applicants, but looking to see if you meet the college ready benchmark scores.

If you decide to retake:

Fee waivers are available! If you qualify for free or reduced lunch or if paying for the test would present a financial hardship for your family, let me know and I will give you a fee waiver code to use when you register.

If you plan to apply early action or early decision, you should retake the test no later than Oct. 5th. If you plan to apply regular decision, you can take the test in November or December.

To view your SAT scores in Scoir:

Log into Scoir

Click on "Me" in the upper right corner

Click "View Profile"

In the menu on the Left, click "Academic Overview"

You will see your test scores in the middle of the screen. If you want to see the full report and the breakdown of what types of questions you answered correctly and incorrectly, you will have to log in to your individual College Board account.

Erin Cummins-Roper (she/her)

Dean of Career & College Counseling  

Tel: (970) 247-2474  x2272

Cell: 970-903-1617

www.animashighschool.com