Does it look bad if I take my fourth SAT?

Does it look bad if you take the SAT or ACT multiple times?

• Answer:

  After 28 years I am a returning student to the college arena. It does not reflect badly on you if you are required to take the SAT or ACT exams more than once. Much of the information and processes some of us had to learn has changed over time. So if getting updated knowledge and retaking these tests is needed I believe it is better to do so now than to give up the dream. Nope. As long as you pass it, they do not care how much you take the tests. It just takes a lot of money out of your pocket. They do not look at how many times you take the SAT/ACT tests. They just look at the highest score you got and that's it. Whether you take it 1 time or take it 5 times, the colleges don't care. Just your highest score. It only looks bad if your scores do not improve. Some colleges suggest that you should take the SAT at most three or so times. This is because taking five or six SAT's shows that you are overly desperate to get into that college (and there are better ways to show your desperation). My advice is to take it once and try to improve your score for the second exam.