I'm not happy with my SAT score. It's really bumming me out. I feel like a failure. What should I do?

I did horrible in my SAT scores and it was also the last chance I had to take them so I felt extremely lost. If you are unable to retake the test, I highly recommend reaching out to the admissions team at the schools you are applying to and explain to them your situation. For me personally, I was not able to get accommodations for the SAT even though I get accommodations for regular classes. I let the admissions folks know that if I had accommodations, I would have done a lot better and that I was confident that my SAT score was not a reflection of how I would do in my first year of college given my past grades in rigorous courses. Many of the schools that had holistic approaches to admissions were super understanding and now I attend one of my top choices. I also did pretty well my first year which shows that the test truly did not resemble my college academic performance

Learn from what you did wrong, study and retake it if you want. You can take the SAT's as many times as you want. Also, you get to choose which one to send to colleges. Failing can feel awful but you can't have success without it. And really failure and success are just concepts. They are how you measure it. So maybe change how you measure success. Like I am just proud of myself for finishing it it was very stressful but I did it. If I didn't reach my goal then I will just learn from it and do it again.

Been there, felt that way as well. I will briefly try and share how I dealt with it. First of all, you are not a failure, but i do understand why you feel those emotions. You had expectations that weren’t fulfilled, and so did i, and so did many others. It took me some time to finally believe myself when i tell myself that one curve on the SAT, one result, one simple number does NOT define your overall performance or ability to do something academically. It’s the same with IQ test, with any test. It does take time to let go of those negative feelings, but you’ll get there and you will be okay.

I know the feeling. My counselor told me that it is okay to take time to grieve for an unexpected result before setting a small goal towards the future. Some ways to guide that goal include: 1. What are your thoughts about taking the exam again vs the barriers to taking the exam again? 2. Who are the people you trust who you can talk to to help you get to the ultimate goal that you want to achieve? Ultimately, I had friends who did better than me on the SATs who aren't doing as well as me right now, and friends who did not do as well as me on the SATs who are in a better place in life than I am right now. The most important thing you can do for yourself right now is to be as kind to yourself as you would be to your best friend.

As someone who did poorly on the SAT the first try I can say that one score doesn't define the person you are. There's always other opportunities where you can take the SAT once again and do better. What you can do from now on is decide on whether or not you'll decide to retake it. In the case you do set a strict schedule where you study the subject you believed you did poorly in. In the case you don't, an SAT score won't be subjective of the person you are. Being a well-rounded student and doing outside activities is what solidifies your character and distinguishes you from other college applicants. I myself did poorly on the SAT and managed to get into one of the best research universities in California due to my resilience where I pushed to explain the person I was in my personal insight questions and throughout the entirety of my application.

Do not fret about it, because you can retake the SAT until you get the score you would like. It is also important to note that some colleges don't require that you submit an SAT or ACT score, in order to be accepted. And it is a very hard test, they intentionally try to trip you up, so don't get too discouraged. You will learn from this test, and use it to improve next time. There are a lot of places where you can get a tutor to help you out, but if that's not an option, study with a friend or family member. Standardized tests are awful to deal with, but you'll get through it!