Students score higher on standardized test on their second try?

Er… everything I’m finding online says your score WON’T necessarily improve. Which is stupid, in my opinion. Will you take personal experience as a source?

My scores on the ACT and SAT improved each time I took them, and I’m a strong believer in the idea that everyone can improve their scores. Having taken the test once, you’re better off in that you know exactly what to expect. Standardized tests don’t test your knowledge as much as they test your ability to take the test. The more you KNOW the test, and the more you FEEL like you’re prepared, the better you’ll do. So I believe that everyone can improve their scores by taking a standardized test again, just because they know the test better after taking it the first time. They’ll know what to expect, in the format of the test, the time limits, and the content.

I also believe that studying can help a lot on standardized tests. They all cover very specific areas, especially in the math. Everyone can improve their ability to solve math problems by practicing, and everyone can improve their grammar and vocabulary with study (READING is a great way to do this). If you need to improve specific knowledge for some other test, you can ALWAYS study for it and do better.

If he/she needs more motivation, look at the goals. If this is SAT/ACT, think college admission and scholarship money. There are always benefits to getting higher scores.

Good luck!

Well, I don’t know about official articles, but I do have personal experience in the matter. I took the SATs twice – my score jumped 70 points to a perfect 1600 (under the old system). I also knew several people in my graduating class who took the SATs twice. All of them improved their scores the second time around – in one case, almost 300 points!

They don’t always do it. But since many students do, you should probably try to retake whatever test. Also, with the SAT, you can find out how many people score lower, the same, and higher with each of the three parts of the SAT test for the scores your friend received.