SAT Superscore Explained: How to Use It

Superscoring is one of the most useful — and least understood — features of SAT admissions. Used well, it turns two good-but-imperfect test days into one strong total. Here is exactly how it works and how to use it.

What a superscore is

When a college superscores, it takes your highest score in each section across all your sittings and adds them, regardless of which test date each came from. A worked example: suppose you score 700 Reading and Writing / 650 Math in one sitting, then 670 / 720 in another. Your superscore is 700 + 720 = 1420 — higher than either single sitting (1350 and 1390). You never scored 1420 on one day, but that is the number the college considers.

Superscore vs Score Choice

These are often confused but do different jobs:

• Score Choice (a College Board feature) controls which scores you send to a college, by test date.
• Superscoring is the college's policy for how it uses the scores it receives.

In short: Score Choice is what you send; superscoring is what they do with it. Importantly, some superscoring colleges still ask you to send all your scores even though they will only use your best sections.

Which colleges superscore

The large majority of US universities superscore — well over a thousand, including all eight Ivy League universities and schools such as Stanford and MIT (some, like Harvard and Princeton, consider your highest section scores rather than formally "superscoring", which works out the same for you). A small number do not superscore — Georgetown is the best-known, asking for every score and considering them as sat. Because policies change, always confirm on each university's admissions page. For where to aim, see a good SAT score for US universities.

How to use superscoring strategically

Superscoring changes how you should plan your sittings:

• Plan to take the SAT two or three times — the sweet spot for most students.
• Target your weaker section each time. If your Math lags, pour your prep into Math for the next sitting; even if your Reading and Writing dips slightly, your superscore keeps the earlier high.
• Stop when the gains flatten — there is no benefit to endless retakes.

How many times to sit, and when, is covered in how many times you can take the SAT and when to take the SAT.

The "send all scores" caveat

A college can superscore and still require every score report. So before you rely on Score Choice to hide a weaker sitting, check each university's score-reporting policy — for some, hiding scores is not an option, though their superscoring means a weaker day rarely hurts you anyway.

Does superscoring apply to international students?

Yes — superscoring is a university policy, not a regional one, so international applicants benefit in exactly the same way. If you are applying from outside the US, plan your retakes around the same logic; see the SAT for international students.

A retake plan that maximises your superscore

Here is the logic in practice. Say your first sitting is 690 Reading and Writing / 640 Math (1330). Because your university superscores, your only job on the retake is to beat 640 in Math — so you pour your preparation into Math and aim simply to hold Reading and Writing. If the retake comes back 670 / 710, your superscore is 690 + 710 = 1400, a 70-point jump, even though your second-sitting total (1380) was only 50 higher. Targeting the weaker section, rather than trying to lift both at once, is what makes superscoring so powerful — and why a focused, section-specific plan beats general revision every time.

More SAT guidance: the average SAT score, SAT Math formulas, common SAT mistakes, how many times you can take the SAT, when to take the SAT, a good SAT score for US universities and the SAT for international students. Tutoring: Digital SAT tutoring.

Official source: College Board — sending scores & Score Choice. Confirm each university's superscore policy on its admissions page.

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