SAT superscoring is a policy used by many colleges where admissions officers take your highest Math and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (EBRW) section scores from different test dates and combine them into a new composite superscore. This approach evaluates your best performance in each section rather than relying solely on a single test date.

When calculating a superscore, colleges take the highest section score from each test date you submit and add them together. For example, if you scored 680 Math and 720 EBRW on one test, and 700 Math and 710 EBRW on another, your superscore would be 700 Math plus 720 EBRW, equaling 1420.

Many prestigious institutions accept SAT superscores, including MIT, Caltech, University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Duke, Vanderbilt, Emory, Rice, Johns Hopkins, NYU, University of Michigan, and Notre Dame. However, policies vary by school and can change, so you should always verify the current superscoring policy on each college's official admissions website.

Superscoring combines your highest section scores from all submitted test dates to create a new composite score. Score Choice, a College Board feature, allows you to select which individual test date scores to send to colleges. Some schools require submission of all scores regardless of Score Choice preferences, making it important to understand each institution's policy.

Superscoring benefits students by highlighting their strongest section performance across all test attempts, encouraging strategic retesting by showing that improving individual sections can raise the overall score, and allowing focused preparation on weaker areas without the pressure of achieving a perfect score in every section on a single test date.

If your colleges superscore the SAT, retaking the exam can be strategically beneficial since improvements in individual sections will enhance your superscore even if other section scores decline. This makes it worth concentrating your study efforts on the sections where you have the most room for improvement.