SAT or ACT???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not take both? My son is a senior and took the SAT twice and ACT once.

Well, my son's answer was that the time spent prepping for the second test could have been better spent on AP Physics.

So we let it go. Scores weren't great, but good enough to meet his goals.

[Anonymous]

It seems that some of the answers might be based on the old SAT. The SAT was revised and administered for the first time last year, and it is now more like the ACT in content, though with less time pressure. There is a science section on the ACt but it is primarily a reading comprehension test. A lot of test taking at the margins involves confidence so it may make sense to have your child take practice tests (they already take the PSAT) and choose because that might boost confidence, but only might.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The ACT is a more straightforward test than the SAT. You don’t need to figure out what is being asked as much as you do the SAT. It isn’t necessarily easier. The science portion is really more reading comprehension than pure science btw.

This, above, is exactly what our DD has found and what has been discussed by her HS counselors in some presentations.

OP, have your DD take practice tests for both, but try to replicate the time limits since working against the clock is key.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the kid. Try both, and prep for the one that she does better on at first.

One factor of note: many schools will superscore the SAT; not nearly as many superscore the ACT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ACT is a more straightforward test than the SAT. You don’t need to figure out what is being asked as much as you do the SAT. It isn’t necessarily easier. The science portion is really more reading comprehension than pure science btw.

This, above, is exactly what our DD has found and what has been discussed by her HS counselors in some presentations.

OP, have your DD take practice tests for both, but try to replicate the time limits since working against the clock is key.

+1. My recommendations

- don't try both. Find out which one to focus on by taking practice exams (using real retired exams, not mock exams)
- SAT redesigned its test in 2016 to be more like ACT (ACT had more kids taking it than SAT in 2014 or 2015) which forced SAT to redesign its test
- even with redesign, SAT and ACT are somewhat different exams - ACT is more factual exams (no trick questions) but time is always problematic than SAT which means, with more practice, kids will get "better"
- Science is one area of concern for many kids because kids focus/spend too much time on trying to understand the "science" behind it rather than the "questions" being asked.

it worked for us - 2 kids got 36, 1 kid got 35. good luck.

[Anonymous]

With the ACT you don't have to do subject tests. My DC who took the ACT just had a lot less testing to deal with than my DC who took the SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With the ACT you don't have to do subject tests. My DC who took the ACT just had a lot less testing to deal with than my DC who took the SAT.

You don’t “have” to do subject test with either. But some schools recommend or require. For example, Even if kid takes and scores 36 on ACT he will have to take a few SAT subject tests to apply to MIT.

[Anonymous]

If your athletic daughter, who presumably performs well under pressure in her sport, is having trouble with testing, say on practice PSATs,

SHE IS A PERFECT CANDIDATE FOR TEST PREP. She may never do amazingly well in class, but in SAT/ACTs she can shine because their is a limited amount of things to learn.

Seriously, most likely she only knows how to deal with pressure once she has been walked through the process many times, once she knows exactly what to expect, then she will excel.

Explain this to her and get her into a semester long prep class. The first couple practice tests are nothing to worry about, she already knows what it is like to preform better than she ever has in the playoffs.

[Anonymous]

Professional advice we got was to take practice tests for both (actual old tests under timed conditions) and focus on only one test based on that outcome. A couple of other things that might not have been mentioned: SAT Math has a section with no calculators and ACT does not; ACT has a Science section, but it's really more reading and interpreting science texts and some STEM kids don't like it; both tests can be prepped for and, if you can afford it, private tutoring is more efficient as tutors know the "tricks" and can hone in on specific areas for focus based on practice exams. (They're expensive though $200-$500/hour is what we found.)

[Anonymous]

Take both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Professional advice we got was to take practice tests for both (actual old tests under timed conditions) and focus on only one test based on that outcome. A couple of other things that might not have been mentioned: SAT Math has a section with no calculators and ACT does not; ACT has a Science section, but it's really more reading and interpreting science texts and some STEM kids don't like it; both tests can be prepped for and, if you can afford it, private tutoring is more efficient as tutors know the "tricks" and can hone in on specific areas for focus based on practice exams. (They're expensive though $200-$500/hour is what we found.)

This is about the same advice we received, and followed. I thought the cost of a private tutor was insane...but it ended up being worth it. $3,000 investment = scholarship worth $60,000

[Anonymous]

OP seems to have disappeared and the original post suggested that her DD is not aiming for a top score because she has the athletic hook. She probably just needs to show college readiness and to come up with something comes close to the bottom 25% for the schools she is interested in. I don't know if it would be worth $3000 on tutoring - it depends where her baseline scores are. The advice to take timed practice tests makes sense.

My kids are not top students and neither one of them did prep for these tests beyond doing a practice test. The ACT in particular seemed to cover the basics of what they should have learned in HS to date and seemed more straightforward, with no need to learn test-taking strategies. My B student did much better on the ACT (30 vs. 1180) but did take it twice. My A- student did slightly better on the ACT (34 vs. 1480) and took each test one time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Professional advice we got was to take practice tests for both (actual old tests under timed conditions) and focus on only one test based on that outcome. A couple of other things that might not have been mentioned: SAT Math has a section with no calculators and ACT does not; ACT has a Science section, but it's really more reading and interpreting science texts and some STEM kids don't like it; both tests can be prepped for and, if you can afford it, private tutoring is more efficient as tutors know the "tricks" and can hone in on specific areas for focus based on practice exams. (They're expensive though $200-$500/hour is what we found.)

Yup. The science section KILLED my STEM kid. His best science score was 5 points lower than his best English score, despite always being an excellent science student and a mediocre English student.

As for test prep: We had a private tutor who was much less than that - about $90 per hour and quite good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP seems to have disappeared and the original post suggested that her DD is not aiming for a top score because she has the athletic hook. She probably just needs to show college readiness and to come up with something comes close to the bottom 25% for the schools she is interested in. I don't know if it would be worth $3000 on tutoring - it depends where her baseline scores are. The advice to take timed practice tests makes sense.

My kids are not top students and neither one of them did prep for these tests beyond doing a practice test. The ACT in particular seemed to cover the basics of what they should have learned in HS to date and seemed more straightforward, with no need to learn test-taking strategies. My B student did much better on the ACT (30 vs. 1180) but did take it twice. My A- student did slightly better on the ACT (34 vs. 1480) and took each test one time.

This is OP, I'm still here and reading the responses. Definitely not trying to kill the test, but get a respectable score since she needs to have one of the tests to submit with her application.

[Anonymous]

Can either of the PP who used private tutors recommend? I am ok paying. our logic is to roll it into the “cost of college” mentality; that relative to 4 years of school that will cost $250k.... $3k more is nothing.