My daughter bombed her ACT - move on to SAT?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading and science are essentially the same -- it's a test of reading comprehension and speed.

Your child may well have the same challenge on the SAT. Get her a couple ACT prep books that will show her where she is going wrong, and more practice. A lot.

Speed is the issue in ACT. It is not for SAT. If that is the problem, I would switch.

They just redesigned SAT to look/feel more like ACT. In 2016 if i remember correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She has been taking practice tests with composites ranging from 32-34. We were hoping she would be one and done. She ended up with:

English 35
Math 33
Reading 28
Science 24

Composite 30.

She is really upset. She knew she messed up Reading but Science is the lowest she has ever had. Does she try again or move onto SAT? We really can’t afford all these tests or submitting them to all the colleges. I had no idea how expensive all this testing gets.

Which practice tests did she take? Not all are same. You need to practice using old retired ACT exam tests.

Disagree. It has been said here and college confidential many times that the ACT has gotten much harder this year compared to previous years. OP was probably taking old tests and got over confident.

[Anonymous]

Hey There - Yeah, the science is tricky. My kid who is really talented in science bombed it, too. Twice (although the first time was almost adequate).

Some of the schools do superscoring, and your daughter had two great sections. So I think if she has time to prep, another round is a very good idea.

It is early yet, so I would recommend that she take it again, but pay careful attention now to why those sections went poorly so that she learns from the mistake. The odds are good she'll do substantially better than that if she preps more. I think it is telling that the reading and science are both low, since they pretty much test the same thing.

The problem with the SAT is if she goes that route, she also has subject tests to do and that is time consuming. And, she'll have more prep to do - no point in taking the test with no prep.

I would definitely make sure she's around for the August test dates, since it sounds like she might need them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She has been taking practice tests with composites ranging from 32-34. We were hoping she would be one and done. She ended up with:

English 35
Math 33
Reading 28
Science 24

Composite 30.

She is really upset. She knew she messed up Reading but Science is the lowest she has ever had. Does she try again or move onto SAT? We really can’t afford all these tests or submitting them to all the colleges. I had no idea how expensive all this testing gets.

Which practice tests did she take? Not all are same. You need to practice using old retired ACT exam tests.

Disagree. It has been said here and college confidential many times that the ACT has gotten much harder this year compared to previous years. OP was probably taking old tests and got over confident.

maybe, maybe not. but the scores are curved each test so it doesn't matter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading and science are essentially the same -- it's a test of reading comprehension and speed.

Your child may well have the same challenge on the SAT. Get her a couple ACT prep books that will show her where she is going wrong, and more practice. A lot.

Speed is the issue in ACT. It is not for SAT. If that is the problem, I would switch.

They just redesigned SAT to look/feel more like ACT. In 2016 if i remember correctly.

No chance. I am prertty sure the ACT is 60 reading questions in an hour. That includes reading the long passages. It is a massive time crunch.

[Anonymous]

^^ Oh, I should note that my "underperformer" is headed to a nice engineering school at an OOS flagship with aid. It isn't Georgia Tech, but it is where he belongs. The bad science score didn't ruin anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She has been taking practice tests with composites ranging from 32-34. We were hoping she would be one and done. She ended up with:

English 35
Math 33
Reading 28
Science 24

Composite 30.

She is really upset. She knew she messed up Reading but Science is the lowest she has ever had. Does she try again or move onto SAT? We really can’t afford all these tests or submitting them to all the colleges. I had no idea how expensive all this testing gets.

Which practice tests did she take? Not all are same. You need to practice using old retired ACT exam tests.

Disagree. It has been said here and college confidential many times that the ACT has gotten much harder this year compared to previous years. OP was probably taking old tests and got over confident.

maybe, maybe not. but the scores are curved each test so it doesn't matter

How is the test curved? So many questions wrong get you lower scores. It just change.

[Anonymous]

OP: Some good advice here.

1) Have her retake. She can "superstore" her 2 tests. Have her work on her lower scoring sections.

2) Did she use the big red book of ACT tests? If not, have her take one every other weekend at the library before taking the test again.

3) Many schools don't even care about the Science section. Some schools outright only look at the Math and English sections.

4) Without extra practice, your DD may actually score *higher* on the SAT. They are very similar tests (after the recent redesign). But you won't know this if she never takes it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She has been taking practice tests with composites ranging from 32-34. We were hoping she would be one and done. She ended up with:

English 35
Math 33
Reading 28
Science 24

Composite 30.

She is really upset. She knew she messed up Reading but Science is the lowest she has ever had. Does she try again or move onto SAT? We really can’t afford all these tests or submitting them to all the colleges. I had no idea how expensive all this testing gets.

Which practice tests did she take? Not all are same. You need to practice using old retired ACT exam tests.

Disagree. It has been said here and college confidential many times that the ACT has gotten much harder this year compared to previous years. OP was probably taking old tests and got over confident.

maybe, maybe not. but the scores are curved each test so it doesn't matter

How is the test curved? So many questions wrong get you lower scores. It just change.

You need to google and study how ACT scores and %tiles are calculated. Then report back. You are reporting a lot of uninformed info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: Some good advice here.

1) Have her retake. She can "superstore" her 2 tests. Have her work on her lower scoring sections.

2) Did she use the big red book of ACT tests? If not, have her take one every other weekend at the library before taking the test again.

3) Many schools don't even care about the Science section. Some schools outright only look at the Math and English sections.

4) Without extra practice, your DD may actually score *higher* on the SAT. They are very similar tests (after the recent redesign). But you won't know this if she never takes it.

OP - If you can afford it, hire a tutor. Much more efficient. Also, can you get the answers? If so, pay the money for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She has been taking practice tests with composites ranging from 32-34. We were hoping she would be one and done. She ended up with:

English 35
Math 33
Reading 28
Science 24

Composite 30.

She is really upset. She knew she messed up Reading but Science is the lowest she has ever had. Does she try again or move onto SAT? We really can’t afford all these tests or submitting them to all the colleges. I had no idea how expensive all this testing gets.

Which practice tests did she take? Not all are same. You need to practice using old retired ACT exam tests.

Disagree. It has been said here and college confidential many times that the ACT has gotten much harder this year compared to previous years. OP was probably taking old tests and got over confident.

maybe, maybe not. but the scores are curved each test so it doesn't matter

How is the test curved? So many questions wrong get you lower scores. It just change.

There is no curve, per se. That's an urban legend. However, the tests are "normalized" so that one test is not tougher or easier than another administration of the test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh my. This is why kids can barely function these days!

Truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading and science are essentially the same -- it's a test of reading comprehension and speed.

Your child may well have the same challenge on the SAT. Get her a couple ACT prep books that will show her where she is going wrong, and more practice. A lot.

Speed is the issue in ACT. It is not for SAT. If that is the problem, I would switch.

They just redesigned SAT to look/feel more like ACT. In 2016 if i remember correctly.

No chance. I am prertty sure the ACT is 60 reading questions in an hour. That includes reading the long passages. It is a massive time crunch.

What Pos are alluding to is that the substance of the tests are more similar now than ever. However, the timing of the ACT is something you will need to practice.

But, if you've spent a good amount of time studying for one test, you will do fine on the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She has been taking practice tests with composites ranging from 32-34. We were hoping she would be one and done. She ended up with:

English 35
Math 33
Reading 28
Science 24

Composite 30.

She is really upset. She knew she messed up Reading but Science is the lowest she has ever had. Does she try again or move onto SAT? We really can’t afford all these tests or submitting them to all the colleges. I had no idea how expensive all this testing gets.

Which practice tests did she take? Not all are same. You need to practice using old retired ACT exam tests.

Disagree. It has been said here and college confidential many times that the ACT has gotten much harder this year compared to previous years. OP was probably taking old tests and got over confident.

maybe, maybe not. but the scores are curved each test so it doesn't matter

How is the test curved? So many questions wrong get you lower scores. It just change.

There is no curve, per se. That's an urban legend. However, the tests are "normalized" so that one test is not tougher or easier than another administration of the test.

You know that the normalization to make sure that every year about 1% get a 34 or whatever... that is what it means to cure

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh my. This is why kids can barely function these days!

Truth.

Not truth. Kid did worse than expected. Mom seeks advice from those with experience to share. Daughter preps, and then most likely does better next time (because that's what happens in expectation when you prep for the second round).

This is sensible with a 22, a 29, a 32 or pretty much any score below a 33.