Another option is to take the SAT Math 2 subject est and if he does well submit that in addition to the ACT.

But you would want to prep and practice to make sure it would be helpful

My kid also preferred the SAT. He felt super rushed on the ACT.

He is obviously frustrated. He has never taken the SAT. Took the PSAT and got in the low 1300's sophomore and got a composite 29 PACT also in sophomore year, so his college counselor said to stick with the ACT.

Looking for advice.

Now that he's taken the ACT 3 times, does the college counselor have a different opinion, or an opinion about whether the 32 composite is sufficient for the schools on his list (assuming he is a senior and has maybe one more chance to take a test). That's probably all that matters at that point. If getting his math score up wouldn't make much difference, then it sounds like it's time to be done with it. His math score isn't really an outlier although I'm sure it's frustrating knowing that he could do better.

If he wants to show colleges a higher math score, then there's no harm in taking a practice SAT to see what happens. The math is similar enough that he likely wouldn't need additional math prep. The English/Reading questions can be tougher on the SAT though. My DC took each test once and had essentially equivalent math scores but better E/R scores on the ACT.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter had a really hard time with the math section of the ACT as well and I wish we had tried the SAT. She was class of 2017 and she took a practice test in both and when the results were similar she decided to work on improving the ACT because the SAT was in the process of changing and there wasn't a lot available on the new test at that time. She took the ACT three times and scored a perfect score on English and also on reading (36) but she could not finish the math and/or felt very rushed and never got above a 30 on that section. For my younger child I plan to steer her away from the ACT because of the math timing, unless she strongly prefers that test.

My DC had the opposite problem. DC got a perfect score on the ACT Math and English and hated the SAT. Every kid will be different.

My daughter had a really hard time with the math section of the ACT as well and I wish we had tried the SAT. She was class of 2017 and she took a practice test in both and when the results were similar she decided to work on improving the ACT because the SAT was in the process of changing and there wasn't a lot available on the new test at that time. She took the ACT three times and scored a perfect score on English and also on reading (36) but she could not finish the math and/or felt very rushed and never got above a 30 on that section. For my younger child I plan to steer her away from the ACT because of the math timing, unless she strongly prefers that test.

Of course he should try the SAT. College Board's website has free practice test - he should try one under timed conditions and then prep for an official one. Many kids do better on one test or the other, depending on their strengths and weaknesses. ACT is primarily a test of speed.