<p>My son decided to focus on the ACT even though we are from what still is SAT region of our country. The SAT will have score choice for 2010 like the ACT. Most schools superscore the SAT, but for some reason not the ACT. I began to wonder whether the kiddo who takes the ACT only is at a disadvantage. Any ideas?</p>
<p>This is what I found out by calling 2 LACs, both in what has been SAT country. One LAC is in the southeast, and one is in the northeast. One is standardized test optional, and one is not test optional. Here is what I learned:</p>
<p>Both schools look only at the composite scores of the ACT. They do not look at the ACT subscores at all. Both schools convert the ACT scores to SAT composite scores. They both superscore the SAT if multiple seatings are submitted, but do not superscore the ACT. Both schools use standardized tests with other aspects of the application for merit aid. The test optional school (school A) will consider a student for merit aid without standardized test scores if they submit 2 papers. They also consider gpa, look at classes taken, and they do consider the strength of the high school.
School B, requires standardized tests. Interestingly, merit aid is awarded by the financial aid office after the admissions office supplies the FA office with specific information about an admitted student. The financial aid office would not see an ACT score, but a score that was converted to a SAT score. If a student submitted multiple SAT scores then the FA office would receive their superscore (highest scores from each section of the SAT). The FA office would receive a recalculated gpa that would take APs and honor classes into account, and that gpa would not include grades from elective classes with some exceptions (a specific example given was AP Art). This school did not mention considering the strength of a high school when evaluating for merit aid. They did mention vaguely looking at ECs as well (seemed to play a minor role from my understanding).</p>
<p>Does this mean that if an applicant is interested in merit aid that taking the SAT the most amount of times possible is the best way to proceed? It sounds like torture to me. I know that my son prefers the ACT.</p>
<p>It does sound like they give an edge to the SAT because of superscoring. I’m assuming your son has tried the SAT. Find conversion tables and convert each SAT sub-score and then compare it to a converted ACT composite score. You’ll have your answer.</p>
<p>Toledo, actually my son has not taken the SAT yet. He has taken an ACT. He is a junior. I do believe that because of superscoring the SAT, the edge is given to the student that takes the SAT. I could be wrong, because it seems as though for admission the SAT subscores (math and English matter). I am getting the idea that for the ACT the subscores do not matter, and it is only the composite score that matters (but my sample was limited to just getting information from 2 schools who see more SAT scores than ACT scores). I suppose that could be beneficial to an applicant who struggles with math, but is capable of scoring very well in reading and English (ie: 18 math, English 33, reading 31, science 26=composite of 27). My kid is not likely to produce scores that are skewed that much, but is more likely to score less well on the math and science than the reading and English. LOL, I only wish he would score in the 30s on any of the sections!</p>
<p>Superscoring is only an advantage if your scores are markedly better from one session of the SAT to the next. For my son the two SAT scores were only 10 points apart. He had identical scores in W and CR both times.</p>
<p>I agree with your analysis though, that for schools that convert an overall ACT to an SAT total, that might well hide a weakness in math (or verbal).</p>
<p>My older son took the SAT twice. On his verbal there was a 50 point difference (lower score the 2nd time), and on his math there was an 80 point difference (increase on the 2nd test). His writing went up only 10 points the second time. I guess that when superscoring that was a 140 point difference!</p>
<p>I am amazed that some schools only are concerned with the composite on the ACT, because the applicant might really have a weakness in one area that should be of concern, and it is being masked when a score is looked at this way. To me, the ACT subscores have meaning, and there is a reason that the 4 subscores are reported in addition to the writing score. If my kid decides to only take the ACT, I do resent superscoring for the SAT, but not the ACT (I know that a few schools do superscore the ACT too, but most do not). It could make a financial difference for our family when merit aid is awarded. I realize that I should not resent anything since my son also can take SATs, but I hate to subject him to being tested to death.</p>
<p>this is great and interesting information northeastmom, did you address the issue with school choice with either of these schools? There have been rumblings around that some schools may still request that you submit all your SAT scores, I wonder if you brought up this subject.</p>
<p>jackief, of course they want all SAT scores because they superscore them! This increases rankings! Why all schools don’t superscore the ACTs, I don’t understand. The commonapp now asks for all scores, but they are not all submitted by all applicants anyway (I can tell you this just by reading the posts on cc). There is no way of knowing who took which test and when it was taken. The ACT and SAT will now both have score choice. Why advertise choice, when schools are asking for all scores?</p>
<p>I was not calling to give my point of view. I was calling to get information about how the schools evaluate for admission and merit aid. Their response could, however, definitely effect which schools applicant chooses to apply to.</p>
<p>Editing this to say that if an applicant is evaluated for admission and merit aid using superscoring, it seems to me that it is in the best interest of the applicant to submit all scores, even if one subscore is much lower.</p>
<p>Have your son create an account on collegeboard.com, do some practice question sets in the Test Prep area, and then take the full-length practice test there. That will give him an idea of how he might score on an official testing.</p>
<p>I don’t want to generalize too much from my son’s own experience–but it would seem when you study for the SAT (math concepts, vocab, reading comp practice, etc.) then those skills will, to a large degree, transfer over to the ACT. Son did read the ‘strategy’ sections of the ACT book. Maybe if you pitch it to your son that it’s not ‘two whole separate prep periods’ (there is some overlap) then he won’t view it so negatively? Just a thought…</p>
<p>If he takes only the ACT, make sure he takes the one “with writing”. Also, practicing on science section helps A LOT. It has nothing to do with science knowledge, btw, and is just interpreting the data given in the question. But many students have hard time with it because they are not familiar with this sort of questions, and so they run out of time.</p>
<p>I think this was typing not catching up with the strong mathematical understanding of the person who posted this reply. Superscoring is only beneficial if you have some ups and some downs on section scores between two sessions of the test. If you go up on all sections, your better scores are considered, period. NO college regards your lower scores more than your higher scores, whatever order your scores came in, if all the scores are from the same session of the test. Superscoring ONLY matters if a student has an increase on one section but a decrease on another as two sessions are compared. All colleges always give students the benefit of their highest scores, at least as to comparing sessions (in whatever order the test sessions occurred) and as to comparing brands of tests (the ACT is not preferred to the SAT, nor the other way around). </p>
<p>S2, current senior, took ACT only last fall. I asked HS GC if “most” colleges accepted both w/o distinction. GC said yes, colleges don’t really care anymore, except maybe the uber reach schools which were not an issue for S2.</p>
<p>That said, one decent score on either ACT or SAT is adequate these days. I saw no need to push S2 to “study” for an additional test, when his ACT score was more than adequate for the schools he was applying this fall. Merit awards offered to date proved my point to S2. </p>
<p>“One and done” is the attitude here. There is way too much stress put on kids to test and retest just to improve score by a few points…</p>
<p>Yes, I was going to ask son to re-take SAT (after good score on ACT) just to have a ‘bonus’ (testing seemed a strength). Many people on CC emphasized that this was not necessary—better to devote energy to other things that would help w/college (ECs, etc.). They were right, I’m pretty positive of that.</p>
<p>My son got rejected at from his top choice because of one point on the English section of the ACT. The school told him to try the ACT again and they’d reconsider if he could get that one point. He studied some more and took it again, getting that extra point, but his top choice had already filled it’s program. Second choice school told him they’d give him another $1,000 in scholarship money for that extra point. The schools didn’t know that he’d taken the SAT once and the ACT 4 times. My son would say it was still worth taking all those tests, but it sounds like some of you wouldn’t bother.</p>
<p>The assumption the subscores are ignored for the ACT may not be quite accurate. Some schools, such as Yale, that require SAT II subject tests along with the SAT, do not do so if ACT scores (with writing) are submitted. This suggests the subscores are used to provide information the SAT subjects might provide.</p>
<p>Our son is not looking at schools that require SAT II tests. The 2 schools that I contacted seem only interested in the ACT composite score. You are right, there might be many schools out there that do care about subscores. I am only going to concern myself with the possible schools my son might apply to because I am already overwhelmed by the tests, and how they are used for merit aid and admission. I don’t need info about schools that my son is not going to apply to.</p>
<p>Toledo, thanks for that story. Were those schools where most applicants submit the ACT?</p>