<p>northeastmom, I think the rationale behind allowing superscoring on the SAT but not the ACT up to this point was partly to do with the fact that you have the advantage of score choice (but not superscoring )on the ACT and superscoring (but no score choice) with the SAT. I wonder if that is going to change now that score choice is about to become part of the menu for the SATs.</p>
<p>Along the lines of gadad’s suggestion, you might want to get a copy of the Real SATs and the Real ACTs (they include real past tests) - have your son do a few practice tests in each. Since you know that the two LACs are only looking at comprehensive ACT scores, you can see if the comprehensive ACT score looks like it will exceed any superscoring advantage he is likely to get on the SAT.</p>
<p>roshke, I agree with you, but I have heard nothing about changing the superscoring to include the ACT at schools my son is interested in. I was wondering whether this change would occur. There are a few schools that are superscoring the ACT as well.</p>
<p>Getting my son to take a practice SAT should be interesting. I will see some PSAT scores in December, so maybe I should just register him, just in case. It is only money, if he does not test…sigh…He has been good about prepping for the ACT, but I think he is burning out. He has completed the real ACT book, along with a couple of other ACT books. I just signed him up for the online ACT prep because he ran out of tests to practice, but he has not logged in yet.</p>
<p>Roshke, It is nice to see that you are still reading cc. Thanks for posting.</p>
<p>Schools were in PA, which I believe tend to favor the SAT. </p>
<p>If you’ve already studied from old tests, just re-take the real test a few times. Spend the money on the actual test instead of more online practice tests. You only have to send the score or scores you like and chances are scores will increase.</p>
<p>toledo - A couple of years ago when this topic came up on CC I posted a quote from a current guide book on college admissions. In it, the former dean of admissions at Yale was quoted as saying that they might “raise their eyebrows” at a kid from traditional SAT country taking the ACTs only and so I posted the quote here . There were some ardent ACT advocates on CC at that time who were nonetheless pretty sure this was now wrong, even at the most selective schools. I really had no axe to grind, so I wrote to the author. The author immediately wrote me back to say that the info was dated and the two tests are considered interchangeably virtually everywhere these days. If in doubt, one can always check with the prospective schools on a student’s list, but I don’t know of any schools where this is the case any longer. A very few still require SAT IIs even with the ACT, however.</p>
<p>D. indicated that ACT was much easier than SAT. That was reflected in her ACT score that was higher than corresponding SAT. We heard there are many kids who prefer ACT and do much better on ACT. She took ACT once with very little preparation (about half an hour to an hour / day for a week right before test), practicing only math section. She had 1 week SAT prep. class. which was total waste of time by her opinion. She took SAT two times with no improvement at all.
However, there are kids who do better on SAT. In addition, ACT is widely used by colleges in our area.</p>
<p>D only took ACT with writing as well, plus SAT II’s for one school that required them. She felt that she would have to spend a ton of prep time (that she didn’t have) to score the equivalent on the SATI (I think for a 34 ACT it is 1520?). As for the schools that are rumored to prefer SAT, she was National Merit Commended based on her PSAT so hopefully that proves to those schools that the ACT score was not a “fluke”…</p>
<p>Northeastmom, my D (a junior) has decided to take only the ACT based on her soph ACT and PSAT scores. Her results on both were very skewed, so we’re hoping that at least to some extent the math weakness will be less glaring on the ACT (PSAT CR & W 66, M 53, ACT 29 composite with 32 English, 35 Reading, 27 Science, 23 Math, both with no prep). She’ll retake the ACT plus writing, this time I hope with some prep.</p>
<p>I went along with this because she wanted to not take any more tests at all (she’s not aiming for HYPS), and because she thought the ACT was less overwhelming - this kid hates math, and said she just cannot endure the thought of those two math sections on the SAT. Plus some colleges don’t pay much attention to the new SAT writing score, so for those schools math would be 1/2 of her score with the SAT and 1/4 with the ACT.</p>
<p>We’re in SAT land, but more and more kids are taking both and using the one that works best for them.</p>
<p>34 is shown to be similar to a 1510 (m and v).</p>
<p>califa, thanks for posting. I just cross posted with you. My son won’t get scores near what your D was able to score. He just does not score well on standardized tests, period. He does so much better in a classroom than he does on these tests. It is so frustrating.</p>
<p>Has he looked into test optional schools? Lots of colleges realize that there are some very smart kids who don’t do particularly well on these tests. Somewhere on cc someone posted a list of them - I know Drew is one because D got an application from them - they let you submit an essay instead of ACT/SAT scores.</p>
<p>In regard to not scoring well on tests, I believe, that some exceptionally good student might think that they do not need to study for tests. Preparation will make a huge difference. It does not mean that they need to take a class. Whatever works best, is OK. In addition, focused preparation is most efficient. For example, D’s weakness is reading. She consistently scored low in reading in all her test during her years at school. She decided that to improve her Reading speed would be a waste of time. So she focused on math. Math section has problems that are going back to elementary school. They need to be refreshed. It worked for her despite her Reading score being 7 points below her best score (Engllish), she still got 33.<br>
I would tell a kid to get a book and practice what makes most sense to him.</p>
<p>Both schools that talked about scores were medium-sized private schools. One told us they rejected S because of one point in English and the other told us they’d give us more money if he scored one point higher (composite ACT score). I was amazed at how frank they were. The OP has the right idea in calling schools to find out what they offer. Many times they will tell you.</p>
<p>The east coast schools that travel nationally to recruit students don’t claim to have a preference at all anymore, and I think that is generally the case now. </p>
<p>Tokenadult, I believe the UC system wants three SAT-IIs, and one must be Math Level II.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd was the last college that did not accept the ACT, and they changed that policy a year or two ago, in part because they wanted to reach potential applicants from the midwest where the ACT is dominant.</p>
<p>We are waiting on PSAT scores for S2 to see how seriously we should consider the ACT. He brought up the subject first; his school’s IB coordinator says kids in the full diploma program (at least here) tend to better on the ACT, probably because they are so well prepared in their classes for all subject areas.</p>
<p>He already has two SAT-II exams completed, which should be fine for every school except Georgetown, should he decide to apply there. If he decides to go with a third, he’ll take Spanish right after the AP and IB exam.</p>
<p>We’re shooting for SAT in February, and ACT (if needed) in April. Unless his scores are way out of line with expectations (based on SAT-IIs and PSAT), we will probably continue the “one and done” philosophy.</p>
<p>Yep, we are waiting for PSAT scores from a class of 2010 student too. I think you are aware the wait will be longer than seems warranted, from your experience with your S1. Once we’ve all demonstrated our patience, it’ll be interesting to see what plans are to be made next with scores in hand.</p>
<p>Last year, S2’s school didn’t distribute scores until January. S1’s school did so in December his junior year.</p>
<p>Homeschooling families have the advantage of having the scores mailed home, though, so there may be news on that front sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>Oops – just read the link you posted, tokenadult, and saw that it discussed Mudd.</p>
<p>Just parsed through the UC admissions information. Only 2 SAT Subject tests required (used to be 3 when the writing test was a subject test) now and they have to be in “2 different subject areas.” No requirement that one of them be Math 2C (or even Math 1C).</p>
<p>I remember that in past years, if you took the Math Subject test, it had to be the Math 2C one. But I couldn’t find that language again.</p>