<p>I have no clue about this test. In our area just about everyone took SATs and that was it. Interest in the test is growing in our area, but very new for us. I am thinking about having my son take the ACT with writing instead, but I am unsure. Lets say that my son took the ACT with writing next year. He will be a high school junior. Is there any downside to taking this test in the fall for the first time if one preps over the summer? Is there a downside to taking this test several times, even all the dates offered if one has the patience (yikes) and money? As I understand it, one submits the all of the scores from the same seating (student chooses which seating to send).</p>
<p>Northeastmom, no I don't think that there is any downside to taking this test with score choice. You can even not send the test in at all, if he does better on the SAT. My D took the ACT in December, had a good enough score that she never did take the SAT.</p>
<p>What we did was take one SAT and one ACT in test condition. It was apparent that she was going to do much better on the ACT. For one thing it is shorter, and she felt that it was easier to understand and prep for. But she is more of a math and science person and she felt that the ACT was geared more to her strengths.</p>
<p>By taking the ACT early (she took it in Dec and Feb) it made for a very stressfree spring of junior year. She had a good score in the bag and everything else was gravy, so to speak. In the spring she had time to prep for her SAT II's and concentrate on her classes.</p>
<p>The only downsides that I can see are 1)you have to pay for each score that you send from the ACT, it could be pricey if you wanted to send more than one test to multiple schools and 2)as a rule schools accept the best composite score from the ACT, with the exception of a few schools no mixing and matching of the best scores from multiple tests.</p>
<p>I'm a big fan of the ACT, if you can't tell.</p>
<p>deb, thank you. I am hoping to have him concentrate on prepping for the ACT only. My son is more of a language person than a math/science person, so that should be interesting. Why would one send more than one test seating result to multiple schools? I thought maybe he'd take it twice (three times if necessary), and if good enough, he'd scores from his best seating to the schools he applies to.</p>
<p>I like the idea that you can choose which ACT score to send if you take it multiple times, whereas SAT sends everything. My D is prepping to take ACT first, and we will even pay for an early score report to see if she even needs the SAT based on that. That way she can concentrate on SATII's, which she will probably need</p>
<p>As you've probably heard elsewhere, most kids do about the same on both tests, but some kids (a significant percentage) do extremely well on just one of the two (it 'fits' their way of thinking better). A neighbor's son with 1900 on the SAT, got 35 on the ACT. My S's SAT and ACT were comparable.</p>
<p>The ACT is mandatory for all kids in our son's school and the school pays for the test, but not the sending of the scores...the ACT is used to report to the state for the No Child Left Behind stuff. In our district the kids take the PLAN (which is the pre-ACT practice test in 10th grade) again paid for my the district. The district also pays for the PSAT so that "our kids" aren't left out of the loop with the Merit stuff. In the Midwest the SAT is not taken by many students unless there are still schools that require SATs. My son took it in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade for a program he was involved in and then he took it again in fall of his junior year for college reporting. He also took the SAT. He thought the ACT was more directly related to what he studied (and it may be that our teachers "teach to the ACT" because of the state requirements). He did slightly better on the ACT than the SAT but not statistically significantly different. We were told the scores rise about 2 pts each year (as kids accumulate more knowledge) and it played out with my son, just about like that. Kids that accelerate their math (Algebra in 8th grade etc.) and have pretty good reading comphrehension probably wouldn't see much of a statistical difference between fall and spring scores of junior year. I tried to get my son to take in fall of senior year another time, but he told me "no way, after having taken it so many times, I was curiously about the 2 pt. thing and was more interested for my own edification so I capitulated. My second son had to learn to make quicker decisions as the first time he took the ACT he dwaddled and didn't finish the math section but he'll take i again this spring, so no biggie. Personally having seen Son 1 go through both, I prefer the ACT. It's shorter, it's more directly related to acculmulated knowledge. Interestingly, my S1 did better on the SAT writing component than on the ACT...not sure why. Both scores together I think gave his college choices a pretty clear picture of what he has learned so far, S2 will probably not take the SAT as we haven't come across a school that requires them.</p>
<p>Rachacha, Can you tell me how long the wait is for scores, and how much sooner one gets scores with the early score report? Also, is there a downside to registering for the October test (even if not quite prepped enough), even if just for the practice, to just retake it in Decbember? It looks like there is no downside to multiple seatings except spending more money, and time on taking the test. Is this right?</p>
<p>M'smom, and momofthreeboys, thanks for the info.</p>
<p>Northeastmom,
When my son took ACT in Sep 2006 I think it took about 10 days to get the scores online. You had to pay $8 to see them early, and the writing scores were not included. Those took about another week or so, I think. He was a junior and didn't take the ACT again. It's nice to be done with most of your testing early on. He did take SAT 2's in Jan and May of junior year. Another advantage to ACT that I don't think has been pointed out is that many schools do not require SAT 2's if you take the ACT. I don't see any downside to taking the test in Oct. With score choice, no one has to know how many times he took the test. However, since high schools have different policies about what they include on transcripts, do NOT include your high school when your S registers for the test.</p>
<p>Scores come out pretty fast. I'm international, and I got mine in 3 weeks.</p>
<p>Perfect, thanks. Our hs does not put scores on transcripts, so I don't need to worry about that, but thanks. Perfect, you mean that you can register for the test, and lot list the high school that you attend, or do you request that scores are only sent to you?</p>
<p>Oh btw now you can't pay and see them early...</p>
<p>
I give this advice very often myself. It is correct but this is very important :* if and when you do hit that exceptional score you'd be happy to have the school know about and don't mind at all it being on your transcript be sure to send THAT test result to your school.* If not you may find yourself on the outside looking in at some very prestigious awards and honors and even scholarships that depend upon the high school for data. You may even watch others you know get awards, honors, and scholarships as you think "Well , howinthehell did that happen? I had (very slightly) higher grades in as tough a courseload and single sitting test scores that are the identical on the Collegeboard Concordance." Don't ask me how I know. I don't want to think about it. Ever. :( Sometimes we can outthink ourselves and that's something that comes rather easily for me.</p>
<p>northeastmom, my D did not need any ACT prep. She did a little SAT course, took practice tests, detested the test, and decided to give the ACT a shot. All she had was The Real ACT Prep Guide (big red book published by the ACT people). She spent one weekend locked up in her room with the book and took the test the following weekend. Make sure your son is familiar with the science part (lots of graphs to interpret, etc.) and the essay format.</p>
<p>Re: ACT prep - be sure your kid preps the science section. Some very smart kids can get tripped up by the science section because they overinterpret it. There are some knowledge based questions, but there is also interpretation of charts and graphs. Typically these graphs/charts are about science topics that the kids have had no formal exposure to - that is done on purpose to level the playing field, so to speak - they just have to read the graph or interpret the chart to answer the question. Some kids tend to get hung up on not knowing anything about average hurricane windspeeds, and miss the point that they just have to find which hurricane had the highest windspeed from the graph.</p>
<p>+1 on Cangel. My science nerd bombed the Science section first time out because she missed every or almost every question about a dewpoint graph. She just didn't get the graph and dewpoints weren't covered in her coursework. With little prep but much greater understanding and no dewpoint graphs she scored 8 points higher on Science. Really- 8 points.</p>
<p>My kid had a 1490 on the SAT (three parts) and a 28 on the ACT. For whatever reason, she didn't perceive the ACT as something to panic about. Maybe because it's not often taken here in NYC, so she went in calm and collected. The stress and pressure of the SAT was almost her undoing.</p>
<p>I have yet to see or hear about any good way to predict who will do better on which test.</p>
<p>My advice remains to take both.</p>
<p>zoozermom, a 28 is a much better score!</p>
<p>"zoozermom, a 28 is a much better score!"</p>
<p>Yes it was and I think it did reflect her abilities. There were issues on SAT day, the fatigue factor did set it, and she was panicked.</p>