<p>I have taken the ACT and done pretty well, but I don't know if I should take the SAT as well. I live in Missouri, where the ACT is standard, but I might apply on the East coast (Columbia?). Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I'm facing the same issue as you (also from missouri). My take on it, is to take both the SAT and ACT. Depending on how you do, you can then decide.</p>
<p>I'd check with the college, but your best bet is probably to take both.</p>
<p>I know what you mean. I got a 34 on my ACT in February. I only got a 201 on my PSAT in October. I was really considering not even bothering with the SAT, but I found after doing a couple practice tests and learning from my mistakes that I could do fine on the SAT. I guess I will know for sure if it payed off when I get my March SAT results.</p>
<p>what year are you? have you applied anywhere?</p>
<p>I also live in Missouri, and the ACT is the standard. However, I think that you should also take the SAT.</p>
<p>What's with all of the Missouri People now:p I think I was the only one on it for a while, then all of a sudden, there's twenty others. Oh well</p>
<p>No way. I'm in mizzou as well. And I'm only a junior, so, no, I haven't applied anywhere. I took the New SAT in March, and hopefully I'm done with it.</p>
<p>So... the Missouri people are taking over eh?</p>
<p>Anyway, I think that you should probably take both just incase, you never know.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Just visited Penn and attended an info session. The admissions rep very clearly said that ACT would be accepted and is given equal weight to SAT. If ACT is taken, no SAT IIs are required.</p>
<p>Since every college takes the ACT in lieu of the SAT and SAT ll if you take the ACT with writing, taking it wont hurt, but you should think about it too. I was told that another nice fact about the ACT was that you control the grades going to colleges. You can take it 3 times and pick which one you send. All SAT grades go. I think in the coming years, the ACT will be more or as popular in the east where I live. If you can do well on an achievement test, why take the SAT and 2-3 subject tests for a college? A lot more stress (at least in my family!)</p>
<p>The actual rules:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Practically every college takes either the SAT or ACT and they do not give more weight to one or the other. There are some exceptions: Wake Forest and Harvey Mudd will not take the ACT. Brigham Young does not take the SAT. Princeton has a rule that it will take the ACT only if the other colleges you are applying to take only the ACT (which effectively means you need the SAT). Otherwise, if you have the ACT you are fine, except that a number of colleges are requiring its optional writing section for 2006 so you should take it too if you plan to apply to any such colleges. Thus, if your belief is you need the SAT because a college which also takes the ACT to which you intend to apply will give the SAT more weight, then you are operating under an incorrect belief.</p></li>
<li><p>A minority of colleges, mostly in the east and California also require SAT II's. However, a number of those will accept the ACT in lieu of both the SAT and SAT II's; examples: Yale, Penn, Brown, Tufts, Trinity, Amherst, Williams, Wellesley, Vassar, Duke, Boston College, Pomona. In other words, for those you can skip taking the SAT II's if you have a high ACT. However, others like the rest of the ivies, including Columbia, still require the II's regardless of whether you submit the ACT or SAT.</p></li>
<li><p>When you order the College Board to send any official SAT scores to a college, it automatically sends all your SAT and SAT II scores to a college. When you order ACT to send a score, it sends only the test you designate. However, you should not assume that a college will otherwise be unaware of your other ACT scores -- a lot of high schools stick all your scores on your official high school transcript that is sent to colleges and some colleges, in their apps, actually ask you to list all your scores.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks drusba, very informative.</p>
<p>i'm from missouri too!!
where do u guys go to?</p>
<p>i'm from st. louis, go to eureka high</p>
<p>I'm from st. louis also. I can't say where i go to school</p>
<p>anyone interested in Mizzou, or anything else in the state?</p>
<p>I liked Mizzou, but the business program wasn't up to par. I thought the new business building was nice in all, but they still don't rank that high. I've gotten stuff in the mail from every missouri state school I believe, southwest, northwest ect... If I had to go to Mizzou I wouldn't mind it. I would not want to attend any other public school in missouri though.</p>
<p>I'm applying to Mizzou, and then the rest are all out of state. BTW I go to Francis Howell Central.... Go Spartans</p>
<p>Well, for sat, most colleges combine highest score but they don't combine scores for act..</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the Missouri Public Universities aren't that great. I don't think I will apply to any public school in Missouri, but I will apply to Wash U, which is like 10 min from my house(I'm in STL) I wish we had a UCLA, U-Mich, UW-Madison, UNC-Chapel Hill, or UVA. Oh well.</p>
<p>I took both ACT and SAT, and my take on the question is that it depends on each person. In my opinion, if you do better in school and not so well on typical standardized test, the ACT is for you. If you do better on standardized tests than in school, I would suggest the SAT. The ACT's math section tests more of the stuff learned in school than the SAT which is more, given a mathematical situation, can you figure out a way to get the answer (as opposed to recalling how to get the answer). The ACT English section tests your knowledge of grammar. However, keep in mind I am done with standardized testing, and I haven't taken the new SAT or the ACT with the writing. Also, this is just an opinion, so I'm open to other arguments.</p>