First child here, so not sure what the plan should be for my sophomore son regarding SAT vs. ACT. His PSAT score was 1500, but no idea if he can replicate that on the SAT (or even on the PSAT next year). The dilemma we face is whether prepping for the ACT will take precious time away from other activities, or whether we should just have him focus on the SAT given his score. We plan on prepping this summer for the SAT/ACT as well to get all the standardized tests over and done with during junior year.
@ThinkOn , I think you’re on the right track in terms of thinking about ways to minimize the time investment in standardized tests so there’s more time for other things. In our case, DS did well enough on the SAT the first time he took it that he decided to stick with that format. (Weekly class for 6 weeks and then a second try then done.) Never took a practice ACT. It sounds like your kid can do well on the SAT, so I would stick with that. If it turns out that you need to think about the ACT (which I doubt), you can do that summer before senior year, but right now, if he wants to prep, it sounds like the SAT is a good test for him.
@gardenstategal Thank you so much! We are totally taking your advice and marching forward.