<p>My daughter has planned to take the SAT this Saturday, but has not had as much time as needed to prepare for math. She has take practice tests and scores in the mid-600s. Her concern is that some colleges she wants to apply to don't accept score choice so she will have to show all scores. So.....should she take the test Saturday with a math score in the 600s or wait until June and hope for better (she is taking SAT subject tests in May while the material is fresh). I guess the advantage of taking it Saturday is to take a test in real conditions, but I don't want a bad score to follow her.</p>
<p>Just to complicate matters, she seems to be more comfortable with the ACT. Her plan is to take it in June after some heavy prep. Would it be useful to take the April administration if she can prepare some?</p>
<p>If she were committed to taking the SAT, I’d tell her to go ahead and take it. Practice in real conditions is a good thing, and a lower score on her first try isn’t going to make much difference to schools if her later scores are better.</p>
<p>However, if she really prefers the ACT, then she should stick with the ACT. I always tell my students to pick one and go with it. Preparing for both can not only be confusing on test day, but you’re wasting time preparing for two tests when one will do! While the material on the SAT and ACT is similar in a lot of ways, test strategies/approaches are very different. I’m assuming she’s taken a full-length practice test of both, and that’s how she’s decided she prefers the ACT. If she hasn’t already done that, she needs to ASAP.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t add more stress with trying to take the April test on such short notice, unless she just really wants a dry run under real test conditions. Relatively few schools superscore the ACT, so it’s not likely that her April scores would be considered anyway. It’s obviously not going to be her best attempt, and she might as well wait for June. She can take it again in September and one more time in October if she feels like she wants another try, although two tries will probably do it! </p>
<p>Thanks for your response. My daughter did some practice sections in math yesterday and did better. Her mistakes were mostly misreading the questions, and there were two in each session she just didn’t get until they were explained.</p>
<p>I hear you about the ACT. She had taken practice tests which was why that seemed the better option. I think she’ll prepare for that test in June.</p>
<p>Still kind of questioning the SAT for this Saturday, but inclined to suggest she take it if she does okay with more practice tests. I think if she waits until June, she’ll get caught between both tests and as you recommend, she is probably better just studying for the ACT. </p>
<p>I guess what I wondered was whether it would hurt her much to take the test this Saturday, do so-so and then just jump to the ACT. One could argue why even bother, but I don’t have a crystal ball and she might do better on the SAT. So then she could decide which to take again in the fall.</p>
<p>Has she taken any real SAT at home? For my kids, the result from the real test rarely differs from the test at home. I would just focus on the ACT test.</p>
<p>You know, that brings up an interesting point. If she ends up taking the ACT and doing better with it, is there any need to report her SAT scores at all? My guess is probably not. With the SAT, most schools specifically state they want to see all SAT scores…in other words, even though the SAT now offers score choice as an option, they want to see everything anyway. But I also think that most schools only require you to submit SAT OR ACT scores, so if your daughter is relatively unhappy with her SAT scores there’s no need to send them in at all.</p>
<p>So that being said, it probably doesn’t hurt for her to go ahead and take it Saturday. If her scores are promising, she can stick with the SAT. If not, she’ll know to just go with the ACT. It’s crazy how complicated all this is, isn’t it?!</p>
<p>Selective colleges want to see SAT subject tests with ACT scores. So if you take the SAT, some may require you to send SAT and SAT subject tests. For Penn, send all SAT, SAT subject tests and ACT.</p>
<p>Actually that is my only concern – she will be required to submit this SAT score to some colleges who don’t allow score choice. I thought there was potential for a fairly bad math score and didn’t want that to hurt her. it is crazy it is this complicated…sorry, I’m not a fan of these tests in so many ways.</p>