Happy with ACT score - to take or not take school day SAT

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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My son was pleasantly surprised to get a 36 on the February ACT. His school is offering the free school-day SAT this coming week and he wants to take it just “for fun” and “to see how I’ll do.” He has not studied at all for the SAT and based on his PSAT scores, (looks like national merit commended but not likely semi-finalist in our state), I don’t think he will do as well on the SAT as he did on the ACT.
In terms of college applications and sending scores, is there any reason I should advise him not to take the school day SAT? Do many schools ask you to send scores from ALL standardized tests? I think I heard that Georgetown does, but he is not interested in Georgetown. Are there other schools like this? Thanks for any advice.

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There is no benefit from taking the SAT given the 36. It is just 4 hours on a Saturday morning he can sleep in.

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Zero reason to take - this is a 3rd party list. Who knows if accurate - many of the schools are not high ranked. That said, I assume he could just submit his ACT regardless - even at Gtown although their website says all test scores (not just the one you want graded).

Can he take a practice SAT and call it a day :slight_smile:

University of North Alabama Florence AL
Southern Arkansas University Magnolia AR
University of Arkansas at Little Rock Little Rock AR
Point Loma Nazarene University San Diego CA
Soka University of America Aliso Viejo CA
University of Colorado Denver Denver CO
Holy Apostles College and Seminary Cromwell CT
Georgetown University Washington DC
Howard University Washington DC
Delaware State University Dover DE
Barry University Miami Shores FL
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Tallahassee FL
Southeastern University Lakeland FL
Fort Valley State University Fort Valley GA
Dordt College Sioux Center IA
MacMurray College Jacksonville IL
Olivet Nazarene University Bourbonnais IL
Saint Xavier University Chicago IL
Trinity Christian College Palos Heights IL
Grace College Winona Lake IN
Indiana Wesleyan University Marion IN
Oakland City University Oakland City IN
University of Saint Francis Fort Wayne IN
Kansas Wesleyan University Salina KS
University of Saint Mary Leavenworth KS
Kentucky Christian University Grayson KY
Grambling State University Grambling LA
Louisiana State University of Alexandria Alexandria LA
Louisiana State University Shreveport Shreveport LA
Nicholls State University Thibodaux LA
Andrews University Berrien Springs MI
Cornerstone University Grand Rapids MI
Sacred Heart Major Seminary Detroit MI
Oak Hills Christian College Bemidji MN
Central Methodist University Fayette MO
Saint Louis University St. Louis MO
Blue Mountain College Blue Mountain MS
William Carey University Hattiesburg MS
University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte NC
University of Jamestown Jamestown ND
Mayville State University Mayville ND
Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Galloway NJ
Barnard College New York NY
City College of New York New York NY
Colgate University Hamilton NY
Cooper Union New York NY
Cornell University Ithaca NY
Hunter College New York NY
Long Island University Brooklyn New York NY
New York School of Interior Design New York NY
Queens College (City University of New York) Flushing NY
United States Merchant Marine Academy Kings Point NY
Art Academy of Cincinnati Cincinnati OH
Cameron University Lawton OK
East Central University Ada OK
Rogers State University Claremore OK
Southwestern Oklahoma State University Weatherford OK
Western Oregon University Monmouth OR
Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA
Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana PA
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania Shippensburg PA
University of Puerto Rico at Cayey Cayey PR
University of Puerto Rico at Humacao Humacao PR
University of Puerto Rico at Ponce Ponce PR
Columbia International University Columbia SC
The Citadel Charleston SC
Tennessee Technological University Cookeville TN
Dallas Christian College Dallas TX
Howard Payne University Brownwood TX
LeTourneau University Longview TX
Midwestern State University Wichita Falls TX
Rice University Houston TX
St. Edward’s University Austin TX
Tarleton State University Stephenville TX
Texas A&M University College Station TX
Texas A&M University—Kingsville Kingsville TX
Texas Wesleyan University Fort Worth TX
University of Texas at Brownsville Brownsville TX
Neumont University Salt Lake City UT
Utah State University Logan UT
Castleton State College Castleton VT
Washington State University Pullman WA
Alderson-Broaddus College Philippi WV
Fairmont State University Fairmont WV
West Virginia University Institute of Technology Montgomery WV
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No, it’s actually the free school day SAT. So I am asking if I should keep him home from school so he doesn’t take it.

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Zero reason for him to take the SAT. Literally none. There is no college that will not accept the ACT, except for test blind schools. He’s already taken the PSAT, and the NMSQT will now use ACT scores for merit consideration.

It will be a complete waste of time, especially if he ends up applying to a college that requests all scores. Very few do that, but Georgetown is notably one of them. So let’s say he takes the SAT for fun, does poorly, and wants to apply to GTown. He will shoot himself in the foot.

Edit: The list above is out of date. You need to check each college of interest. For example, neither Cornell nor Colgate say all test scores must be submitted.

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Our state used ACT as a proxy for a graduation exam so students were required to take the free exam regardless of previous scores so double check on that.

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Oh, great point!

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Great point. Many states use the Sat for this purpose now.

Ask the school. I think it’s great personally that he wants to challenge himself. He seems to be wired this way. Sure, there is no advantage to taking the Sat. He should just know that some kids really don’t do well on one test vs the other but something tells me he will be fine…

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Our state used the SAT score as a proxy for a graduation exam, too. My kid scored a 36 on a one-shot ACT during the pandemic (don’t even ask about the nightmare of getting them that seat). Later on, the district offered a mandated SAT when it was finally possible to do so, and I told kid to just stay home and sleep in (desperately needed what with kid’s absurd schedule). Surprise! They graduated kid anyway.

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Why bother? :-). Once you have a score, if it is less than some 1570 or something you have to start thinking on which score to submit, and whether the college asks all scores etc…

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To clarify, that list is not just a little out of date. It is outdated by several years.

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So this situation happened to a friend’s kid in Illinois. She didn’t take the mandated Sat with her school but was allowed to take it at another date that would be past the time to count for her accepted schools. She did equally great and didn’t study for it but knowing her… She probably did… Lol. So there might be a work around like that to satisfy his need or want to take it but so it doesn’t effect him at all.

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If he doesn’t have to prepare for it, what’s the downside? He may pleasantly surprise you on SAT as well.

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There are a small number of highly rejective schools that ask students to submit any and all test scores they have taken, not just the ones they want to. Why risk muddying a perfect story?

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Among other things, schools don’t like to see multiple attempts for small gains. You are portraying the image of a grade grubber.
So if you take an SAT after getting a 36, people will legitimately ask the question why you are wasting time. Aren’t there better things to do with your time?

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Small number of highly rejective schools? None except Georgetown. All the other ones no longer require submission of all scores.

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BTW, I’m not in favor of taking a test multiple times with lots of preparation in-between for small gains. That’s clearly not what OP’s son would be doing. A composite 36 ACT score could mean one 34 subscore or two 35 subscores. No one knows whether the student may do better on SAT, until he takes it.

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These minutiae genuinely don’t matter

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I agree that they generally don’t matter for most schools. In some cases, however, they may. Some AOs also understand that there’re still some differences between SAT and ACT. My main point is that there’s no downside to taking the test (other than the few hours spent on it) for OP’s son who isn’t going to apply to Georgetown.

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There is no reason to take the SAT with that score on the ACT, but your school might require it. It’s similar at my kids’ school. The district sponsors the SAT, with a free SAT day. My daughter got a high score on the ACT and was satisfied with it, and her PSAT scores didn’t predict a correspondingly high SAT score. She happened to be sick on the SAT day, so she stayed home from school. The school still insisted on a make-up test anyway, because I think they collect these statistics for some reason. I suppose we could have gotten her out of it, but it was easier to just have her take it. Ended up just using the ACT score anyway, and every school she applied to was either test-blind or test-optional. No school favored one test over the other.

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