<p>trying to decide whether i should take the SAT I or ACT+writing.</p>
<p>the last time i took SAT I was the old test when i was in 8th grade. i got 690 verbal and 500 math.
i took the PSAT last year (and will take it again this year for national merit hopes) and i got 200 composite. critical reading: 69, math 60, writing 71. if i'm correct this translates to an SAT score of around 2000, yes?</p>
<p>i hadnt even thought about the ACT before, but i was cleaning out my desk yesterday and found a 2005 practice test. i took it (without the writing section) and i got 33 composite (reading-36, english 33, math 32, science 32). i made a few stupid mistakes.. if i had checked over it well enough i would have got 34 (stupid me.. gr).</p>
<p>very few people around here take the ACT (already checked, my schools have no preference), so i really dont know what a "good" (ivy quality) ACT score is. approx what is 33 as an SAT score? i'm guessing its higher than 2000... and that i could be one of those kids who does better on one test than the other.</p>
<p>You should take both, its just a few saturday mornings. More importantly, they are different types of tests. SAT tests logic/thinking skills while ACT is more of an analysis of how much of academic you are. The average ACT at most Ivies is around a 30 which comes out to somewhere around a 1350 on the standard two sections of the SAT. A 33 is very competitive at any school and if you could score that officially, you would be in a good sitting for wherever you applied.</p>
<p>The so-called "lower Ivies" have scores around 30 at least traditionally. I don't know if there has been any movement in it recently as things get more competitive with each passing year. My daughter is an incoming sophomore at Brown and had a 30 (but 33 in those subscores that are relevant to her proposed field).</p>
<p>What I've heard on CC is that HYP have a somewhat higher ACT averages.</p>
<p>Why not take the ACT first and see how you do? ACT has score choice, so YOU get to decide if a score is sent to a college. With the SAT, all tests that you take will be available to colleges. My son took ACT at the end of sophomore year to see how he would do. He scored high enough, that he may not take SAT. We're going to see how he does on PSAT's and then decide if he'll take SAT. He'll probably only take SAT if he's in NMSF range on PSAT. If you get a 33 on an actual ACT (not a practice test), I'm not sure if there's a great benefit to taking SAT. Most schools take ACT instead of SAT, and some do not require SAT II's if you have taken ACT.</p>