<p>Hi,</p>
<p>My D (rising senior) Has taken the SATs twice, and gotten roughly the same score. She is happy with the CR and writing, but the math could be a lot better. She's been planning on retaking the SAT again this Oct. She just took SAT2s, did great in Biology, but again, mediocre in the Math1. She is a good math student and consistently gets in the 90s, so the consistently middling math SAT scores are not making sense.</p>
<p>Now we're wondering if she should take the ACT this fall instead of retaking the SAT, the thinking being that the format might be better suited to the way she takes tests. It's going to be a very busy summer and she can't do both <em>and</em> retake the Math 1 SAT2.</p>
<p>She also needs the Math SAT2 for some of the schools she wants to apply to. Thoughts? Is it crazy to switch gears at this point to take the ACT or maybe a good idea?
Thanks!</p>
<p>I think if she’s satisfied with CR and writing it would be unwise to switch to the ACT just for math. ACT involves science, more grammar, and much quicker reading. I personally was in the same situation as she was in and SAT math is something you can easily improve with practice. It’s a cliche but it’s true.</p>
<p>What I would suggest is that she uses materials that are more difficult than the actual SAT. Some books are more difficult but they also have very erroneous questions so be on the lookout. I personally used Dr. John Chung’s SAT math, and it comes with 20 tests. The tests teach you how to think “outside the box”, which is what you need for the harder SAT math questions that are towards the end of sections. I ended up using about 19 of them, and my math score went up 110 points because of this practice. The transition to the SAT was very simple, and I found that I actually finished the math sections with enough time to recheck almost every problem. I didn’t even time myself with that book, and while there are some typos and poor editing, it’s worth looking at in my opinion.</p>