<p>My testing tutor recommended to me that I only take the ACTs, which makes sense because I do better on ACT practice tests and prefer it's format. However, my parents are concerned that by not taking the SATs, I'm hurting myself. Is there any reason to take both rather than focusing on one test?</p>
<p>I don’t know what your parents are talking about.</p>
<p>The vast majority of colleges accept either the SAT or the ACT. Determine which test is a better match for your abilities…and focus on that one test. It sounds like you’ll be preparing for the ACT.</p>
<p>If you qualified for National Merit Semifinalist standing with your junior year PSAT score, you’ll be asked to “validate” the score by taking the official SAT. The threshold for validation is so low that a good test-taker should be able to walk in, take the SAT cold, and post a “good enough” score (around 2000?).</p>
<p>Enjoy the ACT!</p>
<p>Taking each ACT or SAT1 is fine. For some schools, you may even waive the requirement of SAT2 if submitting ACT. There is no preference otherwise between the 2 tests. Nevertheless, you may not know which one you will perform better in a real testing environment. Also, there are differences in score reporting for the 2 tests that may affect your decision (e.g. superscoring and the cost for score reports). So your practice performance is only one of the factors. I would recommend taking both unless there is a financial consideration, but there is nothing wrong if you focus on only one of the two.</p>