In another thread, regarding schools with less than 10% admittance rate, there is discussion about the optimal number of times to take the ACT/SAT. I didn’t want to completely derail that thread, so I started a new one.
Do you think there’s an optimal number of times to take it? Can you take it too many times?
Then there’s our particular situation. DS has taken the ACT twice. He took it winter of sophomore year because it was needed for DE application. He got a little motivated for the test as a result, so he did some studying for it over the summer and took it September of junior year. Got a 34 and we said he was done. However, the school is making everyone take it in February. Do you think I should push it with the school to opt out, or call him in sick that day? He has no motivation to prepare again and I think the possibility of doing worse is real. It also seems silly to try to improve on a 34, even if his English score was several points lower than all his other subscores.
The general consensus on what we’ve been told is that you almost always get a better the second time and with study could get a little better with 3rd. After that, not much point. My own kids took their test of choice twice, got a score they were happy with and let it be.
I’d not bother having your son taking it again unless he was somehow eager. The difference between a 34 and 35 are negligible.
Assuming no testings that are needed for other purposes, probably one of each in junior year. That allows time to retry the initially higher one if the scores are not what is desired for the target colleges. The last SAT date in junior year should be reserved for SAT subject tests if there is interest in colleges that want them.
In your particular case, what is the purpose of the February testing that the school wants him to do, and is the school paying for it?
@ucbalumnus - It’s free, but I’m not sure whether the school is paying. There was some named/branded ACT prep test they took back in October and then a company (I know the name but am not publishing it) analyzed all the student data from it. That company was kind enough to train some of the teachers at school in test prep and now you can register online and pay $500 for test prep classes at the high school.
I was able to get DS opted out of the practice test. There was resistance and I had to up a little bit, but I was successful only because I was able to show he already had a good score. (Loosely translated: We weren’t interested in any test prep classes.)
Seems like there is little value in most cases to trying to raise a 34, though there may be a few situations where a 35 or 36 may be significant (e.g. the biggest automatic-for-stats scholarship at University of Alabama requires a 36 ACT and 4.0 (weighted) HS GPA: https://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php ).
At my D’s school last year they started requiring the ACT. D already had the score that she needed, so I called the school and asked if she had to take it. She didn’t, she just had to send her scores in to the school. (Of course they didn’t advertise that.) See if that’s possible.
Schools here now will do as above, you have a score on record (with writing) and he will be allowed to miss it, you might have to allow/facilitate his score to be recorded as per the state’s mandate.
Our high school uses ACT junior year as that year’s standardized test. It sounds like something similar may be happening here. If so, I would go ahead and have him take the test because having several kids opt out will skew the school’s testing results.
With a 34 sitting, I wouldn’t bother. Seems like a waste of time and his score actually could go down if he doesn’t prep and a few schools want to see all your scores.
I do think taking it 2-3 times well spaced isn’t a bad idea. My kid started taking it in 7th grade annually for a talent search to fufill homeschool test requirements. He’s a junior now and this is the first time he is really prepping for it. His sophomore score was pretty close to where he wants it, but could use a little bump in 2 and a tiny bump in a 3rd subject areas.
Repeating over and over back to back doesn’t seem beneficial to me. The way your kid did it sounds ideal already. I would do my best to opt out. He can apply anywhere with his current score.
The issue with the ACT is that there are fewer questions than the SAT. One of mine took an ACT test where there were 3 questions removed from scoring because of grammatical errors in a single section. Usually a -1 score is still a 36, but a -1 on this test was a 35.
If you are just chasing the 32+ needed for most elite colleges it doesn’t matter. If the curve is harsh and you need a minimum score for a scholarship, I would do a retake.
Assuming there is a need or desire to improve the first score, I’d say the optimal number is two. Both of my daughters showed significant improvement on the second try. A third try seldom significantly improves over the better of the first two. With a 34 in hand I’d be reluctant to take it again unless there were some specific reason to.
It must vary. My D added 3 points each try (3x total so 6 points higher on the 3rd). My S actually scored lower his second time by a point. So for her it was 3, for him it was 1…
It probably doesn’t matter. I retook mine senior year after submitting college apps for fun, and managed a 36. It made me a minor celebrity for a couple weeks at my school. It was kind of fun. But it did nothing for my resume and I don’t think the colleges that rejected me would have cared about the 36.
The optimal number for any of these tests is probably 2. One to set a standard or target; and one to get a higher score based on experience and familiarity with the test. But I think there are so many tests, when you add SAT I, SAT II (subject tests), and AP exams, that it’s hard for some kids to keep their edge. Also, the importance of high scores varies a lot with the student’s plans for college.
I don’t remember all of the details, but the experience went something like this for my kids.
My D took the SAT I without any prep and got a score that disappointed her. So she took it again without any formal prep and got a much better score (~100 point higher), a perfectly adequate one especially given that she was only applying to art schools. She also took the ACT once and got something like a 30. No more tests. No SAT subject tests. No AP exams – those were pointless for art programs. She got into every college she applied to. However, several years after she graduated from art college, she decided she wanted to earn an MBA and shift her career focus. She realized that getting a high GMAT score was essential to her goals. She took an online prep course; she took a college-level math course. She got an excellent score on her first try (720 or 730), and the prep paid off: she was admitted to a top 10 business school.
My S took the SAT I the first time in 6th grade for the Northwestern Talent Search program. Prepped for it by reading the test booklet and taking a practice test. Got a decent score on the real test (I can’t remember but somewhere in high 1200’s, I think). That put down a marker. The next time he took the SAT was for the PSAT, in his junior year; he got 1570 and was a National Merit Semi-Finalist. But there were still SAT II’s (subject tests) and AP exams. He didn’t study for any of these tests. On his SAT II math he correctly answered every question. So he stopped taking the SAT’s (but still had AP exams to take). In the end, he took the SAT I’s twice, and each SAT II subject test once. The University of Chicago didn’t rely on SAT scores for placement – it administered its own placement tests during O week.
@suzy100 “What does the school use those results for”
The school uses the result in the same way that schools use results of other annual standardized tests. In our state, every school through 11th grade is mandated to take annual proficiency exams. Up through grade 10 they use the ACT Aspire, but schools can substitute the regular ACT for juniors. At our school, all juniors take the ACT (not sure if it’s the February one or not) for free. The results are used to see how students as a whole, as well as more specific demographic groups, are performing at or above grade level. So, if enough high-performing juniors elect not to take the exam on that particular date, it can skew the results downward, making students appear less proficient. If a school reaches below a proficiency threshold, it could potentially affect funding and the school could be put in academic distress.