@MichiganGeorgia CR 640, M 630, W 630
Ok so she is a great reader and could perhaps do better on the ACT. Did your S prep for the ACT or should she just go in cold? She is starting a bunch of huge IB projects, a HOSA test, etc. in the next month and also we really need to get those wisdom teeth out over Christmas break. She could do the ACT but I doubt any semi-serious prep could take place.
@carachel2 â piping in here. I donât believe anyone should go in cold to any of these exams, other than the 10th grade PSAT or PLAN (or whatever the pre-ACT is called). Otherwise, I would take a practice exam under timed testing conditions and then decide before taking either ACT or SAT.
In my limited experience, the W score is the quickest fix. The essay counts far more than it should, and an hour or two of focus in advance can increase that score, assuming the student is fine with grammar.
ACT will be offered Feb (not in NY state), April & June, in case any of those times are better. I knowâno âgoodâ time Jr year!
@CT1417 âŠthanks! Lots to think about and yes, no good time in jr. year!
@carachel2 I would recommend taking ACT and new SAT. my S thinks they are similar. He recently took ACT and then PSAT. He also overloaded with jr year course work and multiple ECs and gladly he doesnât have to repeat ACT and will do SAT only if he is a NMSF. If you need any additional advice on prep, send me a PM.
@carachel2- DS did the June ACT and SAT cold. He got a 30 and a 1970. Then he studied for the ACT math part thatâs it. In his case studying for the other parts of the ACT didnât make any sense. Math is his problem part (he is on the regular math track and hasnât had all the math on the tests yet). I know other people say not to have them go in cold but honestly my Junior in college took the ACT & SAT twice cold once as a fall Junior and once again as a fall Senior. It really depends on the student and what schools they are planning on applying to. He had a 32/2100 the first time and a 34/2150 the second. I plan on sending my 9th grader in cold after 10th grade. My kids are good standardized test takers. Plus they all took it back in 7th grade so itâs not new to them. However if a student either isnât a good standardized test taker or is trying for a really high score then prep is a good idea. I think with your DDâs breakdown I would have her take the ACT and see what she gets. Maybe she could try an online free version first?
Also our school told the parents that for Juniors they should try and take the old SAT or the ACT because of the newness of the New SAT test.
@CT1417 Itâs possible that even taking both Physics C classes would leave a gap as far as covering modern physics and some other âsmallerâ topics. I havenât cross-checked the syllabus, but that should be easy for him to do, and certainly practice tests could let him know if there are any topics he needs to learn at the SAT II level.
@MichiganGeorgia If your S has a 2050 SAT, that is a high enough qualifying score if he is NMSF. I believe the qualifying score has been 1960 for a number of years.
@2muchquan My S took the Math II and Physics SAT IIs after taking the corresponding classes, but that was back when they had AP Physics B. He took the practice tests from a big College Board book that has a practice test for each SAT II. It turns out that the classes prepared him well, and he didnât need to do extra studying. He may or may not take additional SAT IIs, but we probably wonât think about that until after he gets an ACT or SAT score that he likes.
My son will take the PSAT next week and then think about an ACT or SAT date. I want him to take a full practice ACT test from the official book. He took the SAT back in June, and got a good but not great score. He wasnât feeling well that day and disagreed with the premise of the essay topic (thatâs my son⊠).
Iâd been thinking he was probably an SAT kid, because heâs generally good at tricky questions. But, he recently pointed out that he might do better on the ACT, because he usually has time to go back through and recheck most of his answers. (I guess heâs improved since elementary school, where he was a bit slow at timed math tests.) There are some SAT reading/writing sample questions where he disagrees with the test creators. Sometimes I agree with the test creators, but not always.
Thereâs some issue with students getting their essay scores from the last ACT on the other threads. I guess thatâs a reminder to try to have all critical testing done before senior year if possible.
S needs to create a resumĂ© for his NYU trip. I think thatâs mainly because most of the attendees are college students and grad students. Luckily, they had to make a resumĂ© in English class last year, so he can update that.
It appears lot of schools and advisers are recommending taking old SAT for current juniors. To me it didnât make sense esp if they are also taking PSAT (seriously ie competing for NMF) which is based on new SAT. Thatâs why my S prepared for and took ACT in September and took PSAT with minimal prep. With ACT prep, he got perfect score in PSAT practice test, but real test was harder (reading) was harder though 
@Ynotgo - I am thinking that the qualifying SAT score may be higher this year because it sounds like the PSAT was easier and they may need to weed out some kidsâŠI doubt DS will be a NMSF though I think the cutoff number is going to be pretty high.
I am also guessing both PSAT and SAT qualifying scores will be higher for NMSF and NMF.
yes, ACT seems to have technical issues with September test scoring and with the new writing test, scores are all over the place. I see lot of frustration with delays for seniors since some of them may miss ED/EA dates.
^Geez, thatâs too bad for class of '16. D taking the ACT tomorrow, but we wonât need those scores back anytime soon, thankfully.
Seems like examiner covers SAT & ACT in depth.
http://www.examiner.com/article/counselors-react-strongly-to-new-act-score-reports
Thanks for the links srk2017. These are the sorts of thing that get DS worked up about how evil the College Board is. I donât think Iâll show him this one about the ACT not being the âwhite hatâ until after he has a final SAT or ACT score.
If a student makes National Merit Semifinalist, when is the latest SAT date one can take for the qualifying SAT score?
I think the last SAT date is sometime during senior year. The people on the threads going through the process now would know. The whole NM process is long and drawn out â it still reflects that it was designed for an era before ubiquitous computers.
I also wondered why it takes them 8 months from score release date (and 11 months from test date) to release NMSF list. with no essay, they can do it in less than a month. I guess they want to stretch it to senior year. If thatâs the case, they use have to PSAT in March.
@srk2017 âŠinteresting point. I wonder why they can start the whole Hispanic Merit stuff so early in January? Or am I reading it wrong?
I feel really bad for the seniors this year. First the college board messed up the June SAT and then ACT is taking forever on the writing part for a bunch of seniors. Some kids took the June SAT and didnât trust the June score but couldnât retake at the Oct SAT because they needed to take their Subject tests then so they took the Sept ACT instead. What a nightmare⊠