<p>So all the traditional college info from high school sat prep info is saying "take the sat/act' in the spring of junior year and fall of senior -- well I have heard that is not a good idea for our auditioning kids. Can you all tell me when your child took the exams? I know mine will need to take both act.sat and the one she does better on she will take again (I have no idea which she will do well on but she is not the best test taker). I was thinking we would start in Dec and take a second time in the spring but some are telling me that is crazy. Info appreciated. If this has been discussed please forgive me.</p>
<p>My S has taken the ACT 3x, with the second attempt being the highest of the 3. He said the most recent (Sept) was the hardest. There is one more option to take it this fall, in October. We’re weighing weather it would be worth it… some schools have guaranteed scholarship threshold at certain GPA/ACT level. </p>
<p>Son took the SAT in May of Junior year.<br>
Otterbein doesn’t offer guaranteed scholarships for GPA/SAT/ACT, but the website states you would be eligible for merit with certain GPA/SAT/ACT. Son received the scholarship one step above his range (he was almost on the borderline), and I think most if not all of the cc students received merit scholarships too.</p>
<p>It really, really helps to get testing out of the way in the Junior year. My d took her SAT in the fall of her Junior year, took her ACT in June, fortunately hit her numbers, and she is done with testing (thank goodness, because she has the lead in the fall musical and another round of tests would have been a killer). She would have done her ACT sooner but she landed an unexpectedly large role in the mainstage spring play on top of a role in the All-School Musical and trying to fit the ACT into that mix was not a good idea. She did much, much better on the fact and knowledge-based ACT. </p>
<p>Lots of schools have more or less automatic merit scholarships based on ACT/GPA, this seems most prevalent in the South and Midwest - they will basically pay to get students who raise their admissions profile.</p>
<p>For example, here is a link to the “Assured Scholarships” page at Texas State:</p>
<p>Check each school’s tuition estimator and scholarship page. Many have Awards for, say, 3.0 + 22 ACT, then 3.2 + 24 ACT, then 3.5 + 27 ACT, etc. It varies school to school. </p>
<p>And @EmsDad… Thank you… ‘assured’ is a much better word than ‘guaranteed’… Clearly, all scholarship awards are subjective, but having better numbers is always in your best interest.</p>
<p>All three Ss (3rd one MT) had best scores in junior year. We paid for private ACT tutoring with S #1 and raised score by 3 points between fall and spring of junior year. Turns out, he REALLY should have focused on SAT. ACT is really more about how FAST you process, rather than inherent knowledge - not so good for those with processing issues, no matter how much you prepare. If you’re not sure about which test to focus on, ask someone who does that as his/her business.
S #2 was tutored over summer after sophomore year for fall PSAT of junior year - this got him National Merit SEMI-Finalist standing and had added benefit of giving him very good SAT & ACT scores in Dec/Jan of junior year.
S #3 (MT) - private tutoring over summer after sophomore year for Junior PSAT - achieved National Merit Finalist (and ultimately a full ride at WSU) and a very good SAT in Dec/Jan of junior year. Also had good ACT at same time. </p>
<p>All 3 Ss took additional ACT - provided by public H.S. district - in spring of junior year. All three sets of score declined somewhat. S #3 did a small amount of half-hearted private ACT tutoring in summer after junior year, and “promised” to do self study in the two months before taking the ACT again in Sept/Oct of senior year. That score was his worst of all - and by that time he was caught up in prescreens and getting applications done. S insisted that he wanted to increase his ACT score (too much writing in SAT in his opinion), but again his earliest SAT score turned out to be the best of the lot. When push comes to shove, all three Ss had best overall scores in Dec/Jan on JUNIOR year. </p>
<p>My daughter took the ACT twice and SAT once in the spring of her Junior year. Extremely happy that her scores were great and we don’t have to think about that in the midst of the Senior year requirements. Between school, daily MT high school, rehearsals, shows, gigs, touring final college choices, applications, scheduling, auditions, etc this year is beyond crazy, but of course we’re all going through this!</p>
<p>I’m SO glad that we accomplished this is Junior year. I had my daughter take BOTH SAT and ACT in December of Junior year. Then, we hired a tutor for 8 weeks and retook BOTH tests in Jan/Feb of junior year. Scores improved on both! She got a 30 on ACT, and I felt that was good enough…1920 on SAT…DONE!!!</p>
<p>At the time, she pushed back but NOW she says she couldn’t imagine throwing that into the mix with everything else. </p>
<p>I’m an SAT/ACT tutor and my own children have high SATs and have gotten scholarships because of it. Here’s my two cents. These tests can be very important in both helping your son/daughter get into a school and for scholarships. If you are going to take them:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Please, everyone, determine beforehand whether ACT or SAT is ‘your’ test. (This advice is for those still considering it, not for people who already have done this!) You just take a sample test of each. You’d decide based on both subjective info (subjectively, do you prefer one over the other?) - and objective info (Is one score significantly higher than the other?) In my opinion, it’s honestly a waste of time to sit and pay for each test cold without deciding beforehand. They are very different tests on many levels and some kids just do much better with one. (Some do well either way.) <em>Do not</em> listen to what other people tell you about how one test is better for them. It’s just how the test is for them, not how it will be for your child. As a tutor, I cannot tell whether a child is better for ACT or SAT without having them sit down and take the test with me, then assessing them. But it’s very easy for me to tell once they take the test. </p></li>
<li><p>Please, study for the test. Do not go in cold. It’s a bell shaped curve. You are competing with people who may have prepared for a year (or more!). It’s like auditions. Or sports. You don’t go in cold without practicing.</p></li>
<li><p>You don’t have to pay for a tutor if you can’t afford one and your student is disciplined. They can study in the library or online with sample tests. There are many good books. A general rule of thumb ideally is 5 full tests under time constraints for practice. Think of it this way–They have dress rehearsals for a show which are the full running show under the conditions of the show. Same should be for the SAT/ACT. </p></li>
<li><p>As to timing: You can’t plan on whether you should take the test in the fall of senior year because you can’t know how you’ll do spring of Junior year and what your goals will be Senior year. Ideally, no one would have to take the test senior year. It is <em>always</em> a pain in the neck for any major. However, the plus of taking the test is that you can prepare over the summer (if you’re disciplined) then take it September. This would work just fine with auditions. </p></li>
<li><p>Ideally, first test should really be January of Junior year. (Some people even do October of Junior year, but I think that would be only for a baseline.) Then May/June. Then if necessary, fall. </p></li>
</ol>