<p>My daughter who is a Jr took the old SAT in Dec and did very well (630V, 780M). She is taking the new one in March, only because she has to due to the changes in the test and some colleges requiring the new one. She will probably do even better on the new one, since her weakest part of the old one was the analogies which are being omitted. She is considering taking the ACT as well..is it really necessary? We live in the northeast and the schools she's interested in are in the northeast as well. The ACT is not all that prevelant here. Do most schools care if she takes both and wil they look at both scores when making thier decisions. She is applying to some very competitive schools..will the ACT enhance her chances? Thanks for any info you can provide.</p>
<p>No, there is no reason at all to take both. We too live in the northeast; however, my kids are only taking the ACT, not the SAT. Part of the reason is that they just like the ACT better; the other is that almost every school, including many Ivies, will accept it in lieu of BOTH the SAT I and SAT IIs - even schools who did not accept the ACT for both last year are beginning to switch, now that the ACT has added a writing component. (But you need to check websites - there are still a very few holdouts that will accept the ACT but also want either 2 or 3 SAT IIs).</p>
<p>Though their PSATs predicted above-1500 SAT scores, they did not want to enter the whole hysterical game you see played out on the kids' CC board: "Help! I took the SAT and only scored a 1590! I'm desperate! What can I do to bring my score up to a 1600!!!" An ACT score of 32 to 36 equals 99th percentile, so there is no reason to repeatedly retest, pay a fortune for tutors, waste time studying "tricks" to beat the test, etc. My kids just took the ACT once, and spent the rest of the junior year (an fall of senior year), while others were testing over and over, just enjoying themselves and learning things that mattered!</p>
<p>yankee:</p>
<p>Some kids just find the ACT easier, as nedad said. </p>
<p>Any school that accepts both tests, will take the highest score obtained, either ACT or SAT. So, IMO, taking a practice test for ACT is not a bad idea, particularly if you are considering selective schools. You can purchase the official ACT guide for ~$15 and your D could take a practice test at home. If she aces it (32+), then maybe the real ACT is the way to go. One other advantage of ACT is the ability to Score report, i.e, only send which individual score that you want to the college that you want. Thus, your D could sign up for a real test this year (April or June) and list no colleges, not even her HS code, and wait to see the score. If the score is great, then you can send it out to colleges and her high school after the fact. If it ends up lower than the SAT, then only she and you will know she even took it.</p>
<p>But, that being said, one key difference between the tests is that the SAT has more logic than the ACT, which tends to trick a lot of kids, particularly in math. Since your D did well on math, her score might not be much better on the ACT. (The other difference is that the ACT is more content-based, supposedly tracking HS curriculum. But the science section is really just reading and interpreting graphs, and it becomes a speed test.)</p>
<p>Just my 2 cents - also in the northeast - DD took both the SAT and ACT (only one in her class to do so also) and submitted both to the schools she applied to - she actually did better on the ACT. All the schools took the highest score in each test for consideration.</p>
<p>Whereas the ACT is more curriculum driven - it was a better test for her and it was worth the 4 hours for her to take it - it paid off in the end.</p>
<p>DD also had the benefit of applying early in the process and was also 'done' testing earlier than her peers - so also was able to sit back and relax as her peers continued to test and test and test during her senior year - was definitely worth it!!!</p>
<p>My junior son will be taking the March SAT and the April ACT. We're thinking that if he does well on one or the other he will be done with the testing. If not, then he'll take the June SAT, but probably not another ACT. All of the colleges that we've looked at so far take either test. Besides one practice test, I don't think he'll do any prep for the ACT.</p>
<p>I think the tests play to different strengths in kids. My D did well on the SAT (above 1500) but got a 30 on the ACT. She really disliked the time restraints on the ACT for the reading and science reasoning sections, which allow only 35 minutes for each. She refused to take it again to see if the score would improve. S, on the other hand, got nearly equivalent scores on each, same as D on SAT and 33 on ACT. I think it helps to take a couple of practice tests under "real time" conditions to see how the ACT suits the student, which, of course, neither of my kids would do.</p>
<p>Is there a formula by which the schools convert an ACT to SAT score for comparison purposes?</p>
<p>Try that...second table down, I think.</p>
<p>elizabeth22, Thanks! Of note I was surprised how quickly ACT scores came back - less than 2 weeks.</p>
<p>Despite the chart, the grades are not convertable because the tests are so different. Most charts are just "invented" correlations (i.e, claiming 40 SAT points per ACT point when you start at the highest score). They really make no sense. </p>
<p>It makes much more sense to look at percentiles. An ACT score of 32-36 is 99th percentile.</p>
<p>I'm with nedad on the comparability of the scores. I also know that a percentage of kids will do better on one of these tests than they will on the other one. Most will be pretty darn close though.</p>
<p>If a S or D is not totally burned out by the overtest schedule of SAT, SAT IIs, ACT etc taking both is a decent idea. And I believe you can still elect not to have ACT scores sent to schools. If results are good, you can then have them send the scores out. If not, don't send them.</p>