<p>I go to high school in Illinois and we are only required to take the ACT, should I take the SAT anyways? Would having both help in any way even if I'm only applying to schools in Illinois?</p>
<p>My understanding is that it can only help you if you take both exams. Some folks dp better on the SAT than the ACT & that would show in your scores. My son scored in the 98-99%tile in both, but for some folks, there is a BIG difference.
If you take the SAT & don't like your scores, you don't have to send them to your colleges. You can research the schools you plan to apply to & see whether they require the SAT. If you decide to widen your college search to include schools that require the SAT, it will be good to have taken the exams so you don't have to worry about taking it "at the last minute" & rushing scores to your colleges.
Several schools in our state advise all students to take both ACT & SAT & at least 3 SAT II exams, so they can apply to whatever schools they prefer, sending the scores that are needed for each application.</p>
<p>Thanks. I never knew that I had the option of not sending scores if I didn't like them. I just knew that you could retake for a better score, not actually withold a score. That's comforting to know.</p>
<p>Some do better on the SAT than ACT and vice versa, so to some extent it depends on how well you end up doing on the ACT. If you score well enough on the ACT for all the colleges you intend to apply to then there is no reason to take the SAT; i.e., there is no advantage or disadvantage to having one score over another if you score in the same percentile level (and that is true for almost all schools nationally, not just Illinois). Illinois schools readily accept either test and simply having both scores means nothing additional.</p>
<p>A different consideration is SAT II's. There is no Illinois college that requires them except Northwestern for certain programs and it "recommends" them generally for all applicants. Thus, if you intend to apply to Northwestern you might consider taking those; otherwise you don't need them for any Illinois college (in fact at most, including UIUC, they will just be ignored even if submitted).</p>
<p>I am assuming you are not being recruited for any college varsity sports programs, but if you are and have any desire to play varsity sports at the college level, you should be aware that you will need to take an additional ACT test or an SAT other than the ACT test that Illinois requires annually of all juniors that is given in May. That Illinois test date is a "state" test date for the ACT and not a "national" test date and the NCAA, to approve you for participation in a college sport, requires a test from a "national" test date (like the April test).</p>
<p>Note also, you really can't withhold scores if you are attending a typical Illinois high school. Yes, you do not have to order the official scores sent by the testing agency but your high school is going to stick all your scores on your official high school transcript that you are required to supply as part of your application to any college.</p>
<p>I also go to an IL high school, and in contradiction to what the above poster mentioned - my school only puts on our highest two ACT scores. Which if you only take it two times, yeah they're going to see both. But if you take it more your chances could be helped. Schools are only going to take the highest score. And at my school if you send in a note signed by a parent asking to remove one score from your transcript the request will be granted. So, not all schools hold you to the showing-every-score deal, it's best to check with your school.</p>
<p>And I've taken the SAT just because I always bomb the Science section on the ACT. And even though I always do very well on ACT reading, my SAT critical reading was very low. So. You know. They are in fact two very different tests.</p>