SAT vs. ACT (also posted in Parent's Forum)

Test Preparation
1

<p>We live in SAT-country, so the ACT is not the traditional test everyone takes. It occurred to us, however, that our daughter might possibly do better on the ACT. We thought she was a pretty sure shoe-in for strong SAT scores given her excellent 7th grade CTY-talent search SAT scores. However, as a 10th grader on the New PSAT, she didn't do very well. She's doing some test prep, some on her own and some with a tutor. The tutor asked her to consider the ACT as an alternative. She's a rising junior. Here are my questions:</p>

<p>Has anyone taken both ACT and SAT and were the scores very different?</p>

<p>What kind of student does better on which test? My daughter tends to do better on intuitive than algorithmical math and on reading comprehension over vocabulary or usage questions. She's in a strong school so has had pretty solid academics.</p>

<p>Is is a bother to study for both tests? My daughter worries that having started prepping for the SAT she'd be getting into a whole different prep routine and mentality to take a different test. Is the prep required quite different?</p>

<p>I heard something about not having to take as many SAT-II's and AP tests if one takes the ACT. At this point, she will probably be taking 7 tests next spring (SAT II's in Biology, U.S. History and English something, AP's in the same plus the SAT I). Any reduction of this testing schedule would be nice, but maybe that's just the way junior year is? How do you get through all those tests in such a short period of time?</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

2

<p>I felt much better doing the ACT, less tired and stressed, but didn't do well on the science section (mostly graphs) and you have to be fast, and I didn't prep well. I am definitely doing it again. You can buy a the Offical ACT book at the store or go on their site:
<a href="http://www.actstudent.org/sampletest/test1/engl/englishtest.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.actstudent.org/sampletest/test1/engl/englishtest.html&lt;/a>
There are sample questions and infor about it, so she can get a feel of the test. Many schools will take the ACT over SAT l and ll's but you have to check. Since she has time, let her take both and compare. In our area, they offered the ACT within weeks of the SAT, check your city on their site.</p>

3

<p>a friend of mine has a 34 ACT and a 1780 SAT</p>

4

<p>Wow, that's ridiculous...</p>

5

<p>Yeah, I have a friend who scored a 1760 on his SAT, while his ACT was a 33.</p>

6

<p>I prepared for the SAT a lot and ended up with a 2130 (I had hoped for a bit higher.) Then I took the ACT on a whim without preparation and scored a 34. It's definitely worth it to take both. I just hope the two tests are looked at equally.</p>

7

<p>Colleges don't see the number of times you take the ACTs.. which is nice.
My scores stayed in about the same range though... 2090 v. 30.
A lot of people I know scored much lower on the ACTs than the SATs though; it might be due to lack of prepping though. So just take both.</p>

8

<p>StayGold, 98% of the colleges look at the two tests equally for sure. It's the highly competitive 2% which sometimes doesn't look at the two equally. For instance, both Princeton and Penn accept the ACT, but say they prefer the SAT. Stanford also says they look at the SAT more if submitted along with the ACT. Other colleges say they accept the two equally, but I'm not so sure. One person was told off the record by a Yale admissions person that it would be an extremely good idea to take the SAT (he took the ACT and scored well). Plus, very few admitted students to these competitive schools on the coasts have taken only the ACT. This tells you something. Just because a college says something to the public doesn't mean its true. The UC's say they practice race-blind admissions. In reality, they just circumvent the rule (it's clearly been proven). Don't believe everything you hear, especially on CC. Do you know how many people are posting fake stats? My point exactly.</p>

9

<p>1.Now, if I were to apply to Penn and I took both tests, but did exceptionally better on the ACT, would they just look at my ACT?</p>

<p>2.Ella, where are you thinking about applying?</p>

10

<p>haz, thanks for your reply. What do you think about Brown, which doesn't put too much emphasis on standardized tests altogether? When I apply there and to other schools, should I send both scores assuming they'll look at the ACT more because it's better or should I just send the ACT? Or should I take the SAT again and hope for a higher score?</p>

11

<p>You should be fine with the ACT in applying to Brown because, as you said, Brown does not put as much weight on standardized tests as the other Ivy League Schools and Stanford/MIT. Northwestern and U Chicago probably treat the ACT equally as well, considering they are in the Midwest.</p>