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<p>Actually, that is incorrect, contrary to popular belief. Silverturtle attends a semi-competitive/somewhat noncompetitive high school in Illinois with about 1,800 students. Most of the students and faculty (guidance counselors included) are actually oblivious of the elite-college scene.</p>
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Perhaps there really is some degree of truth to the popular belief that the ACT is easier (And I’m not basing this statement off the data from your school alone).</p>
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<p>Perhaps. But as colleges claim, they are both accepted equally in terms of admissions. Therefore, it is beneficial for a student to take both just in case.</p>
<p>^ Not always.</p>
<p>^ To clarify, I meant both the SAT and the ACT.</p>
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<p>I made my claim with the implication that a student does well on one test, but not to his/her potential. In that case, it would be beneficial to take the other in case he/she could perform to his/her potential on that test.</p>
<p>Why would it be beneficial? Say student scores 36 on ACT and later 2380-2400 on SAT. Or 2380-2400 on SAT and later 35-36 on ACT. What advantage is there to have scores from 2 agencies? </p>
<p>I am asking this, because my S scored high enough on his first and only SAT sitting and no army of juggernauts can drag him to another test.</p>
<p>^ I took the SAT twice and never took the ACT.</p>
<p>Jersey, do you plan to take ACT?</p>
<p>“Why would it be beneficial? Say student scores 36 on ACT and later 2380-2400 on SAT. Or 2380-2400 on SAT and later 35-36 on ACT. What advantage is there to have scores from 2 agencies?”</p>
<p>In a past life, I served on a committee granting major scholarships at a research university. When we evaluated candidates, we were looking for patterns of performance, not isolated data points. More data created confidence, while doubt tended not to benefit the candidate. If we had one last full ride scholarship to give away, and two candidates seemed tied in every way, the one with more data points providing the evidence of potential probably got the nod.</p>
<p>While merit scholarship decisions are not the same as admissions, they are probably informative. This is why we will be sending all of S2’s ACT, SAT, and SATII scores to the schools he is applying you, and why I think schools like Yale that ask for your entire testing history are doing it right.</p>
<p>^ That was actually a very insightful post. Good jorb!</p>
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No, I believe my standardized test scores are sufficient.</p>
<p>UT84321, you make a very good point. In addition to one SATI test, S has 4 SAT II scores, all in the same range as his SATI. I just hope that it will be enough data for adcoms to make their decision.</p>
<p>Jersey, you standardized test scores are more than sufficient, I was just curious about your test plans.</p>
<p>UT, your point is well taken about giving the adcoms more “data points.” Yet it seems to me that once you get the maximum possible score on one test, there’s only downside risk in taking the other one. My son does have other data points: he’s ranked 1st in a large class; he’s taking a customized curriculum beyond the most rigorous his school offers; and he took 8 AP exams as a sophomore, 4 of them self-studied. Wouldn’t that be enough to dispel concern about the academic portion of his college application? All things considered, I’d rather see my son focus on his ECs rather than try to ace an unneeded standardized test.</p>
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<p>It is possible to have both :)</p>
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That’s true, X-Am, but graduating in 3 years has enough challenges, including earning additional outside credits; there are only so many hours in a day!</p>
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<p>Trustworthy for what?</p>
<p>I think people are misunderstanding the relationship you are portraying, and trying to give it predictive power. My reading is that you are merely trying to represent in finer detail the statistical frequency of the various PSAT and SAT results.</p>
<p>One factor that needs to be thought through is the relative number of PSAT and SAT results. There may be more SAT results, since people take it multiple times to get their score up. That could explain why a 230 is more rare than a 2300.</p>
<p>^It is percentile based, so that should not matter. Interesting point though.
silverturtle, it’s funny you say that about perfect scorers on the ACT. At my school (we usually 1-3 perfect scorers on the ACT every year), most of the perfect scorers score above 2300 on the SAT. In fact, the only person I know from my school to get a 2400 got a 33 on the ACT.</p>
<p>224 - with some ridiculous stupidity; -3 on math, of which two I had written down the correct answer and proceeded to bubble in the wrong one, and one which I just didn’t succeed at some of the basics of simplifying. I think I missed one on the reading and one on writing. Highest in my school, but I would’ve liked my actual score. </p>
<p>You should update this with ACT percentiles as well.</p>