<p>S taking PSAT in Oct. Junior yr. There is a Sept ACT being offered. Is it too early to take the ACT? Better to wait until the Feb. Act? (which is when it is next offered in our area) Thinking a Sept ACT might be a good practice like the Oct PSAT is for SAT in winter/spring. That way we can see if he does better on ACT or PSAT and choose which one to prepare for and concentrate on for winter/spring testing?</p>
<p>Does this strategy make sense or not? I'm concerned because the ACT description says it is based on early 12th grade info and that will not have been covered hardly at all by Sept. vs. Feb.</p>
<p>My D's understanding is that the SAT is an "aptitute" test and early timing is not that much of an issue. Rather, the ACT is more of an "achievement" test measuring "learned" knowledge more than potential ability to learn. She has been advised to wait until spring of Junior year to take. Actually, she has even been told to wait until fall of Senior year, but she probably won't wait quite that long. (And she turns 16 on the day of the ACT in Sept and so that's that--she's not taking it!)</p>
<p>I, too, will be intersted in the many and varied answers that will come.</p>
<p>I think it is commonly said but rather misleading to say that one test is aptitude and the other is achievement. Study can improve how one does on the SAT and study has its limits in improving ACT scores. </p>
<p>There is no reason to wait to take the ACT if the required math has been taken. It has score choice. Who knows -- an early test may yield a higher score. (This is what happened to my daughter -- she was sick when she took it in the fall of her senior year.)</p>
<p>I don't understand what you mean by "based on early 12th grade info." You can look at practice tests and see if your son knows the material being tested.</p>
<p>I agree with DianeR. Have your son take a practice test...there's a free download at the ACT site. For some students, the ACT is just a better test right out of the box.</p>
<p>If your son seems ready, then by all means have him take it early. Because you can pick and choose the scores you send on the ACT, there's no downside other than time and money.</p>
<p>The ACT isn't really a learned knowledge test, but the material and the style of the questions are more like the kind of material students see in school...especially a good school. The material is, in some ways, slightly harder than the material on the SAT, but the questions are less tricky and more about the material than the method.</p>
<p>Some of my students have a hard time finishing the ACT Critical Reading and Science Reasoning sections...they're pretty long, so working on building pace without sacrificing accuracy becomes a pretty big issue for some.</p>
<p>Just FYI, out here on the west coast, the ACT is still relatively unpopular, but it's popularity is growing. I suggest that all my students take the ACT as well as the SAT, unless they're just crushing the SAT. If they do better, they can send in their scores. If not, schools never have to know (for that reason, I never recommend naming schools to send scores to when you fill out the registration form...pay a little more later if the scores are good enough to send.)</p>
<p>Thanks.
Sounds like he should hold off until Feb. His school is on a block schedule so he won't have 11th grade Math or SCience until the second semester so I wonder if that hurts some kids as opposed to waiting until later in the year when the course work is completed.</p>
<p>I was hoping he would take a practice test of SAT and ACT, then based on which type of test he does better on he could spend time prepping to take that one again in May. </p>
<p>By my comment on "first semester 12th grade" I thought this was a phrase I saw on the ACT web site describing the level of the material.</p>
<p>Given that the ACT offers score choice, so you don't have to tell colleges about any ACT score you don't like, it would seem to me that it woud be fine to do a trial run in the fall, accepting that he might not know all of the math/science yet. If he takes a look at a sample test, he will be able to see what math and science is covered, and if there is enough there with which he's familiar. Taking the test in the fall might make it easier for him in February if he's already familiar with the format, types of questions, and most particularly the time factor which seemed to my kid to be slightly more pressing than for the SAT. Also,it will give him more experience writing those inane 20 minute essays under pressure without any downside in that colleges don't even have to know that he sat for the exam, let alone his score, on the trial run.</p>
<p>I agree, with one proviso. Some high schools report all test scores they know about in the transcripts they send colleges. If you don't want a particular score on there, you should not register in such a way that the test results go to the high school. Either that, or make sure the school only reports the best score achieved on any particular test ...</p>
<p>Complete agreement with DianeR. In fact, we should start a thread, or at least a banner headline, to parents new to this process telling them never, ever to designate their high school to receive SAT or ACT scores. It can't really help, since official scores have to be sent to colleges before applications are complete, and it can hurt, especially with the ACT, which offers score choice, but also for students who decide after the fact to use ACT's but not SAT's, and are then stuck with SAT's they'd rather not submit on their h.s. transcripts.</p>