<p>ACT or SAT?</p>
<p>A little background:
My D is a jr.
Very strong in most areas, if any area of concern it would be math.</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>I don't think it much matters. We live in SAT country so most people take SAT first. We also can't take ACT in Feb. here in NY which also tends to make it the second test taken if it's taken at all. Older son was in running for National Merit so he took the SAT and his score was good enough he didn't bother with the ACT. If your daughter can stand it, I'd suggest she take one of the practice tests from the book with real SAT tests and one from the ACT book. See which format she likes better and if there's one that she scores better at.</p>
<p>You could ask if your high school administers the PRA, a test by Princeton Review that is supposed to predict whether you would do better on the SAT or the ACT. My children both took the PRA at their schools and both got the prediction that they would score about the same on both tests. My D did well on the SAT so she didn't take the ACT. We are in SAT country also so most students here take the SAT first and if they don't score well they take the ACT to see if they can do better on it. Good luck!</p>
<p>I took the ACT first because many schools allow students to submit just ACT scores instead of SAT+SAT II scores. So if your D really hates tests, then I would suggest taking the ACT and being done with standardized testing.</p>
<p>Some Ivy's require ACT and SAT II's.</p>
<p>I would take SAT and see how your D does. if its not as good as you want it to be, or think it should be, take the ACT.</p>
<p>i took the SAT first, did decent, then took the ACT and did amazingly well. so i would have them take the SAT, see how they do, and then take the ACT after that</p>
<p>If she took the PSAT, then she should give the SAT a try since she'll be pretty familiar with the type of questions,format, timing...etc.</p>
<p>And there's a couple (not many though) of trig problems on the ACT so if she hasn't taken trig yet then SAT would be a bit better.</p>
<p>i would try SAT first, especially since she probably just took the PSAT...</p>
<p>Excellent feedback everyone - thanks!</p>
<p>Great point about her just taking the PSAT, so SAT seems to make most sense to tackle first. </p>
<p>I also like the idea about the PRA - that is new to me and we will check it out.</p>
<p>It was interesting for us to hear her school's college counselor state that the kids at their school typically do better on the ACT. Especially given we are on the west coast and most kids would typically stay on the west coast where the SAT is more popular.</p>
<p>It sounds as if the ACT is picking up more steam even out here in SAT land.</p>
<p>It depends on when she is taking the test. Right now, only ACT has score choice, so if she's taking in December, she should start with ACT. When the SAT has score choice also, it won't matter which one she takes first. According to collegeboard, score choice begins with the March 2009 test for students in the class of 2010 (see link) Score</a> Choice
If she takes the SAT before score choice starts, schools will see all of her SAT scores anytime she sends a score report, so there is a disadvantage if she doesn't do as well as she wants. Right now, with ACT there is no disadvantage if she doesn't do well, because she doesn't have to send the scores anywhere. As anhtimmy pointed out, some ivies do require the SAT II even if you take the ACT (Harvard and Princeton come to mind), but some don't (Brown, Yale). Many schools outside of the ivies do not require SAT II if you take ACT, so that is another potential advantage.</p>
<p>Another great point - thank you so much.</p>