Hey,
As sophomore year is coming to a close, all I can think about is junior year and how it is supposed to be the most stressful year of a high schooler’s life. One reason why it is so stressful is standardized testing. I plan on taking the SAT in Spring 2017 because my school pays for the junior class to take it together, but I am not sure what to do about the ACT since the school district is not involved financially.
My question is: when is a good time to take the ACT?
Thank you so much!
Most students wait until the late fall or winter dates to take the ACT for the first time. If you take the Feb 2017 ACT, then you’ll have SAT and ACT scores in hand around the same time and can decide what to do next. Early starters sometimes take the ACT in October of junior year so that their ACT and PSAT scores are taken around the same time. Honestly, it’s not worth taking the test just to see where you stand. Take an official, released ACT in the fall and you’ll have a good indication.
Thanks!
From a different perspective, I would say it depends on what math classes you have taken. Several students in our public high school take the ACT their sophomore year as they are taking pre-calc and have already taken geometry. Best of luck!
I personally took the ACT April of soph year and did fine. I initially was going to take it Feb, but I wanted more time to study and it really helped to have spring break. however, since it’s already May of your soph year, take it in fall or winter of junior year after studying. Fall may be too early with PSATs though.
Soph year is only a good time if you filled the math reqs and have enough time. A lot of sophs I know are taking geometry/trig in sophomore year, so they can’t really take the ACT since it covers trig and lots of geometry concepts.
However, if you are already planning on taking the SAT, then the ACT isn’t that important. I suggest you try out a practice test and see how you do for both the SAT and ACT. Whichever one you can do better on intrinsically, then you should take that one.
Good luck!
Thanks a ton! I, unfortunately, have no control over when I take the PSAT’s because the school assigns 9th-11th graders to take it all together on the same day in the Fall. I think I took it in October 2015 and got a 500 on the math portion and a 540 on the critical/reading portion (not great, I know). On the other hand, I signed up for a SAT prep course over the summer, and they wanted me to take a diagnostic test. I took it last weekend and I found out my results a few days later. It was for the new SAT. I scored an 1160/1600, which converts to 1740/2400. I think this is a good score to improve on!
Another question (this may sound stupid but whatever): do students have to take BOTH the SAT and ACT or is it their choice? I am thinking about taking both tests, but I was just wondering.
@anxiouspupil oh, I meant that you shouldn’t take the ACT in the fall if you are taking PSATs because you might be overwhelmed!
You don’t need both…in your case unless you’re way better at the ACT I’d just recommend SAT for National Merit purposes. You don’t really have time to study for both anymore if you have a tough junior courseload. I’m taking both, but I already took the ACT so now I’m just focusing on SAT. But most people only take one, and colleges only need one!