Greetings fellow parents. My oldest child just began her senior year of high school, and I am so overwhelmed by this process. When I was her age, I just applied to one state school a couple hours from home, got accepted, and went. It seems so much more involved these days!
Anyway, here’s my question, one of many more to come: Daughter scored 35 composite on ACT and 1480 on SAT (740 each), and 770 on SAT Math 2 subject test. Which scores should we submit to schools? I’m thinking the 35 ACT is better, but the 770 on Math 2 is also impressive. Or is there any benefit to submitting both? Her GPA is not as stellar, so she’s really hoping to impress with her test scores.
Send the ACT 35. She should definitely send the Math 2 score as well if it’s considered. Most schools that require or recommend SAT subject tests ask for 2 subject scores. She should consider sitting for another subject test.
Test prep programs like Compass or Prepscholar compile a list of schools the require subject tests. Just google “colleges require subject tests.” Of course you can check out specific college sites to double check the test requirements.
You can google “SAT ACT conversion charts” to double check but I am confident that the ACT is the better score. I would not bother to submit the SAT (unless the college requires that all testing be sent).
You can also google the percentiles on the math SAT 2 exam but I believe a 770 on the Math 2 will not be nearly as not as high a percentage as the ACT.
Thank you for the quick response! I’m glad I was thinking along the same lines. So far, the schools she likes don’t require subject tests, but she’s such a math nerd that she wanted to see how she did on the subject test.
@AroundHere We will have to agree to disagree on this. I fully understand that Math 2 is a self-selecting pool and that it is demonstrated in the percentiles. I personally don’t think that the SAT 2 score would show strength above and beyond what a very high ACT math score would demonstrate so I would just send the ACT.
I would add that assuming the cost of sending the SAT 2 to colleges isn’t an issue the OP should certainly feel free to send the SAT 2 if he/she choose to do so.
Did she take the ACT with writing? If so, then absolutely use the ACT. To the best of my recollection, most schools (even the most selective ones) ask for either the ACT with writing or the SAT plus 2 subject tests.
We were warned by the school counselor that the percentiles on subject tests would be low, since fewer students take them, and generally only those who will score high on that subject. So I prepared my daughter to not be shocked. If I remember correctly, her 770 on the Math 2 test was right around the 70th percentile, and I reminded her that it means she did better than 70% of the people WHO TOOK THAT SPECIFIC TEST, and the ones who take Math 2 are generally the best math students, those who apply to MIT, CalTech, etc. So a 70%ile is really quite good.
Even back in the 1970s the percentile on the Math 2 subject test was out of whack. I got a 790 and a percentile in the 80s! If you have a score in the high 700s the score won’t hurt you, no matter what the percentile is, it’s still better than only having the Math 1 test score. Admissions officers aren’t stupid.
Send the ACT AND the SAT subj. test scores (unless the colleges require all scores, but very few do). Do not consider the percentile of the SAT subject test. I believe the general rule is send any score over 700. While the most highly selective schools will likely see scores in the higher of the 700 range, a 770 is an excellent score for any college. These scores will only help her application. Good luck!
@compmom I have wondered about this. Her GPA is not terrible - 3.72 weighted. We are hoping that they will see the upward trend though. Sophomore year was a disaster, but she has gotten almost all A’s since then. Her disability, as well as some significant family drama, contributed to the sophomore disaster, but it’s not things we want to explain on an application.
@ChristiGabi those special circumstances are something that a good GC should address on the LoR. They should do so while respecting the student’s privacy. If you don’t trust them to do it with respect, talk to the principal.
Those mitigating circumstances are not to be explained by the student.
In our case, the GC mentioned it but also asked us to write a note to include in the transcript. Sometimes concrete information is better than a mystery, but 3.75 sounds fine (just not the same level as the scores) and privacy is also a right.
I think you have to send both of them. It is real story. My acquaintance’s daughter was in IB class, very famous scool and took AP classes except math. She took only ACT and got 33of 36. She was denied by UC LA, UC B, UCS. she is now in uci . I don’t know everything but good school requires SAT score more than ACT. 1480 is great score. Actually I hear from this site or other internet sites that many parents say , students say they got over 1590, but there are not much around me. A few top of students in normal high school get 1400-1500 in sat but they are also 33-35,or 36 on ACT.
I did mistake to wrote numer over 1500 sat (I wrote 1590).really I was surprised that most I met through internet, they or their childern got over 1500 in sat are numerous.
While I agree with Jayku that a 1480 is a strong score, a 35 ACT is stronger. I totally disagree with Jayku’s positon that a “good school requires SAT score more than ACT”. I don’t think it would hurt your daughter to send all 3 scores as all are extremely strong. But it is unnecessary to send the 1480 when she has a 35 ACT. Send the 770 subj. test!
I replied to this issues on previous post. My acceptance was denied by uc even though she was smarter than her friends. She was in troy IB which classes are full of AP course. she got 34 or 33 of ACT but she didn’t take SAT. Bunch of her friends ( they were in normal high school) were accepted UC B and UC S with sat score which are equivalently worse than her ACT score. Apparently, Act or sat score are treated in same, but I don’t think so but I can’t prove why she was denied, our friends and me just assumeed this,circumstances.I might be wrong but I suggest that don’t throw your sat score if which is not bad for you.