Who's got kids taking (or taken) both SAT 1's AND ACT, and what's your thinking?

Parents Forum
21

<p>Ds#2, senior this year, took the old SAT I (sophomore year), SAT IIs (junior year) and ACT last month. His Math score on both I and IIC was 760+, and a slightly lower verbal. His ACT was a 34, with a 36 in math AND science. Low being the language part, vs. a 34 reading score. </p>

<p>So in conclusion....his ACT composite was higher than SAT composite and the ACT did allow for his science, math and reading to bring up his overall score to make up for the language part. As where the SAT I overall was lower than the equivalent ACT since verbal was half. He did say the math was harder on the ACT vs. SAT I. SAT IIC was harder than ACT math.</p>

<p>Of course his AP Calc BC test last year was the hardest, but he managed a 5 on that!</p>

<p>He says after taking 8 AP tests in 10 days, one ACT or SAT test is a walk in the park.</p>

<p>And no, no prep on his part. He doesn't have the time nor inclination, I gave up trying years ago!!!</p>

<p>New topic for other frustrated parents:</p>

<p>He had an interview for one of the military academies a few weeks ago. I made sure his shirt and pants were pressed, and a tie was at his disposal. Hanging neat and tidy in his closet. He leaves early somedays to get a morning practice in before school so he doesn't always have his school clothes on when he leaves the house. I didn't think anything of it the morning of his interview. He scheduled the interview to take place at school.</p>

<p>Arrives home later, about the usual time after afternoon practice, all sweaty and disgusting. At this point I am confused, and look in his closet and there sit his clothes. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.</p>

<p>"Did you not wear your interview clothes?"</p>

<p>"Mom, the clothes were for you to feel included. I had my interviewer TAG ALONG (my emphasis not his) with me this afternoon since I have such a full schedule. I had club duties (2 clubs, officer), had to check on peer tutoring (he runs it and teaches calc, stats), briefly attend faculty meeting for some issue, review some AP curriculm for new teachers (only student to take AP test last year in his school) and get to practice (conferences coming up and he is captain)."</p>

<p>"You did WHAT???"</p>

<p>"Mom, it was fine, he had a great time, we talked about flying and math and we RAN (my emphasis) some. It was actually a great time."</p>

<p>I give up. The man was in full dress uniform. My child, take him, anyone!!!!!!</p>

<p>Kat
<strong><em>FREE KITTEN</em></strong></p>

22

<p>i took both the act and the sat b/c i live in the midwest. i'd say take a practice test and see how well you do on the ACT if you wouldn't usually take it (geographically). i didn't really study for the ACT compared to the time spent on the SAT, since the ACT is mostly curriculum-based. ACT isn't that "hard" but the limited time you get puts a ton of pressure on you.</p>

23

<p>My D took both. She got a 29 on ACT and a 1390/1600, 2080/2400 on SAT. For some reason, she seemed to do better on the SAT as the conversion table collegeboard.com shows an SAT of 1390 is equivalent to a 31 ACT. Her 29 ACT converts to a 1300 SAT. She retook her ACT today and is retaking the SAT November 5th. I thought her other scores were fine ... she didn't. She did decide she isn't interested in taking the SAT II's. I totally agree about testing overkill, but if the kids want to do it to increase their chances at scholarship opportunities, I say go for it!</p>

24

<p>It's a good idea to read the post-test discussions in the SAT forum. Most of the questions that are reported as difficult are typically the pure reasoning questions. In the SAT, they may show up everywhere, while on the ACT they tend to be in the misleadingly named science section. There is less reasoning required on the ACT, but the test requires a bit more speed for math problems. </p>

<p>As it has been repeated very often, the key to both the ACT and the SAT is to prepare carefully. While it is obvious that some students will score the same on both tests, the scores of the practice tests should dictate which test to focus on. </p>

<p>For what is worth, I have always considered the ACT to be much less predictable and prone to have questionable problems -which almost never happens on the SAT. In my opinion, this is what makes this easier test harder to earn the perfect scores. It is obvious that the ACT does not have the resources of ETS and does not seem to invest as much as the TCB to ensure the integrity of their tests.</p>

25

<p>KATWKITTENS - I have to chuckle at your son's description of his ''interview'' - hey - ya never know - the guy probably had great things for his report on your 'step out of the box' son - sure sounds like a very enthusiastic guy</p>

26

<p>Well, S took both and the conversion the Naval Academy used for the ACT worked to his advantage and bumped up his math scores.</p>

27

<p>so, if they are close, submit both?</p>

28

<p>In my school, which is in the south, we have to take the ACT and SAT.</p>

<p>The south favors the ACT, but since people want to apply to east schools, we take both tests.</p>

<p>I think some people had 32+ and 1500+, in which case I thinkn they sent both.</p>

29

<p>xiggi, you might be right about the test integrity. My daughter took SAT I twice, a year apart, and scored almost identically with the Math and CR scores each time -- a disappointment, since of course we were hoping for an improvement... but as far as testing the test, a good indication of its accuracy. (D. didn' like to hear my saying that, though.)</p>

<p>Between June & September there were some odd changes in ACT, though -- on the second test, the Reading went up 2 points, Science went up 1, Writing went up 1... but English went down 4 points... and she felt good about the test, thinking she had done well with all parts. Composite ended up down a point. That all-over-the-map performance seemed really strange to me.</p>

30

<p>I recommend that your kids do what my daughter did: She took one practice test for each the SAT and ACT at home. From that, she discovered that she performed much better on the ACT than she did on the SAT. She did no other test prep than to take one practice test each. So she took the ACT and got a 35 composite. She wasn't happy with the 10 she got on the essay, so she took it again in Sept, upped her Math from 34 to 36, got her 12 on the essay, got 35 on all the other sections and still had a 35 composite. She was planning NOT to take the SAT at all. Then she found out she was a NMSF and to be a finalist, she would have to. So she waited until all her SAT IIs are taken and sent and will take the SAT I at the latest possible date to qualify with no prep. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.</p>

31

<p>My daughter took the SAT twice, increasing her score from 1410 to 1510 between January and May. She decided to retake because she knew she could significantly increase the math score (did wind up with an 800) once she was familiar with the test. She did several tests from "10 Real SATs" to prepare.</p>

<p>She also took the ACT once and scored 34 (pretty much the equivalent of her SAT score). She liked the ACT much better, felt it was "less random" and a better indicator of academic ability. One thing we could never figure out was how she could get "18" on both portions of the reading and wind up with a "35" overall for that section. She found something in the info packet about sub-section scores not necessarily adding up to the final score -but it still looked to me as if she hadn't missed any points, so why didn't she get a 36? She didn't think it was worth asking about, so we never did.</p>

<p>She found the ACT science section the most challenging.</p>

32

<p>My son sat for 4 testing administrations last spring. The ACT w/writing in February, the new SAT 1 in March, the new SAT 1 in May and 3 SAT Subject Level tests in June.</p>

<p>Statistically the scores are similar. I asked him to take the ACT with no test prep in February as a warm up for the SAT and he did fine. He felt that the ACT required more speed because they had more questions per time period. Additionally, the ACT administration went quicker, perhaps because we are in a non-ACT area, RI.</p>

<p>He says it doesn't matter to him which tests he took, they are both fine. However, I like the score choice available with the ACT. What I would like of the SAT is the ability to choose what scores to send or at least what administration.</p>

<p>The only real issue was that the May adminstration of the new SAT 1 was right in the middle of AP testing. He had 2 weeks of intense testing during that period. In the end the testing last spring worked out well because he does not have to take any tests this fall he can focus on his college applications.</p>

33

<p>Not too scientific but in our case it was a deal maker. Our son just never was the type to re-take something like an SAT, let alone actually prepare for it, so our deal was: fine, then try the ACT instead of another SAT. I guess things were relatively similar: 750V, 700M vs 33 ACT. I do recall he "liked" taking the ACT better. If your child balks at the idea of taking the SAT again this strategy may work just because it's different, and they may be sick of the whole SAT (in particular) mania.</p>

<p>Xiggi, interesting about science section having the most pure reasoning questions. I wondered how he scored highest in science section when he really doesn't like pure sciences at all and probably slept thru most of bio, chem and physics. If he's got anything it's pure reasoning ability (computer science major who loves philosophy) so now it makes more sense.</p>

34

<p>Science is definitely scientific reasoning (extracting info from charts, data, etc.) and NOT science. My S had the same experience -- even though he likes science, he was suprised that he did so well on that particular section as a Sophomore, particularly in light of how badly he tanked the math -- which is apparently a little more difficult than SAT math, but the biggest issue is the time constraint.</p>

35

<p>PAPA CHICKEN - we definitely live in SAT land - ACT is very much an unknown here - My DD was the only one in her class to have taken the ACT - did it on a whim just to see what difference it would show cuz of her test taking skills - unprep'd also. She actually scored higher - comparitively - than the SAT on the ACT. She actually liked the ACT better because it covered more material - was curriculum driven and showed her real strengths and weaknesses.</p>

<p>Glad we did this - even tho the SAT's were good - the ACT actually got her a small foot up at the school she applied to as her first choice - cuz they LIKE the ACT better - and is in ACT land also - tho all scores were submitted for both tests. She was invited into the honors program because of her ACT score and was able to be excempt from placement tests in all subjects - which put her into a higher level of classes as a college freshman.</p>

<p>I think because you have a choice of what is submitted with the ACT - it doesn't hurt at all to take it - where as the SAT - all scores are submitted to schools - no choice. Many schools actually will consider a compilation of all the highest scores between the SAT/ACT/AP.</p>

36

<p>Thanks all for kicking in here. We are deep in SAT-land, but had an inkling to try ACT based upon S's sometimes right-brained approach. He's prepped for SAT & will take 1st time in Jan as a junior, but I think, in part based upon your experiences, I'll push him to take the ACT in Dec as a warmup, with minimal prep. That way, we'll have results of each later in the spring to enable decisions on what testing to go with. No firm handle on whether target schools are SAT- or ACT-land, although as S may wish to play lacrosse, suspect SAT-land it will be. Thanks again for your input......PC</p>

37

<p>I have seen many references to the ACT being more curriculum driven or being more a test of aptitude than the SAT. I have to admit to be unable to understand the origin and the correctness of such statement. Except for the possibility of having very basic trig included in the ACT, I hardly see any difference. The math of the ACT is supposedly more straightforward and the science reasoning section harder, but the math on the SAT combines both ACT sections. </p>

<p>The fact that the ACT is more or less curriculum oreiented makes little difference since there is no real consensus as to what forms a curriculum. Some schools have dedicated SAT classes, so I assume that would make the SAT more school based. I find both tests very different from the typical high school fare, but that is just my opinion.</p>

38

<p>papa:</p>

<p>when you register for the ACT you don't have to list your HS or any colleges, so only you and your S will know the scores. You can always send them out later if he aces the test.</p>

<p>btw: also in SAT-land, but even the UC's give equal weight to the ACT...</p>

39

<p>The ACT emhasizes speed more than the SAT. My D did poorly on the science, which is really a rush job. Overall, the scoring on the ACT is a bit coarse at the top end -- 1 wrong can get you a 34 on some sections -- there sometimes is no 35. If you are at the very hi percentiles avoid it.</p>

40

<p>so, say a test-taker ends up with slightly better ACT scores than SAT 1's, but needs to send the whole SAT history to satisfy SAT 2 requirements. Do the uni's take the better of ACT or SAT 1's?</p>