When my son was deciding whether to go with SAT or ACT (hence the rigor of prep) we didn’t know college admission policy on tests is different between the two. There are many more schools willing to pick the highest subsection score across multiple sittings for SAT but only to pick the best composite score for ACT. If best subsection is used, the resulted composite will be higher. Son should have had taken SAT. Will that given him a better chance? Is SAT more advantageous in this respect?
We noticed that too. But on the flip side, it seems as if a number of schools require two additional SAT Subject Tests if you take the SAT, but not if you take the ACT. So in hindsight, very glad my daughter went with the ACT instead of the SAT.
That s kind of interesting you learn something new everyday. My son took ACT but he is taking 2 subject tests for UC application. Let me double check again !
One reason is SAT score report includes all test scores from previous tests (unless you choose score choice). For ACT, you need to pay for each score report from each test.
@LYLMom There are very few schools require (but recommend) SAT2 scores now.
@billcsho I am sure you are right. To be perfectly honest, I only checked the requirements on the 15 or so schools that were on my daughter’s list earlier this year. If I remember correctly, Rice, Amherst and Boston College all required SAT 2 tests if you took the SAT but not if you took the ACT. A few schools like CalTech and the UCs for certain majors required them from everyone. I just remember being relieved because she didn’t do as well on her SAT 2 tests as she had hoped, so was happy that we could just write them off versus trying to retake them again.
The CSUs in California use superscore for both SAT and ACT. The UCs do not superscore.
For UCs, subject tests are recommended (not required) for certain majors.
I was looking at private colleges along west coast after I have found out that my son’s stats aren’t good enough for CS/engineering. I hope by adding the recommended subject tests will make him more eligible for UCR since his best Math section score is not in his best Composite sitting. Bit frustrated with most colleges not superscoring ACT - only SAT.
UC 2016 freshman profile shows that for UCM: 75 percentile has risen to 3.88/27 already.
I was looking at private colleges along west coast after I have found out that my son’s stats aren’t good enough for CS/engineering. I hope by adding the recommended subject tests will make him more eligible for UCR since he has one good Math subsection and one good Science subsection from different sittings. Will continue to cast a bigger net and put our chips on CSU. Today I check out the UC 2016 freshman profile: 75 percentile >> 3.88/27 for UCM. At the age of 16/17, my son (a late bloomer) is not really sure what he wants to do. Just so happens his parents are both IT only, he chooses STEM.