When did people have their sons take the ACT or SAT? Which one did they take and why? My 2018 is looking for a good quality school, not necessarily a top academic. Wondering if he needs both.
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Most people will advise you to have the kid take both, as early as Sophomore year but certainly by Junior year, and see which one he does better with, and then do some prep on that one to try to improve his score as necessary. All schools will take either.
Yep, what JCG said. Our son took both before Jr. Year. For him, one was easier than the other. As expected, he scored higher on the one that he felt was easier.
Plan was to retake if necessary and focus on the one that he preferred. The scores were both good enough for acceptance to his committed school, so he's not going to take either again.
Some schools take ACT as a replacement of SAT + SAT subject tests (see my other thread on SAT Subject Test for the list of schools that do this.) Also, SAT is making a major revision this year, so if you take the test now, you won't have much material to review or practice. I heard that it's very different from the old SAT, and very much like the ACT.
So it sounds to me that at this point, ACT has advantage.
Jr year was when our 2016 took his along with just about every other baseball player we know (as well as the rest of his classmates). He took only the SAT - most kids we know did one or the other and seemed to have a good reason why one would be better for them (I'm not sure how).
Its been posted here before but there is an increasing number of very good schools that are SAT/ACT optional. A quick search will bring you to the list online. Of course, 2016's school is test optional but they still asked for his scores during the back and forth with the coach and admissions.
Doesn't hurt to take them both. Good test scores open doors.
When deciding on when to take either test, definitely consider your sons sport and extracurricular schedule. It's really hard to work with tutors to prepare during HS baseball season. Our 2018 will busy with HS team, going 6 days a week from March thru May, then club tourney's Thu-Sun in June and July. We're supporting our 2018 take the ACT in Sept after a steady program of tutoring during the week in between tourney's. This was effective for our 2016.
Timing of the ACT/SAT should also be contingent on having the necessary math or science under his belt. If he doesn't you'll likely have to wait till second semester junior year.
Big believer of hunting down tutors that show how to take the tests. tips/strategies with grasp on time management.
My .02
I admire schools that are making these scores optional. Just as medical schools select for good test takers (which often does not correlate with being a good physician) schools are finding a great number of bright students that don't test well for a variety of reasons. I always was a believer in these tests, but knowing very intelligent kids with dyslexia and other learning differences has opened my eyes to the inherent bias in the SAT/ACT and it should not disqualify kids who, while not not excelling at standardized test taking, have demonstrated academic achievement in other ways.
FWIW: Some schools use a combo of test scores and gpa to dole out merit aid. B/c grade inflation is rampant.
Iowamom23 posted:When did people have their sons take the ACT or SAT? Which one did they take and why? My 2018 is looking for a good quality school, not necessarily a top academic. Wondering if he needs both.
Son took SAT in Nov or December Junior Year. Never took ACT. Probably focused on SAT because his school took PSAT in October during his sophomore and junior years so he was familiar with format.
Want to second the thoughts about tutoring specifically for the tests. We had a weird result but I think it was still a good idea. 2017 took the ACT cold in June after his soph year and scored pretty well, so we hired a tutor for that test specifically. Met weekly all fall and took the test in Mid december. Incredibly disappointed that his score only went up one point. However, there may have been a reason for this. The week before the ACT he took the SAT and I think he had test fatigue. HIs SAT scored turned out to be 10-15% higher than the ACT, even though he never studied specifically for it. So he retook the SAT a few weeks ago and we're eager to see if he improves.
And, yes, be aware of the time management required on the ACT test. Easy test to run out of time on certain sections. ACT test takers have to be very aware of the clock.
Son is 2018, attends high academic prep school in a state that is a baseball hotbed, and wants to play for a high academic college. His high school sends athletes to these type schools every year. Here is what his school's college counselor recently told me.
She recommends not taking it spring sophomore year. She says she has never seen a student-athlete get the score they need spring sophomore year, so they need to take it again anyway (again, these kids mostly are aiming very high).
She says the test burnout factor is real, combined with school heavy course load, extracurriculars, and sports of course.
She also said this desire to take the ACT / SAT early seems to be a baseball thing; she is not seeing it much in other sports.
It's hard to know what to do, especially when you read this Board, see the early commitments, etc. We decided to hold until Sept junior year and give him some prep time during the summer. In the end, not sure there is an absolute right / wrong.
First time poster, long-time reader. The information on this Board has been invaluable so far, and greatly appreciate the regular posters with real experience on these things. You are doing good deeds and passing it forward more than you will ever know.
My 2017 will be taking his this year, junior year.
my 2016 took his jr. year. His older brother had taken the SAT and did lousy on it, and he was an honors student. His older brother then took the advice of his guidance counselor, and took the ACT and liked that test SOOOO much better. It asks questions differently, and has a different thought process. So this time around with second son, had my 2016 take only the ACT - once and done. If your son doesn't do well on the SAT, try having him take the ACT. Almost all colleges will accept either one.
Tip:
The last ACT that students can take and still meet the deadline for scholarship applications (typically Dec 1) is the October ACT of senior year. Know the deadline at each university - the dates can differ.
It's funny how kids differ, mine did far better on the SAT than the ACT. Both taken junior year BTW.
9and7dad posted:It's funny how kids differ, mine did far better on the SAT than the ACT. Both taken junior year BTW.
And to this point, we had heard over the years that one test favored creative minds while the other favored discrete, analytical minds more. Based on that, and knowing our son, we suspected he would fare better on one than the other (but chose to take both for all the reasons listed above). The results were exactly opposite of what we anticipated. Also, as mentioned, they expect a record year for ACT takers this year due to the change in SAT format. Most of the SAT changes will be for the better, for example you will no longer get penalized for a wrong answer as you did in the past, so it was better to leave an answer blank than to answer it incorrectly.
Here's a fairly simple summary of the key changes for anyone interested. Most done to tune the test more toward today's student.
http://time.com/3904911/sat-changes/
Another link which also shows some more specific pro's/con's
http://www.princetonreview.com/college/sat-changes
The results were exactly opposite of what we anticipated.
This is a good reason to take both. We experienced something similar with our son. Even though he scored over 2,000 on SAT (which he prepped heavily for) he did much better on ACT.
I would recommend both because you might see a significant difference in your student's score between the two tests. My son's SAT score was an equivalent to 3 points higher than his ACT score so you never know. Also, if he is going to a higher academic school, they are more likely to require the essay so make sure to pay the extra fee and do the essay.
Also, it seems like more and more schools aren't requiring standardized test scores. Here is a list from a website I found http://fairtest.org/university/optional
By the way, anyone wondering what the admission stats are regarding prior year freshman at a certain school such as test scores, GPAs, how many applied/were accepted/enrolled etc look on the school's website for their Common Data Set (CDS). Its a plethora of good info. As example, here is a link to Indiana's CDS. Just click on first time freshman. https://www.iu.edu/~uirr/reports/compliance/cds/ but you can find this info at just about any school
Our son took only ACT, scored well enough to get nice, about 50% scholarship to private college, this one doesn't allow double dipping. We went with the academic scholarship, it was better. He also scored high enough to test out of an English and math class. Took the test after taking Algebra 2 in the spring of junior year.
He did retake to try to score 2 points higher for upper scholarship. His score went up 2 in one area but because he was now taking statistics his math score went down 2 points. It really does help to look at the classes your child is taking and when you take the test.