SAT vs. ACT

mmct

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My son is beginning the application process for the class of 2014 and we were both wondering if he should only send in his ACT scores because they were better than the SAT scores.

He scored 720 on math, and 670 on verbal for SAT; but on the ACT he scored 36 on math, 35 on science, and 30 on English.

Should he just send the ACT or both ACT and SAT scores?
 
I would send in both sets of scores. They are both strong scores and they can only help him in the process.

Best of Luck!
 
send both the AFA has a formula that equates them, from there they take the highest of the two (SAT or ACT).

Also I don't know about your school, but ours had his 2 SAT test scores and his one ACT on the official transcript, so they might see it anyway.

You are missing the 4th part, which is written, but I am sure you know the total. Here is a comparison chart...NOT THE AFA CHART, just the collegeboard:
http://phs.prs.k12.nj.us/guidance/SAT_ACT_Comparison.pdf


A 1390, would put his overal score at 31. Even if he got a 29 on written, he would be at @ 33 on his ACT and it would be between 1460-1500, so I would ASSUME (remember what that means makes an a$$...) they would take the ACT.

BTW that is what they did with our DS, because he had a 33 ACT and a 1390 SAT, we did send both.
 
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I would send both of them. They would probably get both anyway. They are both really good. Well I know the ACT one is anyway I do not know about the SAT's.
 
If you put the colleges on the collegeboard app (SAT and ACT) the results will be sent to them, regardless of your decision to officially send. If I am correct it is either 3 or 5 schools that are free. DS found out his ACT through the AFA web page, a day later he got his on line results from collegeboard.
 
Pima; you bring up a good point. I've actually seen this happen. A person put in 5 or 6 schools as recipients for their SAT scores. Unfortunately, only the first 4 are free. The last 2 schools (One of which was the air force academy) required payment. The person didn't see this part or didn't catch it and went back to another section and eventually signed out. Needless to say, the academy NEVER received their SAT scores. Now this is not totally an uncommon method on purpose. I.e. Some people make their PRIMARY school that they are applying to not one of the 4 free ones. This way they can take the tests multiple times and choose which ones go to the primary school. Anyway; you get 4 free schools to have the scores sent to. Make sure the academy is one of those 4 choices; or make sure you pay for the extra schools if the academy is >=5 on the list.
 
I have a similar question with ACT/SAT... I haven't taken the SAT, because it isn't required at my school, so I'd have to pay to take it. I took the PSAT and it predicted that I would get around a 2000 on my SAT. However, I got a 34 on my ACT, and a 2000 only equates to about a 30 or 31 on the ACT. Is it worth taking the SAT also?
 
Personally, if the composite was a 34, and ALL the individual tests were 30 or higher, I wouldn't worry about it. I might take the ACT again to see if I can nail the 36, but I definitely wouldn't even try the SAT. Neither is weighted more than the other. It's just that some people do better in some tests on one compared to the other. I.e. They do better in math on the act, but better in the verbal on the SAT. So taking both has it's advantages being the academy super-scores. But if you have a 34 composite and 30 or better on each section of the ACT; go and enjoy your senior year and don't worry about it. I wouldn't even try the SAT. Like I said, I MIGHT try the ACT again to see if I can crack the 36. If you do worse, it doesn't hurt. If you do better, it helps. But screw the SAT. later.... mike.....
 
It's just that some people do better in some tests on one compared to the other. I.e. They do better in math on the act, but better in the verbal on the SAT. So taking both has it's advantages being the academy super-scores.

Wait... I'm fairly certain, at least from what I'd heard at USMA SLS, that the SA's do not take the highest scores from both tests and put them together (e.g. the highest ACT math and the highest verbal SAT), but rather the highest scores from all the ACT tests to make the highest ACT composite, and the highest scores from all the SAT tests to make the highest SAT composite...?


And yeah, I was 35 English/34 Math/33 Reading/35 Sci-Reasoning/....31 combined writing... but thankfully that doesn't factor in to the composite score :)
 
You are right they superscore the SAT, superscore the ACT , they then put it through their own system, whichever is the highest set is the one put in the file for the WCS scores. In other words you will either be scored on your SAT or ACT, but not each individual part. AT least that it was what our regional told us 2 yrs ago.
 
Yes, correct. I should have clarified that it's whichever test was highest overall. But as you rightly noticed, your ACT tests are high enough to not worry about them. Not unless you wanted to try and crack the 36. I wouldn't even worry about doing the SAT. Later... Mike....
 
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