I’m a current high school junior. Last semester, I took the ACT for the first time and received a 35. Despite this, my parents wanted me to take the SAT, which I recently did. I’ve had argument after argument with them about how taking the SAT was completely unnecessary in the first place, and how a 35 is good enough for most schools. They will not listen.
I don’t feel too good about the SAT I took and I voiced my thoughts to my parents. Now, they want me to retake it for a better score if I do poorly on it. Assuming I received a poor score on the SAT, how could I convince my parents that it was already unnecessary for me to take it once, let alone twice?
Tell them that your time would be better spent using one of the upcoming SAT testing dates to take a subject test or two. That would do more to enhance your application and you can’t take subject tests on the same date as the regular SAT.
This type of situation happened with me. I took the SAT and did fine on it, but my parents wanted me to retake. I talked to my guidance counselor at my school and got them to email my parents saying that I would be totally fine with the score I got, and it seemed to do the trick.
I am a test prep tutor. I agree that your guidance counselor should email your parents. Ask your parents to read this:
Dear Parents,
Your child has a 35 already, a score earned by fewer than 1% of test takers. EVERY college in the country accepts either test, and there is no college that prefers the SAT to the ACT, or vice versa.
Given that he/she already has an extremely high and extremely competetive score, there are a number of risks your child runs by taking the SAT:
SAT scores can never be cancelled, unless the student requests it in writing by 11:59 pm on the Thursday after the test, less than one week. If he/she comes out of the test feeling as though she bombed the test, that’s not much time to have the score erased. It is impossible to find out the score first, then cancel the test.
Studies show that as many as 40% of students who already have a very high score will score worse on a retake/another standardized test.
If your child is applying to a tippy top school and does worse on the SAT, it is very likely that the college he/she applies to will REQUIRE all test scores, regardless of which test had the higher score. This means your child will instantly become less competitive by having to submit a less impressive score. A college will be more impressed by one really high score than one really high one and one mediocre one.
Your child is nervous about taking the SAT already. That is probably going to negatively affect his/her chances of doing well on the SAT.
Some colleges require SAT subject tests if the student takes the regular SAT. Hardly any colleges require subject tests if the student takes just the ACT. I can only think of Georgetown that requires SAT subject tests. Subject tests are not the same as the regular SAT. Your child can perhaps take a couple of subject tests, if he/she knows a subject well.
Forcing a student to take an unecessary test costs that student time to do something that might have a true positive benefit, such as studying properly for school work or participating in desired (and needed, for tippy tops) extracurricular activities. Or perhaps just let your child rest his/her brain for a little while and relax, which is clearly beneficial.
Many parents do not understand the points I mentioned above. You can print out what I wrote above and show it to them maybe. Good luck.
I am pretty sure that a 35 on the ACT is good enough for EVERY university. Of course for the top few schools no ACT or SAT score, no matter how high, would give any student a high chance of admission. However, if you don’t get into Harvard or Stanford it won’t be a 35 on the ACT that was the issue.
@Lindagaf You are right that there are very few schools who require subject tests ( some of the tech schools do), but there are some who recommend or consider them. A strong subject test score can enhance an application, so I would not discount their value, especially for unhooked applicants
Time is a limited resource. Your time would be much better spent studying for and doing well on SATII exams, excelling in the classroom, and on ECs you care about.
My S wanted to retake to get to that 36 when he had a 35, but the schools he targeted in 2018 didn’t differentiate between a 35 or 36 in their automatic merit grids, so he skipped it. I did notice the merit bar did differentiate this year between a 35 v 36 at UAH, so if he’d been applying this year he might have tried again. Although the great Bama aid was back for 2019, so maybe not.
My point is, you should keep an eye on the schools you plan to apply to as they roll out updated application information next fall since some things change year to year. A fall retry might be in the cards if you do find a school that it makes a difference. Not for the tippy tops, but not everyone gets into those (even with a 36), so everyone applying to those should have a good backup plan.
@wisteria100 , I did suggest that the student could do subject tests, if desired. But I was emphasizing that I am only aware of one school, Georgetown, that requires them no matter what. I think a few other schools and some specialized programs require subject tests in addition to the ACT, including CalTech and MIT.
Depends on what college targets. The more competitive will look at ACT subscores, not just composite. And we don’t know OP’s sub scores.
Nor did she get back her SAT yet. Without knowing possible targets, none of us (including OP) even know what’s good enough. Isn’t this picture incomplete and the worrying premature?
@lookingforward I am aiming (like most high schoolers on here) for a T20 school. My subscores are 35 for everything and a 34 for math. I agree that the worrying is a little premature, but I just want to be prepared for the inevitable discussion with my parents when my score comes out. They wish to see a 1550+ score, and I believe that is out of reach with how I felt about the test.
34 is excellent, especially in conjunction with the other sub scores. OP, if you really think you did badly on this most recent SAT test, you have to say so in writing and get it to College Board by 11:59 pm this Thursday. Honestly, a less than stellar score on the SAT you just took is not going to do your app any favors. Your parents need to understand that most, if not all T20 colleges are going to require all scores.
I agree 100% that a 35, or even a 34, is not going to be a determining factor in acceptance or denial.
OP, I HOPE you have applied to some safety schools, as well as to T20 schools.
Even with a 35 ACT score, there are thousands of other students with the same score also applying to T20 colleges. Not everyone will get in.
Ok, that’s a strong ACT. You’re really fine and most T20 will be happy with that. But know that getting in is much more than scores or gpa. It’s important to take some of this energy and see if you truly have the rest of the picture.
Did you register to send your SAT scores to any colleges yet? If not, you can order them later, if you like them.
Unless there is a specific target that lists a higher minimum test score (e.g. University of Alabama’s Presidential Elite scholarship), it seems like a waste of time to try to boost a 35 ACT or SAT equivalent.
What your parents have to know is that some kids do better on one type of test vs another. Your parents are putting their energy in the wrong place. Many Indian and Asian families tend to push their kids. I use to see this at Chess tournaments when my son was in them. Nothing was good enough. You could always do better. It’s a culture thing. 35 is an amazing score, coupled with a good GPA and a great essay, will lead to some acceptances. As stated even the best students can get shut out. Look at and apply to some 20-30 ranked schools also. Usually the lower you go there more merit given. Plus there are some exceptional schools in the top 50. Take a look.
@reallypanicked Stay on 35. That is a great score. Show @Lindagaf 's letter and explain what you will spend the extra time doing instead. Please let us know how it goes
The elite schools give more importance to the SAT scores it seems. Also if one of the subscores in ACT is a 33 or something and if you are applying to a college for that particular major then it will make a difference. The composite score doesn’t matter. If it’s 35 and you got all more than 34 then it should be ok… but if you got 36 subscores in all but 32 in one of them then it makes a difference.
This type of situation happened with me.I talked to my guidance counselor at my school and got them to email my parents saying that I would be totally fine with the score I got, and it seemed to do the trick.