<p>I guess do most people wait until they see their scores to send them? We automatically sent them to his top 4 choices. He made 34 on the ACT with a 7 on the writing. We just got his SAT scores and he only made a 1990 on the SAT ( 690m 680cr 620w with an 8 on writing.) Scores are already sent so it doesn’t matter for him. I’m hoping they will just look at the ACT. However, for my next child, do you just wait to send??? Also, why in the world was there such a difference. According to his PSAT, he should have made a 2100. Believe me we prepped. He did every single test in the blue book. He did direct hits, the links on this cc site, etc. We had a co-op SAT prep class… Honestly, we are so sick of test prep. But now on to AP Chem and Gov for May… I’m thinking we will just count on the ACT score…</p>
<p>Yeah, I usually tell my students, if they can afford it, to hold off on sending scores till they see them. But it’s not like your son completely blew anything, so don’t worry. That ACT score is great! </p>
<p>As for what happened, he may have just had a bad day. But in my opinion, classes can sometimes have a negative effect rather than a positive one in some cases. He may have already felt very comfortable with the test, then the class taught him some strategies that just didn’t work better than what he’d been doing on his own. Crazy, but it happens. He may have also felt more anxious with this test. Lots of prep is great, but for some kids, it increases the pressure they feel, too. Finally, if he was prepping for the ACT at the same time as the SAT, that can be counterproductive. They’re two very different tests, and I always encourage my tutoring students to prep for only one at a time…really I prefer if they pick one and stick with it. The approach and strategies are very different, and given you want automaticity on test day, wasting time remembering which strategy applies to which test can be a big problem.</p>
<p>Just my two cents on all of it! But really, just have him stick with the ACT and move on. He’s done enough, and that 34 is terrific. Good luck!</p>
<p>Some kids do better in one test versus the other. Great ACT scores.</p>