@homerdog Wrote:
How is it possible to send a single section of your SAT to a college? You can’t do that with the ACT.
A few thoughts for all
There is no one “right” time for either test prep or test taking or tutor versus online versus prep class. Budgets, schedules, summer plans, school year EC’s etc all are valid reasons to schedule things around. There are lots of dates to take either test. Some kids will take it once, take both once, take one or both multiple times. To a large degree it depends on what the end goal is, how motivated a kid is as to what that looks like. No right or wrong answer here as long as the tests get taken.
It’s not a race 
As for the “all scores” there are a few things going on here. Highly selective schools may ask for all scores on any taken. That could include all SAT scores, All ACT scores, All Subject test scores. Some may simply ask for “all” scores for whichever test you submit so it might be all SAT or all ACT but not both.
Most only want your best of either submitted.
As for superscore, there is an increase in schools superscoring the ACT so I’d suggest everyone simply check their school list once it’s actually our application cycle. As a point of reference/example when I was putting together S17’s original list, only 2 schools superscore the ACT. By7 the time of application it was 5 I think and I know one additional is offering it next year.
Due to the SAT controversies/changes what I have heard is that more schools are superscoring the ACT in response to complaints that the test had issues but that was the only test they were offering to superscore. It is going to really vary by school and will change between now and then so I personally don’t intend to look on a school by school basis until about this time next year.
For schools that do superscore but do not require “all” scores. Simply send the best and call it good. That may or may not be all lol!
As for us, my “ideal” scenario is that S19 does a prep class over the summer and takes an Aug or Sept test so we know where we stand. However that may or may not work with his summer schedule and if it doesn’t it will likely push back to winter or spring (aka once XC is over). Either way, it will work out and be fine.
@eandesmom correct me if I am wrong , but you cannot send just portions of an SAT test. In other words, you cannot send just the reading section of one test and just the math section of another test. You would have to send the entire test for both tests, correct?
Just to clarify my post above about ACT timing. My S took had his first ACT sitting the Fall of SENIOR year after a Summer of “studying.” I would not recommend our approach. It was a mistake.
Sitting for your first ACT in the Fall of JUNIOR year is much better approach.
@carolinamom2boys yes, you would have to send all is my understanding as well. I thought score choice was simply choosing which tests to send to whom.
So to college xyz you send SAT Dec 17 and SAT April 18 but you don’t send the SAT from Oct 17 as it was lousy.
The benefit to score choice versus send all is obviously saving the per-test fee.
Thanks for clarifying @eandesmom . That is my understanding as well. Cost is the only reason why one would not want to send all test results .
All this score info is helpful. D16 had exactly one score worth sending anywhere after 4 attempts so we didn’t really give it much thought. (And of course, in the dark ages when I took my SAT, almost everyone took it once and you just went with whatever score you got).
seriously @carolinamom2boys those fees add up!
@eh1234 we sent one test for SS11 (I think he sat twice?) and it was a free send, maybe 3 for SD14 who kept trying to up her score for her ED app and 2 for S17 for the schools that superscored but only one to those who did not.
I had no idea you could take it more than once back in the dark ages when I took the SAT. We had a short lived state test (the WPC) that our state schools would take and that was enough to get me in where I needed and that’s all I bothered with. So much simpler!
I was just on college board website and the video they show gives an example of a school that only takes the highest of each section of the SAT. When you click on a college that does this, the option becomes automatic and the screen just shows your highest reading and highest math. Then you hit send and off it goes. It’s only for schools that accept the scores that way.
Yes , I’m sure that the costs do add up , especially when people are applying to double digits schools @eandesmom . That’s why I said , cost is the reason why someone wouldn’t want to send all of the scores. My son didn’t take SAT II tests, so we didn’t have that added expense. He also applied to only 5 instate schools . I didn’t know if there was another downside to sending all scores other than cost.
Hmm, now that I look on the college board website, I’m not sure that my son actually did it correctly. He may have submitted all scores when he didn’t need to. The perils of letting a 17 year old figure this stuff out himself. Oh well, I guess that’s all part of the process.
OMG, I opened a can of worms with that innocent question about submitting multiple tests!!! I am now rethinking my entire approach to life.
@STEM2017, I appreciate your cautions, and I worry that I’ll find myself in that same situation. But my daughter is simply not mature (she will not turn 16 until October). She hasn’t had geometry or calculus; I’m not even sure it’s possible for her to take calc (A B C or Z or whatever they call this foreign-creature-to-me) on the math track she’s on, probably not unless she does it during summer. She could still really use some motivation and study skills, and I’m totally at a loss as to how I’m supposed to address any of this by the end of this summer. And now I’m worried I will set her up for failure if I don’t start this summer. As I’ve mentioned, we don’t have the $$ that our EFC assumes we will have, and so some merit money would really really help open up some options. Crap.
I would feel better if I knew of a good tutor who could help with tests, but as I’ve mentioned, I’m in the sticks. I’m going to reach out to a professor I know (at a spiffy nearby LAC that D19 could never get into,) in the hopes that she can put me in touch with college-level tutors who might be able to help. I simply do not trust the Sylvan test center that is our only in-person option here. And she’s simply not self-directed enough to study on her own. If there isn’t a deadline or some kind of threat of failure staring at her in the face, she blows things off all the time.
@Gatormama Could you ask her guidance counselor? I would think they would have a list of tutors. Or maybe suggest an English or Math teacher from school that could maybe help.
@Gatormama If you really need merit make sure you target schools where her stats place her in the upper 25% of applicants. Don’t get hung up on the fallacy that one needs to attend a super selective school to get a good education or be gainfully employed . It’s just not true .
A couple of things.
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You have plenty of time. Take a deep breath and…take another deep breath. The fact that you are thinking about this now means that you are ahead of the game and ahead of MOST others. You are here on CC asking for help…a great sign. Remember that MOST kids don’t start the process until the second half of their junior year.
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Your D does not need calculus. Calculus is important, but still not necessary, for STEM kids…and not necessary for all kids. Algebra and trigonometry will be important for the tests. Don’t feel like your D is a failure if she doesn’t get to CALC in high school - most kids don’t.
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Let her sit for an evaluative SAT and/or ACT test at Sylvan. But don’t sign up for anything. Get the results and move on. Call all the area high schools’ guidance departments and ask for tutor recommendations. Then do your comparison shopping to choose the one that suits you/her best. FYI, I chose the most expensive one, but switched to the least expensive one mid-summer and the cheaper one was SO MUCH better. Not even close.
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Take another deep breath. Your D has a good mom and she’ll be fine.
Thanks @carolinamom2boys - yes, I’ve really learned a lot here and am well-grounded on what’s realistic, and how much remains up to the person, not the school. I’m not hung up on anything approaching super-selective at this point - I would love her to be in a challenging environment where she’s surrounded by both peers and people to strive to emulate. But our money, with no merit, might leave us only being able to afford the lower-tier state schools (we are in PA and PSU is likely out of reach), and I’ve become worried about their rigor lately. Not to mention there’s a big funding crisis and several might be closed down.
I’m pursuing the tutoring question further, @homerdog, hopefully I’ll get some good responses. The first time I asked the college counselor, she referred me to Khan, Revolution Prep, Kaplan and Prepare…but I didn’t specifically ask for names of tutors, now that I check back. (She also professed to know nothing of the CC mantra that these for-profit testing companies use harder tests in order to “show” a significant improvement.)
@gatormomma don’t discount private schools. They may offer enough merit to make it close to instate publics
To support @carolinamom2boys on private vs. public costs, my D17 will be attending an expensive private this fall at a cost that’s a rounding error (within $500 per year) of the cost of our nearly-the-cheapest-in-the-country-instate-tuition public colleges, even including an academic scholarship offered by the in-state option.
How’d this happen? Well, luck, for one thing. But she had a few other options that were only a few thousand higher, and with the obvious exception (Alabama), they were all expensive privates. But for all of them her grades and test scores placed her comfortably within the top 25% of the student body, and the money made things very nicely competitive. This means, of course, that she isn’t going to one of the top-10-type colleges so many on CC salivate over, but she’ll be going to a plenty decent enough school, and—quite important, this—one that has some definite strengths related to her interests.
Of course, there’s also homework to do—some schools max out their non-need-based aid at lower levels than others. If you really want low cost, you need to look for places with large scholarships.
@gatormomma If you are open to a religious school you can consider that as well. There is a huge variety and you need to research carefully to make sure the academic standards/social rules are what you are looking for, but there are real gems out there and they can be supported by deep pockets that allow for big merit scholarships at much lower levels of stats than the fancy name schools.
I’ll throw a few comments out here about test prep. My D15 worked during HS for a Chyten franchise that was owned by friends of ours. D proctored and graded practice tests and was astonished at how low the typical scores were from the average student. The group test prep classes were therefore targeted to this group and definitely not appropriate for a higher achiever. On the other hand, one of D15’s high achiever friends worked with a Sylvan tutor and got a 2400. The key to a tutor is obviously to find a good one and either do it one-on-one or in a small group of high achievers.
D15 bought test prep books (ones recommended here on CC) and prepped on her own, took it once and got a 2340 (on the old scale). But she was pretty self disciplined and motivated. D19 definitely doesn’t fit that mold, and my main focus so far has been getting her SAT accommodations. As the PSAT approaches in the Fall, I’m going to have her work with the same Sylvan tutor that D15’s friend used, in hopes of getting her into the range where she can get some merit money at our state universities or maybe a CTCL-range school.