I’m part of the “College Board is evil” posse, but not because of the SAT, rather because of all the other tests they peddle. (With an especially remarkable level of evil involved in the Accuplacer test.)
My problem with the ACT email is that its tone wasn’t saying so much “You should research what score you need and retake if it might benefit you”, but rather “Sign up for another of our tests right now or you’ll be missing out!!”
@dfbdfb yeah, that was my problem with the email also. I read it and clicked on it because I thought it would contain more information about exactly what schools could use the extra point. Instead, it merely contained a link to sign up for it again.
In my case, the extra point was valuable because of the extra $6k per year. I told D19 that the studying she puts in to raise her 32 to a 33 more will have a greater return on investment compared to time than probably anything she does in life. Because it’s true. $24,000 for maybe an additional 24 hours studying is an incredible return.
The extra point can be valuable for some people. But it’s useless for others. 21 to 22 probably gets you nothing. 34 to 35 only gets you something for a very limited number of schools…
Well, 32 to 33 could turn a maybe to a yes for some schools. The meets full need schools also tend to be high stats schools, and while there isn’t much difference between a 34 and a 36 for them, 32 to 33 does increase your chances.
It’s horrible and it’s unfair but it’s the system we have, so we have to do our best to live within it.
Ok. Everyone realizes that ACT does not care about whether your kids get scholarships, right? They sent that email to make more money.
Plus…the scholarships at the schools they reference aren’t even automatic. They are all competitive and the ACT score, even one point higher, is just one piece of the puzzle.
The ACT must think son19 has no chance for a 1 point score improvement or simply just doesn’t want our $$, lol.
I am in “College Board is evil” and please “Fire David Coleman” camp. Saw what Coleman wrote after Parkland?
I cannot wait to be done paying AP exam fees to CB and am glad to be done with Common Core standards.
I think the ACT email would have been helpful to people who are not already on CC. :))
DS19 commented that he was surprised to see only a few juniors in his school taking February ACT, and many are planning to take ACT/SAT first time in April/May. He said, “that is scary.” No kidding. Who is this kid? 
On retaking ACT, DS19 said, no, I do not think I can raise my math score, 33, and it is literally (arithmetically) impossible to raise the composite by one point without raising the math score. End of discussion.
Speaking of the ACT email, D19 got an email link to a survey from the College Board after taking the SAT this past weekend, and at least half of it was clearly about how best to position themselves in relation to the ACT. She had fun using what she’s learned from me over the years about the problems with standardized tests into action in the free response sections.
@RightCoaster we didn’t get the ACT email either since S19 hasn’t taken one since seventh grade!
@payn4ward Spring of junior year is the traditional first time to take the SAT/ACT. That’s especially true for people who are taking algebra 2/trigonometry in the junior year. That’s the highest level of math tested in the SAT/ACT, so if you haven’t taken that class yet, you can be lost trying to take the test in fall of junior year.
Several test gurus suggest preparing for the fall ACT/SAT of the junior year to help prepare the junior for the PSAT. This is especially true if the kid has a decent shot at getting NMSF.
If the kid is a long shot for NMSF or hasn’t taking trig yet, it’s probably best to wait until spring of junior year.
I agree with you @gusmahler. I was just surprised to hear DS19 talking like someone on CC.
The kids with whom he takes most classes are taking Calculus, so math is a none issue for them. S17 and S19 took algebra 2 as a freshman and proof geometry (some trig - enough for SAT/ACT) in 8th grade.
AP Lang was helpful for S17 in improving his reading/grammar scores, so for him, spring of junior test was the best. S19 is stronger in reading/writing as I could see from his sophomore PSAT, so we started testing schedule early. He is close but will not make NMSF though.
My S19 is on our excelerated math track for our public school and precalc is combined with trig and they just started the trig section. He said the February ACT had several trig questions he didn’t know and after emailing his teacher, she says he should wait until later in the year to retake. He received the lowest sub score in math (32) yet this is typically his strongest area. He doesn’t want to do it again but I might overrule as he’s aiming for engineering.
My D19, for her part, is on a very accelerated math track, and her math subscore was by far the lowest. Why? Because geometry was eighth grade, so like she’s going to be remembering any of that!
@dfbdfb Same here. Geometry in eighth grade. BC calc this year. S19 had to do some serious review for standardized math tests this year.
@MAandMEmom I might be worthwhile considering June or July test. 
S17 did not want to take it again after April with 32 composite, but I dragged him to June test, and he got 34 raising 2 points. His math went down from 36 to 34 but english/reading scores improved.
Too bad my S was so casual about prep for PSAT and ACT because I think he could have had the scores he wanted. The scores are great as far as I’m concerned, but with a little studying he likely would have made NMSF cutoff and I’m pretty sure he just missed it. At least he can’t say I didn’t warn him!
As for big merit awards, I’m not sure what is considered big (over $20,000?), but D17 received large awards from: Denison, Lafayette, Centre, Mercer. U. Richmond gives several full tuition scholarships but she only made it to the semi-finalist round.
Yeah, my kid took geometry in 7th grade. Still, if he learned the subject matter once that means he can learn it again.
In an effort to, I don’t know, share the pain or something, I’ve been taking the practice SATs along with my child, then studying my mistakes. I was staggered at how unfamiliar so many of the concepts were. Of course I haven’t needed to use a lot of this stuff since the early '80s, so I have a good excuse. My best score so far is 760 r/w, 680 math.
I’m not sure whether I should tell the kiddo that I’m doing this or not. If I keep on taking the tests and improve, is it incentive for him to compete with me?
Practice test #3 is thoroughly bogus. My scores both dipped on that one.
@ninakatarina Maybe he will compete! When DD got a 33 on ACT English her freshman year, I figured I could do it too so I tried one and I didn’t…I wonder if she would be interested in competing on math tests!
Son19 is debating on whether to take the ACT again. His scores were Ok, all over 30, but the composite was not equal to his SAT. He didn’t do super great on math ACT but he did very well on SAT math. He just needs to bring up his English SAT score a little bit and he’ll have a pretty solid superscored SAT total.
He didn’t enjoy the ACT at all, and I thought he would love it. He’s actually been studying and prepping for the SAT, so it might pay off on his rescheduled SAT in 10 days. He says he is doing much better on the English tests.
So, I’m inclined to blow it off.
If he’s going to get into any sort of reach type school it’s going to be as a recruited athlete. His grades are good, decent EC’s etc, but he is not a standout top notch performer. I think his test scores and his grades right now are good enough for recruitment level. If he improves a little bit, that can only help his cause.
I think we’ll see how he does on next SAT and then revisit the ACT if needed.
@ninakatarina if I took the SAT right now I’d probably get the lowest possible score you can get for just signing your name and guessing at the math section, lol. Maybe I’d do OK on the English, but certainly not near the top score.
When I took the SAT In HS I think we did one practice test and then just took the test once. I did a lot better on English vs math, but I really didn’t enjoy math in HS other than geometry.
@ninakatarina I did the first two full length tests along with our S19. I put him in a quiet study room at our public library and I was outside in the stacks. I would time myself for each section and then get back to the study room to tell him time was up and give him the next section of the test. If anything, it made him feel supported. I gave up those Saturday mornings too! And we could commiserate about certain problems and work on them together after the test was over. It was all good. Maybe some would roll their eyes at my “over involvement” in this process but I’m a math tutor so I know how to set kids up to study for tests. Plus, he’s the kind of kid who does not push back on my helping him. We will maybe need a tutor for D21. She does not work as well with me!
He really felt incentive to get testing done early in the fall since he has so little time to spare during the school year. He was motivated. Luckily, he had the math skills he needed. The reading just took tons of practice. That being said, I know he would do even better on reading now just from all of the AP Lang practice. He’s taking the school sponsored SAT next month so we will see about that. All of his schools superscore so he’ll be able to use a better EW score if he gets one.