SAT/ACT Dual Test-taking: Advantages vs. Disadvantages

TuttleButtle
Fri, 28 May 2010 14:36:49 +0000

First, I hope that I don’t sound obnoxious asking this question, but I feel that CC is sufficiently tolerant and (to say the least) test score-oriented to respond to this without flaming. To forestall any possible trouble (it seems to be a pernicious problem on other threads), this is NOT a vehicle for me to brag about scores or anything.

I am curious about whether I should sign up for ACT as well. I have heard that some colleges implicitly prefer SAT over ACT, but it is the reverse that concerns me.

Do you think that just submitting a 2400 SAT score would be enough for all schools (in the testing department, obviously) or if some schools would prefer that I take the ACT as well? If I don’t sustain a disadvantage relative to people who get 2400/36, I would obviously prefer to save the registration money and not waste another Saturday morning, but if there is anything significant to be gained by taking the ACT as well, I would be quite eager to do so. I am reasonably confident that I could get a 36 composite within one or two tries on it (though hopefully not overconfident), having gotten a 32 in 6th grade.

Opinions? Relevant anecdotes?

Perhaps we could generalize this into a thread about the advantages and disadvantages of taking both tests.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. I have 1.5 years before application crunch time, so thankfully I don’t have to make the test planning decision immediately.