SAT vs. ACT - what (if anything) to take again

Parents Forum
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D19 took the ACT for the first time back in December scored a 30. When she signed up, she used her 4 free score reports and had the scores sent to colleges she was vaguely interested in at the time - she hadn’t really narrowed the list much. Although she is a sciencey kid and I thought she’d like the ACT because of the science section, after taking the test, she said she didn’t like the ACT as much as the PSAT - she felt rushed and like there wasn’t enough time to think about anything.

So in March, she took the SAT for the first time and scored a 1450 (750 V, 700 M). According to the tables I have found, that is equivalent to a 32ish ACT so I assume that means she is better suited for the SAT vs. the ACT.

Her goal is med school, so while we have good income and savings for college (ergo, there will be no need-based aid), she wants to go to undergrad as cheaply as possible so she can use the money in her 529 plan for med school. Therefore she is shooting for schools that will give her good merit packages that also have good premed programs (and a marching band with a front ensemble, if anyone remembers that thread, LOL!)

So of the universities that she sent the ACT scores to, she is now seriously interested in 2 of them, West Chester and U Del. For the SAT, she sent the scores to West Chester but not U Del because by then she had learned that you shouldn’t send your scores “blind” and she wanted to wait to see how she did. So West Chester has both the 30 and the 1450 while UDel only has the 30.

So for West Chester, both the ACT and SAT scores are fine - should get her in easily, with an invite to interview for the honors college and I hope some merit aid (they don’t seem to have automatic score-based merit though). For U Del, her SAT score gets her a little more merit money than the ACT score does (according to the NPC on their website.) In fact, her SAT score gets her the top “automatic merit” OOS award that they list on the website, although I know there are other competitive scholarships at U Del that would offer even more (the Distinguished Scholars program).

Here are my questions – first of all, when we send the 1450 to U Del, will that “override” the 30 on the ACT? I assume that is what they’ll use to consider her for merit options? Will they look at the 30 at all, for Distinguished Scholars or honors or anything? I’m sort of wishing that one didn’t get sent because having a 1450 with a 30 might look weaker than a 1450 with no ACT score at all. If they will care about the 30, would there be any benefit to having her retake the ACT? I hate to have her spend time/effort on a test that doesn’t come as naturally to her as the SAT but if they’ll hold the 30 against her, maybe she should try to bring it up?

Secondly, she is pretty happy with her 1450 - it’s in the 99/98th percentile and it is by far the highest score of any of her friend group (she actually feels bad because several of her friends prepped hard for the test and scored 100-200 points lower than she did.) But from reading here, I know that a 1450 really isn’t that great and probably won’t get her anywhere near the Distinguished Scholar awards or extra merit at UDel. Should I encourage her to take the SAT again as well? Then again, if you need a 1550-1600 to get Distinguished Scholars (which, from looking at the posts on the UDel forum, it seems like you might) – I’m not sure she can raise her score high enough without investing serious prep time, and I don’t think she is motivated enough (or honestly, has enough time in her schedule right now) for that.

Both of these tests, she did very little prep – I think especially her math score could be brought up if she just invested a little bit of time looking at the questions she got wrong and figuring out what her mistakes were. But I worry about bringing down the verbal - for her PSATs, the one year, her verbal was near perfect, the next was about 100 points lower. Seems like for her, the verbal is hit or miss depending on what reading passages there are that day. If she retakes it and scores lower on the verbal, that will look bad as well, no? I’m not sure if U Del superscores or if even if they superscore for admission, if they also superscore when looking at merit awards.

And she hates,hates,hates taking these tests (she suffers from anxiety and standardized tests take a lot out of her – that’s part of the reason she has refused to prep). So I hate to make her retake any of them unless it is really necessary. We can sign up for something in June – I guess technically we could retake both, although I thought she might do subject tests on the June SAT date (though I am not actually sure if they are required by any of the schools she is looking at – I guess I’d better figure that out!).

Also, yes, I realize that only here on CC is a 1450/30 considered a problem score, so maybe I’m the one who is overthinking things. Her guidance counselors are thrilled with her scores which doesn’t help to motivate her for a retake. And I definitely don’t want to be the helicopter/tiger mom cracking a whip over her head and telling her that 98th percentile isn’t good enough!

Other schools she is currently considering are U Mass Amherst, U Conn, Towson, and Christopher Newport, if that makes any difference.

Thanks for any feedback!

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Most schools will look at the highest score submitted. Her SAT score is the better of the two.

If she is a HS junior, she might want to retake both with some prep this time. Both scores could improve.

What’s her GPA? With that SAT score, I think she would get very decent merit aid at university of Alabama. @mom2collegekids

Oh…I forgot…this is the marimba player who wants a pit percussion group with marching band. I don’t know if Alabama has that!

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If she’s motivated to save 529 funds for med school, then she should be motivated to see what she can do to reduce the cost of undergrad.

I would research the threshold scores needed for top merit at the schools she’s interested in and see if that motivates her to retake the SAT after a little math prep (it won’t matter if her EW score goes down). Just lay the numbers out for her and see how she reacts. The 1450 - which is really good- may already be high enough for top merit at some schools on her list, and maybe there will be no need. At Delaware, it seems like she would get a $12000 award plus a scholarship for being in marching band.

My junior, who is not particularly motivated or competitive, was happy with his first-attempt 1480, but then at the very first college info session he attended, he was told that merit consideration starts at 1490. He immediately decided to take another test. He ended up taking the ACT and getting a higher score compared to his SAT. I was surprised that he bothered with it!

Any school that receives both the 1450 and the 30 will disregard the 30. Don’t worry about that.

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Thanks. Her GPA is a 4.1 UW / 4.78 W (her school counts A+ as a 4.3 for the unweighted scale). But looking at the general score range for merit at some of the schools on her list (Pitt, for example, says 1480 -1500 is the minimum), she is close but not quite there, so I think I will encourage her to try at least one more time. I think she would prefer to take the SAT but the test dates make that difficult. Looks like the SAT is offered only twice more this year - the May 5 date is totally out for her because her drumline is at champs that weekend, so we really only have the June date as a possibility. This year she has AP Chem so I figured June would be the time to take the subject test in chemistry while it is all fresh in her mind, but that means no regular SAT in June. I guess she could take the regular SAT in August or September, but her brain may be mush after the summer break and that doesn’t give her a lot of time for a retake if she doesn’t get the score she needs for merit. (Also, her school is on a block scheduling/semester type system which means she won’t have had math at that point since January.) But then again, maybe she’ll get inspired and put in a little prep time over the summer.

There are ACT dates in June and again in July so maybe she should give the ACT another try in June and then take subject tests on the SAT June date (which I think is the week after the ACT). None of the schools that are currently at the top of the list require the subject tests, but some of the other schools she is considering do. I guess she could take the regular SAT in June and wait to see if she ends up applying to any of the “subject tests required” schools in the fall, but then it will have been months since chemistry so she may not do as well. And I’m not sure it’s worth trying the ACT again if she really disliked it so much the first time.

Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks!

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I would have her take the SAT II chem in June, as she will already have prepared for the AP chem test in May. You can take up to three subject tests on one day, so I would throw in math as well, because colleges that require them often want two (and if you’re going into a science field, they want math plus a science.) Then retake the SAT I in August. Be aware, though, that the August one fills up very quickly (at least where I live) and my S got shut out last year when we tried to register him in early July. If your D did that well on the SAT I the first time around with little prep, I don’t think you’d have to worry about mush brain. And, most colleges will use the score that puts the applicant in the best light. So, if her SAT is better than her ACT, they will use her SAT in whatever formula they use to decide whether or not to accept. And I can’t speak for all schools, but most will superscore the SAT, but usually not the individual sections of the ACT (although I did see one recently that does that). Unless you have reason to believe she would do much better on the ACT the second time around, I would not have her spend any effort on that.

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@zozoty I don’t think it is a bad idea to re test either SAT or both. It does make such a $ difference for so many schools. My student did ACT (got 30) then SAT (forget what it was, but out of 2400). then studied for and re took ACT, getting a 33. For the heck of it re took SAT and got a higher SAT. so studying for the one improved the other! It was not a fun process, but it produced results. And like you said, there is a high bar at Pitt for scholarships. Good news is that Pitt takes all the tests and combines them in the best possible light for honors and scholarship consideration. super super scoring, in my opinion.

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As you noted, the ACT is very tightly timed. If you go in cold and take the test you will likely spend at least a couple minutes reading directions, which puts you in a crunch for answering the questions on the test. The directions are long but they are the same from test to test, so the second time you can skip them and get to answering questions sooner.

So a second sitting of the ACT is very likely (but not certain) to result in a higher score, especially if the first sitting was unstudied and rushed.

It does cost money to re-take, so if your budget is tight those scores are quite adequate for admission and merit at a number of fine institutions. But it could be worth your money to retake one or both, especially if she studies ahead of time.