College Board Testing

The following question about college board testing was asked by a Homeschool-by-Design reader recently. Read Deb Burger’s response on her current research and my response based on personal experience.

I have a question about the SAT test and ACT test. Should students take both? The colleges we are looking at will take either. Apparently many students take both tests.

Deb’s response:

If a student doesn't have much "test taking anxiety", then there's no harm in taking both. There is the financial cost, however, and when you start to think about the cost of the 3 to 5 college visits, including out of state, that should be part of each high school student's junior year, the cost of application to the colleges (ranges from about $50 to about$250 each), many families will need to think about paying $75 for essentially a duplicate test. Those extra testing dollars might be better spent on SAT II tests in the student's best academic areas. This is especially true for homeschoolers, because many colleges, mistrusting homeschooling, require the SAT II's to validate the transcripts sent by parents.

So, if the student doesn't mind getting up early on extra Saturday mornings, and doesn't stress over the tests, and if the family has extra money to spend on duplicating the process, it certainly won't harm anything. However, I can't think of any particular benefit to taking both, unless it's to use one as "practice" for the other, or if the family hasn't really figured out which of the two is preferred by the colleges they'll apply to, or which will fit best with the student's academic strengths.

I have not seen any studies showing benefit in taking both. Nor have any of the 2 dozen or so college admission departments I've interviewed said that they like to see both tests. Many of them have stated that they like to see 2 of the same test, however, because it is well known that the score is likely most accurate when averaged together, and that most students don't really do their actual best on the first try.

I hope that I haven't further muddied the water for you.... and in the end, what's best for most, may not be what's best for your student! You will have to weigh the value of all the information you can get, and then make a prayerful decision, trusting that wisdom and guidance will be given to you for the task at hand, whether that agrees with my opinion or not. :-)

Jill’s response:

In her overview article on college admission testing, Deb says that students who are academically "even" may prefer the ACT test and historically the ACT is a better predictor of college success - but that the SAT has changed somewhat over the last few years to try to address that issue. However, she prefers the SAT test because of it's flexibility in testing and score reporting options.

I can only speak from my personal experience since my children aren't quite to that point. I took both - over 20 years ago. At that time, the colleges I applied to required the SAT. ACT scores were encouraged as a "backup", but not required. I was a pretty "good" test taker, and heard that students who were strong in science and history often did "better" on the ACT. That was my situation, so doing both seemed like a good idea. My ACT score did turn out to be comparatively a little better than the SAT, but mostly just confirmed that my SAT was probably accurate.

I only took each test once. Back then, counselors only encouraged those with very low scores to repeat the tests. Now that the "competition" for admission and scholarships has become so fierce and the college admission testing recommendation schedule has changed (ie. encouraging most kids - not just the low scores- to take the tests more than once) It may be a burden to ask students to do both and score their best.

That being said, if my child was a confident test taker, I would encourage her to do both college board exams. The scores will probably be similar. If my child was not a “strong tester”, I would choose the "most required" one and work on improving on that test score.

Best wishes for your college admission testing experience!

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