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.

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 college board tests, the ACT and the SAT. 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 college board tests, unless it's to use one as "practice" for the other, or if the family hasn't really figured out which of the two college board tests is preferred by the colleges they'll apply to, or which will fit best with the student's academic strengths.

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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. :-)

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Best wishes for your college admission testing experience!

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