ACT and SAT Test

Copyright by Deb Erbach Burger.
Used with permission.

Are you wondering about the SAT test and ACT test for your homeschooling high school student? You're not alone.

Here we are in the middle of the summer, and perhaps still breathing sighs of relief that the school year has ended. Tests and testing may be the farthest thing from the minds of both parents and teens, but actually, this is a good time to take a look at College Admissions Testing. While most of us are not actually schooling, we can explore the characteristics of the commonly-used tests, the preparation recommended before testing, and the optimum schedule for testing during high school.

Most colleges use the scores from either the ACT or the SAT test as part of their admission screening process. However, keep in mind that there may be a big difference in the “weight” given to test scores by various institutions.

The purpose of college board testing is to predict the likelihood of a particular student’s academic success at college, but the accuracy of that prediction has been widely questioned by universities in the past few years.

Some schools still base their decisions almost entirely on these scores, automatically rejecting applications without a certain minimum score. At other colleges, the test score may be only of relatively minor importance, with more weight given to the admissions essay(s), an audition, interview, or high school grades and class ranking.

Many community colleges and technical schools do not require these college admission tests at all, but have developed their own placement tests. Both of these college admission tests have some characteristics in common. They are given only at central locations, usually high schools and college testing centers. They are available by prior registration only, and every student pays the College Board a fee to take the test. Testing centers must admit any student who shows up on the day of the test with an admission ticket from the College Board, regardless of whether the student attends the hosting institution or not.

Both tests are mainly multiple choice, with “bubbles” to be filled in on an answer sheet. Both tests cover basic high school Math, Vocabulary, Critical Reading skills, and Basic Writing Skills.

Both college admission tests are taken as a series of timed sub-tests which are scored on a statistically engineered scale, and scores are reported directly to the student and to colleges the student designates. Other colleges can also access the scores by request of the student or the institution. Some colleges send recruiting letters to all students of a particular grade achieving a particular score level.

There are some distinctive differences between the two tests, however. From the point of view of the colleges, the ACT has performed better, historically, as a predictor of college success, and many colleges prefer to see ACT scores for that reason. However, in the last few years, the SAT has been modified to address some of the reasons believed to cause its inaccuracy as a predictor.

The SAT test also has some advantages from the student point of view, mainly in the area of the means by which scores are reported. Most students take one test or the other, although a few take both tests. Most students take a test more than one time, because scores tend to rise with familiarity.

When ACT scores are reported to the colleges, they are reported as a composite total. Each time the student takes the test, his/her Math, Verbal and Writing component scores are combined into a single number. The college can’t easily tell, for example, whether the student improved one area and fell back in another, by examining the score.

The SAT test scores, however, are reported as both a total, and as individual numbers. The college can examine the improvement in a particular area over time. A student is not “penalized” for doing absolute best work in one area in one testing session and then not being able to match that score the next time. The final SAT score is comprised of the highest score achieved in each of the three areas over all the testing sessions.

For this reason, students who tend to have an “evenness” in their academic ability tend to choose the ACT, because many colleges prefer it. Students who have an area of particular strength, or of weakness-under-improvement tend to choose the SAT so that their strength can shine and/or their improvement can be tracked.

The SAT test also offers a second level of testing, in particular subject areas, enabling students to demonstrate particular strength. Many of the top universities require a certain number of these SAT II tests, although most allow the student to choose the particular tests they take. Yale, for example, requires two SAT II’s. My daughter, applying there, took the American History and the Literature tests. A friend of hers, testing on the same day, for the same college, took Chemistry and Advanced Mathematics. Each student was testing in his or her area of strength, demonstrating their readiness for college level work in the fields in which they intended to major at college.

Because of the flexibility in testing and score reporting options, my personal preference is for the SAT, in spite of the fact that it is statistically slightly less accurate as a predictor of college success. Most institutions accept either test, but it’s best to read the admission/recruiting materials, or to call and ask if the college has a preference.

Continue to How to Prepare for the ACT and SAT Tests.

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