SAT or ACT or Both

Most Connecticut students will be taking the SAT in March. While it is the NEW SAT for all crazed parents, it is just the SAT for juniors as most never saw the old SAT.  For those interested in the differences, I provided some comments in last Sunday’s Hartford Courant. 

The real question confronting many students is whether they should also take the ACT. This Winter, I changed our Old Saybrook and Madison SAT Mastery Seminar into a combined SAT-ACT Mastery Seminar.  I did so, in part, as I designed a similar program for The Williams School in New London.

Since Williams is a private school, its students are not mandated by state law to take the SAT.  Since the SAT was NEW and so many parents were overreacting to the challenges it would present, many students at Williams – and other private schools – were choosing to take the ACT, since it would be the more predictable test. Nothing wrong with that thinking, except there is no need for good students to worry about the new SAT because any curved test (as all standardized tests are) will reflect the level of difficulty. Indeed, students at most public schools in Shoreline, CT should embrace a harder test because it will give them a great chance to shine in comparison.

While each individual case is different, I would urge most students who are applying to competitive colleges to consider taking the ACT. So, the simple answer is “both”.