Should my child take the current SAT?

It is no exaggeration to say that hundreds of Connecticut parents of college bound juniors have asked me whether their child should take the current SAT.  Here are a few thoughts:

Pro: There is no harm if your child takes the current SAT and does not score well. Never submit the current SAT for consideration. On the other hand, if your child does well on the current SAT, college admissions officials will use it for consideration. At the time of this writing (late October, 2015), all colleges that will use the new SAT have also indicated that they will use the current SAT.

If your child scores highly on the current SAT, then there is an enormous upside. Most importantly, you will have one score in your college admissions weaponry that you can use. Moreover, you will then have the luxury of deciding whether to prepare vigorously for the New SAT and/or the ACT.

Those advocating to take the current SAT will argue that there is no downside and only upside. They also will maintain that it is a solid “hedge your bet” strategy.

 

Con: Time/energy and, of course, money if tutoring is part of the preparation.  I am always mindful that students are in the midst of busy junior year and that any investment of time/energy should be considered judiciously. On that note, the other con of preparing for the current test is that it “disappears” in January.  In other words, if the scores aren’t usable by January, then the time and energy spent for preparing for the current SAT could have been used elsewhere.