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Should I take the SAT or the ACT?

fetus

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I wrote briefly about college on my private blog. I'd love to get into college, but I'm not sure I will. My PSAT score was a 1040 (I don't test well at all). I have a 3.8 GPA. However, I got stellar grades as a freshman and they've been dropping ever since, so it'll be much lower by the end of this year, I'm sure. So that's a little background.

Which should I take? I'm someone who takes forever to complete tests. I literally run out of time, so even on subjects I'm great at, I don't do well. Time management is not my thing. Math is a definite weak point; I feel below average in that area. Writing and reading are stronger areas.

Help. I'm in denial.
 

miss fortune

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you could take both and see which you do better on! :holy:

I'm a weirdo who enjoys standardized tests though, so I took both AND several different sections of the SAT II as well...
 

magpie

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I only took the SAT because I hate tests. I spelled my name wrong on the PSAT lmao. I don't think you'll have an issue getting into college. High schools like to hype that up and make it sound way more difficult than it is.
 

Tellenbach

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Take both and take as many as you feel you need to.

The College Board (the folks who make the SAT) place no restrictions on how often you can take the exam. There are 7 SAT test dates per year and they are more than happy to collect your check and let your student knock him or herself out time and time again. Only the most recent 6 scores will stay on file at a time.

How Many Times Can You Take The SAT?

If you do poorly on the SAT, take it again...and again.

Oops, nevermind. Evidently, some schools require that you share all scores.

Score Choice has opened the floodgates on the “We’ll just take a real SAT exam as a practice and see how we do” mentality. The problem is that some schools require that students submit their scores. All of them.
 

Forever

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Don't let stereotype threat ruin your math ability. :( (Gosh I love Social Psychology :heart:)

Depends on the college you want to go in. I found the ACT to be personally easier. Got 99 percentile on the writing portion. :D

SAT well IDGAF about that test... so it's rather a regrettable score but my ACT kind of saved my tush.
 

Yama

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My high school required that we take the ACT but not the SAT. So I took only the ACT. I scored a 19 which wasn't high enough to get into a university. I went to community college and got an AA and used that to transfer to a university instead. Less expensive, easier classes, and gave me time to think about what I wanted to do and explore.

Schools really do hype it up more than necessary. Take whichever you are willing to take and apply to wherever you want to go. I'm sure you will get accepted somewhere.
 

citizen cane

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If I remember correctly, the SAT is more reading and writing oriented and the ACT is more math and science oriented. I could be wrong though, this was what I heard from others 8 or 10 years ago.
 

mintleaf

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I took both and would recommend doing that. The SAT is more reading and writing oriented, but I feel like I'm stronger in those areas and I did significantly better on the ACT. If you can only take one, I'm thinking the ACT might be better? Especially if you're a slow writer. The SAT essay time limit is 25 minutes and the ACT essay time limit is 40. And you don't have to take the writing portion of the ACT at all, unless you're applying to schools that prefer it.

If I could do it over again, I would've organized a study group and really focused on math. That's the easiest part to study for.
 

StonedPhilosopher

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I wrote briefly about college on my private blog. I'd love to get into college, but I'm not sure I will. My PSAT score was a 1040 (I don't test well at all). I have a 3.8 GPA. However, I got stellar grades as a freshman and they've been dropping ever since, so it'll be much lower by the end of this year, I'm sure. So that's a little background.

Which should I take? I'm someone who takes forever to complete tests. I literally run out of time, so even on subjects I'm great at, I don't do well. Time management is not my thing. Math is a definite weak point; I feel below average in that area. Writing and reading are stronger areas.

Help. I'm in denial I don't know what to do.
FTFY

"Denial" means something along the lines of "refusal to accept a fact," not "fearful."

I'm just someone who got a perfect 36 on the English section of the ACT passing through. :shrug:
inb4 Muphry's Law
 

StonedPhilosopher

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[MENTION=20113]Tellenbach[/MENTION], you can actually delete ACT scores, so you don't even have to send all scores to schools that require it.
 

LucieCat

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For SAT, you can send the highest score and take it multiple times (for a fee). I believe the ACT had (or had at one point) a science component. The SAT worked really well for me, mostly because it has a writing section back then.
And, on a 4.0 scale, a 3.8 GPA is great so I wouldn't worry too much about that. Trust me, in college it's super hard to get a 4.0. Practically no one does.
There's also no harm in taking both just to see.
 

Hitoshi-San

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holy fuck, a 3.8 is good, first of all. second of all, you can take the ACT multiple times (the first time I took it was through my school & free). I never took the SAT since it's not really common around where I live & none of the schools I applied to required it. with the ACT, you can choose to take it w/ a writing portion, and if you end up taking it I would recommend doing that one (unless writing is really, REALLY not your thing). also, idk if this will make you feel any better about the PSAT, but I know very few people who actually thought it went well. an upside to that though is that schools don't look at that, like, at all.

then again, you can always take both to see which you do better on & just send in that score!
 

fetus

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FTFY

"Denial" means something along the lines of "refusal to accept a fact," not "fearful."

I'm just someone who got a perfect 36 on the English section of the ACT passing through. :shrug:
inb4 Muphry's Law

Whoa, this post was from a while ago!

I'm actually in college now and I'm doing pretty well, everyone. :) Only 3 weeks until the semester is over! Answering my original post, I took the SAT once, got 1170--which is not great but not terrible--and was done with it. My GPA was good enough that my SAT didn't matter as much (graduated with a 3.65). Who gives a shit now? I'm well on my way to the future~

Good to be back here for a little bit. I haven't been posting because college is stressful and I actually have a thriving social life which requires more attention than a forum. Hope everyone's well!
 

StonedPhilosopher

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Whoa, this post was from a while ago!

I'm actually in college now and I'm doing pretty well, everyone. :) Only 3 weeks until the semester is over! Answering my original post, I took the SAT once, got 1170--which is not great but not terrible--and was done with it. My GPA was good enough that my SAT didn't matter as much (graduated with a 3.65). Who gives a shit now? I'm well on my way to the future~

Good to be back here for a little bit. I haven't been posting because college is stressful and I actually have a thriving social life which requires more attention than a forum. Hope everyone's well!

i got a 1510 but am getting Bs and Cs in senior year fml
 
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