Scores of students taking the ACT / SAT before high school will not be sent to any colleges. They will be sent to CTY if they are taken for talent search purposes. Students can take the test(s) later in high school and send only those scores to colleges. Taking these tests will have no adverse effects, on college applications or anything else. There is NO RISK in taking these tests
For pre-high school students, ETS removes the scores for SAT tests from its computers at the end of the academic year. Scores from tests taken before high school will not be reported to colleges. ETS is making reporting of SAT scores optional (score choice) for SAT from March 2009/
The ACT and the SAT are intended for high school students applying to 4 year colleges. They measure a student’s performance against national norms for high school seniors. Both the tests are accepted by every college in the country. However, the ACT is much better for most younger students for the following reasons.
a. Test Length:
Both the tests are lengthy. They are longer than any test administered to students before graduation from college. Their length challenges the stamina of most high school juniors and seniors.
The ACT is 30 minutes shorter than the SAT. The extra 30 minutes makes the SAT much harder for most students, more so for younger ones.
b. Essay:
SAT starts with an essay. The essay is not optional. The SAT essay topics tend to be abstract. It is a persuasive essay and requires considerable rhetorical skill, developed over years of work at high school level English courses.
ACT essay is optional. It comes at the end of the test. It emphasizes logical development and is easier to write.
Talent Search program does NOT take the essay score into account. It is best omitted for younger students taking the ACT.
c. Number of sections:
SAT has 10 short sections (15 – 25 min each), with adjacent sections being on different topics. One of them, unknown to the test taker, is an experimental section. Performance in it will not be included in the final score. Many students find frequent changes in the nature of questions disorienting.
ACT has 4 sections – English, Mathematics, Reading comprehension and Science. Of these, only Mathematics and Reading comprehension scores are used by the talent search program.
This shortens the effective test duration to 1 hour and 35 minutes, significant improvement over 3+ hours. Also, ACT has a 15 minute rest break between the Math and Reading comprehension sections.
d. Order of sections
The order in which different sections of the SAT are presented could change from test to test. On any testing date, ETS uses 4 different tests, making it difficult for the student to predict what comes next or mentally prepare for it.
ACT presents the sections in the same order each time. Even the sub-sections in reading comprehension follow the same order.
e. Reading Comprehension
SAT reading comprehension passages are often from classic prose, i.e. pre-20th century. Students who read literature for enjoyment could handle it comfortably. It is hard for most high school students. It could be daunting for younger students.
ACT reading passages are from contemporary prose. The order of topics is consistent and does not change from test to test. They are:
· Prose fiction
· Social Studies
· Natural Sciences
· Humanities
Younger students find the reading passages of the ACT test much easier than the passages in the SAT.
Understanding the SAT reading passages and the answer choices requires a rich vocabulary, well beyond that of most pre high school students. The questions require judgment that is developed in language arts courses at high school level.
With rare exceptions, younger students neither enjoy SAT reading comprehension nor perform well in it.
Other reasons for recommending ACT over SAT for talent search:
· Negative scores (1/4 point) for wrong answers in the SAT
· SAT being a test of reasoning ability poses tricky questions, designed to confuse / slow down test takers.
· ACT is an achievement test. It actually tests higher level of Math content. However, ACT questions can be answered correctly by one who knows the content and can apply what they know correctly. They do not confuse or trick the test takers.
Why take ACT / SAT early?