After today's class, I got to thinking about when I was in high school. I did not know anything about the ACT while I was preparing for applying to college. It wasn't until after I had taken the SATs twice that I finally heard about the ACTs. Taking the ACTs was not stressed at my school like the SATs were. I am just curious how many people were advised to take the ACTs. Also, would you recommend the SATs or the ACTs for college bound students?

P.S. What do you think about the changed being made to the SATs this year? My youngest sister will be taking the SATs when the new changes have been made and we were discussing the test the other day. She would rather write the essay than having to do the analogies. And I have to say that I would have rather written an essay myself.

I was never ever at all told to take the ACTs. I was always under the impression that schools just preferred the SATs and you could take the ACTs in addition to the SATs if you wanted. It never ever crossed my mind just to take the ACTs. I don't know which I'd recommend for the students. I suppose I'd tell them to take both if they had the time and money and just report the one that looks better on their applications. It's been so long since I applied to college though that I can't remember if that could be done, do you have to go ahead and have your scores sent out? so i guess, IF you can pick and choose, I'd say take them both.

Well.. I only took the SAT's. I never heard about the ACT's until I was accepted at App and the recommended that I take it. I didn’t though. I think schools should make the students aware of both these tests being out there.

I'm not sure what I think about the new SAT's. I haven’t heard that much about them, so I don’t know what to say about them.

I never heard much about The ACT either. I never took it. Imight have been good for me to take it, but there was almost no emphasis placed on it compared to the SAT, which I took twice and only improved my score by 50 points. I wish someone had recommended that I take the ACT. Oh well!

I think that most high schools do stress the SAT more than the ACT. The reason is that most colleges prefer to see the SAT scores.
As for sending in your best score, most high schools place ALL standarized test on your transcript. So the colleges will see each time you took the test and your score.

When I was in high school, EVERYBODY took the SAT. I didn't ever hear of anyone taking the ACT. Not only that, the SAT was such a horrible experience for me, that I only took it once. I found out (after getting accepted to colleges, thank goodness!) that I could have taken the SAT more than once. The thing was, I was in alot of honors classes, and the particular bunch of students that I took the test with only took the SAT once. It was sort of like you were stigmatized if you took it more than once. Not only that, you had to go to a different part of town to a different school everytime you took the tests - it was a big deal, huge hassle and an awful experience. If I knew then what I know now, I might have ONLY taken the ACT and probably felt much better about myself! I really think the SAT did alot to damage my self-esteem and as a future teacher, I can totally see myself pushing the ACT. After all, aren't we here to assess how much your students have learned rather than assessing their aptitude?

There has historically been something of a geographic distribution to which colleges preferred the SAT and which the ACT. I went to HS in Alabama and only took the ACT, as did my Louisiana cousins. I think the East coast has preferred the SAT while schools west of here have relied on the ACT more. My second son is a junior this year and took the "old" SAT last semester; he'll take the new one in May. I'm thinking of having him take the ACT as well.

Wouldn't it be cool if the essay on the SAT was left more abstract such as a short story or peom or picture could be created? What a difference that might make in seeing someones true abilities or into their deeper thoughts and mind.

At the High School I attended a lot of importance was put on the SAT, and not so much the ACT. My guidance counselor in 11th grade told me to take the SAT. She said the ACT were for kids who were just trying to merely qualify for college. My school made it sound like if you were in the upper part of your class rank that you would be stupid to take the ACT. Have some of you experienced the same type of thing? Why do some schools make it sound like the SAT is for the smart and the ACT is for those you are not so smart? This never made since to me!

Im the same way. My teachers and Advisors never talked to me about the ACT. They had me thinking that you should only take the ACT if you were applying to go to an out of state school. I think that unless youre applying to an Ivy league school, you should be able to choose which one you would rather take. Counselors and teachers really need to talk more about the ACT and not be so pushy towards the SAT.
Concerning the future changes to the SAT, i think it is awesome. I would have loved to have gotten to write an essay. I think being able to write an essay is so much more important than doing some darn analogies.

I didn't score poorly on the SAT the first go around, but I didn't score as high as I had hoped for. My guidance counselor suggested that I take the ACT and told me that many people perform better on the ACT. I took it, and he was right. I did a lot better on the ACT and that was the score that I submitted to Appalachian. I knew that I liked taking the ACT more and that I felt more confident about it, but I didn't really understand why more people didn't take it if the majority of people that take it score better than they did on the SAT. It wasn't until class the other day that I understood that people scored better because this was an assessment test and not an IQ test. I think it's a good idea to take both the ACT and the SAT. I don't think that colleges should put as much emphasis as they do on these tests and that all of the student’s qualifications should be weighed equally.

I never took the ACT, but when we were preparing for the SATs, the guidance counselors and teachers told us what the ACT was and how it differed from the SAT. It was not stressed to take it though. They only mentioned it. However, I know of a few people who took it, and they did great on it. The teachers and the guidance counselors made it seem less important. 99% of my high school seniors took the SAT. I did OK, but no where as good as I wanted. And after taking it, I debated to take the ACT, but instead, I took the SAT over again (after talking to my guidance counselor again). Now, however, I would reccommend the ACT. I am not to sure about the new SAT though. It might be a lot better now.

At my school both were brought to our attentions, but the SAT was stressed the most. I don't think the ACT was really even brought to the same standards as the SAT at that time. I just signed up for the SAT and paid the guy. At the time I did not care just wanted to get out of high school.