Did you take the SAT or ACT

[eyepaddle]

Poll question: Did you take the SAT or ACT

The only one you ever hear about is the SAT, but here in the Midwestall the colleges strongly prefer the ACT. IS the Big 10 area unique in this?

If you want to know, I took the ACT--and I crushed it (30).

[Reverend_Smitty]

1. I took them both...

I didn't like my SAT scores so I took the ACT to see if I could do any better (I didn't...btw). I may still have my scores up in my room somewhere but what actually constitutes a good score on the ACT? Is there a range, bad, average, great? I know pretty much where I stood with the SAT but the ACT scoring remains a bit of a mystery to me.

[eyepaddle]

6. It was a looooonnnnnggg time ago for the ACT

but IIRC the scale is out of 36.

I'd imagine that anything in the upper 20s and above is very good, and mid to lower 20s is acceptable. My math scores brought me down a fair bit--which brings up the question as to why I chose a science major? :shrug:

It was pretty fun, and my math skills improved quite a bit, so, all-in-all it was a good move!

It just dawns on me, that we could probably answer a lot of these questions by checking out ACT's website.

[Reverend_Smitty]

10. good point

SAT scoring system is like second nature to me since back in high school your whole self-worth was based on a scale of 1600 (although now I think it's different because they added a section). As a result of my poor math skills I could never break 1200, thus never get into a "really good school". I'm going to have to look through an old box of school stuff to see if I still have my scores and see what they were.

[Phillycat]

12. Wow, you sound like me.

I got a 1210 on the SAT's because of math. Verbal 780, though.

[Reverend_Smitty]

14. the first time I took the SAT I got a 480 math...

the second time I took it I got a 400 math, don't know how I managed to drop 80 points in math, but I did. Incidentally I improved 20 points in verbal the second time, so go figure.

[bluethruandthru]

2. I took the ACT

But that was many years ago in Utah. No one that I knew took the SAT. (I got a 28) :woohoo:

[reyd reid reed]

3. I didn't take either

:shrug:

[Broken_Hero]

4. Just the ACT

it was required from my college....

[trof]

5. I took 'em but they made me bring 'em back.

;-)

[Momgonepostal]

7. I took both

The SAT is bigger in CA, although I know at least the CSU system will take either. At the time my first choice school accepted only the ACT, so that's why I took it.

[trackfan]

8. both

[KitchenWitch]

9. The ACT is THE test in the midwest

[KamaAina]

11. 1570 SAT (never took ACT)

that was under the old system. 1570 out of 1600. Must've been off my feed or something...

I always thought the South was the ACT stronghold. Then again, I was in Conn. at the time.

[1gobluedem]

13. I took them both

University of Michigan required both. I don't know about other Big Ten schools.

[ZombieNixon]

15. Both.

1410 SAT, 34 ACT. I took some SAT II subject tests, too and kicked the shit out of them. :)

[LaurenG]

18. Lets see - why am I not surpised about that

Smart young wipper snapper! Way to go ZombieNixon!:D

[ZombieNixon]

23. I really don't want to say exactly what my SAT II scores were.

I honestly think that could be construed as bragging. Let's just say I did very well. :)

[LaurenG]

26. I would not be surprised in the least

good on you Mr. :7

[Burma Jones]

16. Both

I was pretty stoned when I took the ACT, I figured it was a good way to get over being drunk. I got between 25 and 30 on all the scores, I had to have the guy next to me wake me up each time a test segment ended. This was in 1977. I remember being in 90+ percentiles across the board....

I took the SAT more seriously and got 760 verbal 640 nonverbal.....

Of course, I didn't even have a 2.0 GPA in High School - so I had to go to the local Junior College for a couple of years, then I got into a good school......

[Reverend_Smitty]

19. You're the opposite of me

I had nearly a 4.0 GPA in high school but completely bombed my tests which is what kept me out of the good schools

[Burma Jones]

21. The University of Maryland Admissions Counselor suggested

that I join the Marines. He said that I was the kind of student that would probably get drunk and fall out of a Dorm window.....

[Reverend_Smitty]

25. That's some admissions counselor

:rofl:

[Burma Jones]

28. It's why I ended up at a small liberal arts school

no building over three stories.......

[Jimbo S]

17. University of Wisconsin system preferred the ACT

They would accept a SAT. Not sure what the policy is now. Don't think it has changed.

[grace0418]

20. Nowdays a 30 on the ACT isn't that great, but when I took it 1988 anything above

27 was fantastic. Now lots of kids get 32 and above. I got 31, which was pretty rock star at the time. I'm good at taking tests though.

[hfojvt]

42. really, why is that? Test prepping or something

I took it in 1978 or 79 as a junior and got a 30, actually 29.5.

[grace0418]

45. I have no idea. But I remember when my nieces and nephews took it a few years back, they all

got 32s, 33s and 34s, which was awesome but not necessarily legendary. Other kids in their schools also got similar scores.

When I got the 31, only two or three of my classmates got that or better. And none got better than 33.

[LaraMN]

22. ACT.

The 20 on the math portion rather dragged my score down, :rofl: but I think I still had a 30 or 31 (although, don't quote me on the score, because I'm obviously not good with "the numbers".)

[AngryAmish]

24. Both

ACT got me into school but my scholarship required the SAT. I was hungover for the SAT - all I had to do was score in the top quartile and I could do that drunk.

[Maraya1969]

27. My niece was talking about her SAT scores and my mother chimed in with "George Bush

got a 1300". If that man actually got a 1300 he PAID for it. I don't remember having to show ID when I took mine and I bet he didn't have to.

[kath]

58. Actually, quite a bit lower than that - reportedly 1206, although I find even *that* hard

to believe, since he seems soooo stupid. (I don't understand how it could be 1206, since I'm pretty sure each score is a multiple of 5)
At any rate, 1206 would CERTAINLY be a very low score to even be considered for Yale, unless you come from a well-connected family (affirmative action for the silver spoon set).

Per this article, 566 verbal and 640 math:

How affirmative action helped George W. http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/20/timep.affirm.action.tm/

And yes, there wasn't much, if any, ID requirement back when I took it in the early 70s -- would have been pretty easy to have someone else take it for you, I should think.

[liontamer]

29. both

i lived in the south where the act is preferred so I took it so I could compare scores with my friends, but I also took the SAT because I applied to NE schools that all preferred the SAT

[Maraya1969]

30. If I remember correctly a 1300 on the SAT before 1976 would give you

a spot in MENSA. So we older folks get to add some points to our tests because they were obviously harder back then.

And God forbid the screw ball in the white house would get in. Nothing makes sense anymore.

[Rabrrrrrr]

31. I took both. Both of my colleges of choice wanted both test scores.

Both were private engineering schools, btw.

[yvr girl]

32. Have SAT scores since the mid-1980s?

I'm Canadian, so we don't normally need to take SATs, but I took them in order to apply for a particular scholarship. I wrote them cold. I didn't know people studied for them, or that there were test taking strategies. I got 610 on each section (Verbal and Math). My total score doesn't seem that high, but I was in the 98th percentile. Were they more difficult then, or are people just smarter now?

[sir_captain]

36. The test was recentered in the mid 1990s

It was decided that they essentially wanted the test to be graded on a giant curve, so you can't really compare scores from pre-centering to after. Generally, if you took it before the change, you can add a hundred points or so onto what you got to get rough estimate of the equivalency.

[dysfunctional press]

33. Took the ACT in 1978, and scored a 32 composite.

i was in the 99th percentile in all 4 sections- i had a perfect 36 in math, & my low score was in the english section- 29...but it was still high enough to proficiency me out the rhet requirement at u of illinois.

[PVnRT]

34. Both

I scored 1,000,000 on both becuz im a sooper jeenyus

[Critters2]

35. I took the ACT, and honestly don't remember what I scored

I know the math section pulled me down, but I was in the upper 20's I think. When I went to grad school I thought it was wierd that all these Eastern types talked about their SAT scores. Once my ACT was high enough to get me into the colleges I wanted, I stopped caring.

FWIW, I maxed the Miller Analogies Test. Once you do that, grad schools say you don't need to take the GRE--so I never did.

[Redbear]

39. The Miller Analogies test?

Is that where you guess which ridiculous analogies Denis Miller actually made:

a. Barack Obama is like Pliny the Elder on a three-week drinking binge
b. Hillary Clinton is like Al Capone in a bad pantsuit
c. Bill O'Reilly is like Jesus, King Solomon, and Mother Theresa all at the same time

[Critters2]

41. No, more like...

Dennis Miller is to Barack Obama as Bill O'Reilly is to

a) Hillary Clinton
b)Al Capone
c) a bad pantsuit
d)Jesus, King Solomon, and Mother Theresa all at the same time

[LeftyMom]

37. I took the ACT because California schools don't care and it emphasizes math less

I got a 32.

[Zavulon]

38. SAT.

I got 1290 because I was such a shitty math student: 730 verbal and 560 in math. I was set to retake it but decided not to bother because it wasn't likely that I was going to score higher in either and it's not as if 1300 was a magical cutoff.

[eyesroll]

40. Both, plus the LSAT.

I kind of like tests like those, and did well on all of them (LSAT especially).

[Redbear]

43. I'm guessing you really rock on logical games?

[eyesroll]

44. That was my only true disaster in the practice, actually.

I enjoy logical games (even doing the puzzles on airplanes), but I was just too slow with the "if lightswitch A is on, lightswitch B is off" stuff.

I bought a book and did a bunch of games -- learned the tricks -- and improved my score 14 points from practice to actual test.

[npincus]

46. both

[Left Is Write]

47. I took the pSAT my junior year of high school and the ACT my senior year.

I got a 32 on the ACT.

[Critters2]

49. My PSAT score got me a full scholarship to undergrad

And I did better on it than on the ACT--much!! Don't know why.

[Zoigal]

50. Grad school

required Miller's Analogy Test for admission...don't remember taking any tests for undergrad (Washington U, St Louis)

But hey, I'm pretty long in the tooth....

[Left Is Write]

51. I took the pSAT to try qualifiying for a National Merit scholarship.

A score in the top one percent was required to earn a scholarship. I got a score in the top 2 percent. I got a National Merit commendation, but no scholarship. :(

My oldest daughter's older brother was a National Merit scholar. He received a full scholarship and went to Hamline University in St. Paul.

[Critters2]

53. I was an Illinois State Scholar, which was like the next step down from

a National Merit Scholar. As usual, I screwed up the math section. I think maybe you had to have a good score and be going to a state school, but it might have been any school in Illinois. At any rate, it was a consolation prize, but a damn fine one.

[Blue-Jay]

48. Both. My SAT scores got me a scholarship.

Which is weird because my ACT scores were in a higher statistical percentile. Whatever, I didn't have to pay for undergrad school.

[LSK]

52. 25 on the ACT

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

54. Standardized tests were implemented in Brazil long after I had graduated

It's called ENEM (National Exam for Middle Education). It's state-ran and it's optional, but slowly becoming de facto mandatory. Many universities now accept a good ENEM grade as a "grade booster" for their own entrance exams.

[Common Sense Party]

55. I got a 30 as well, which surprised me.

But you didn't crush it.

My sister got a 36.

SHE crushed it.

[deadparrot]

56. 31 the first and only time I took the ACT.

It got me the $2000/year I wanted, so I didn't see the point in trying again.

[MedleyMisty]

57. I took the SAT twice

In 7th grade, in 1993 before the recentering, I got a 570 on verbal and 430 on math.

I'm not quite so sure if I remember my high school scores as well. Something like 720 on verbal and maybe 570 on math? I was sitting near my crush and I'd been up all night the night before and I'd stopped caring about stupid numbers or what society defined as achievement by then, so yeah.

[Seabiscuit]

59. LSAT in 1961, SAT in 1962. Never heard of the ACT.

And I initially attended a midwest college - Oberlin. Graduated Bezerkeley.

Don't recall the LSAT scores - they weren't forwarded to colleges back then.

But I scored 732 in Verbal and 753 in Math on the SAT and got in everywhere I applied.

[TheMightyFavog]

60. Neither

I started college at 21. I was not rquired to take either test.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

61. I went to school with a guy who made a 36 on his ACT...

I think that's the highest you can get, right? I guess it happens once every few years. The guy didn't even go to college, and there were some awesome schools begging him to let them give him thousands in scholarships. I went to school with another girl who made a 32 and went to Harvard. I think she made a 1450 on her SATs too.
I made a 26 on my ACTs, and I had a deficiency in math. Go figure. I only needed a 22 to get into the college I went to, so I didn't take it again.
Duckie

[Cobalt-60]

62. ACT-30

[ChoralScholar]

63. I took the ACT way back when. EOM

It got me Tuition/Fees, Room/Board, and a 1200/semester stipend - on top of my full-tuition Vocal Performance Scholarship.

I kept it all for 3 years.

[Nikia]

64. SAT

Everyone else at my school that took a college entrance test took the ACT but a couple of my perspective colleges required SAT and the others accepted both.