At Churchill, most students sit for the PSAT (Preliminary SAT) during the fall of their junior year and take the SAT in May the same school year. The PSAT is a administrated by the College Board, which takes at least 7 weeks to process an application for extended time on the PSAT (and other College Board tests such as the SAT, SAT subject tests and AP exams). From my experience, the ACT people are much easier to deal with and make their decision much faster than the College Board, but this may vary.
The testing required for extended time is expensive, around $4,000 for a neuropsych evaluation. This eval can then be used in college for extended time and other accommodations and is valid at least three years depending on the college. To be cost effective, one should do the testing early enough to get extended time on the PSAT and late enough to use it at college. If not doing the PSAT, the testing could wait until junior year depending on ACT test schedule.
The main difference between ACT and SAT is that ACT tests what the student has learned so far in high school, while the SAT has more emphasis on measuring strategic reasoning. Both tests have a writing component. Students tend to score similar on both tests so there is no need to take both, which is very time consuming for LD kids. Which test to pick depends on the college of interest. Some college ask for "SAT + subject tests or the ACT", meaning the ACT saves your child the trouble of having to take more than one test. Many colleges are becoming "testing optional" meaning you don't have to send any test scores.
A good idea is to identify colleges that would be a good match for your child and plan your testing strategy according to the requirements of those colleges.
No comments:
Post a Comment