How Schools Guide Students to the Right SAT/ACT Path
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This is meant to guide High School decision-makers to the “best practices” for their students bound for competitive colleges. Alternative suggestions and other “best practices for PREPARING are offered by consultation, which Ivy Bound / Aspire consultants make on a school-by-school basis.
Students in 2025 face the broadest set of college admissions test choices ever. To show their abilities with a nationwide “standard,” students in 2025 have:
Traditional ACT (expiring after February 2025)
New Digital SAT (with Science Reasoning and/or Essay Writing, or without)
New ACT paper (Essay Writing optional)
September ACT paper (with Science Reasoning and/or Essay Writing or without)
Digital SAT (paper available only for a narrow group of special needs students).
Especially in 2025, using early ACTs, SATs, or PSATs to guess whether the ACT or SAT is best for ‘26 and ’27 grads is useless. If there is a drain on students’ time and uncertainty that will likely remain even after a bevy of assessment tests are included, official early diagnostic testing may be harmful.
If done individually, we strongly suggest that students pick a lane based on their liking or disliking science.
Our suggestion for schools that might be marshaling their students as a group is to pick a lane that avoids science and let the STEM-focused students add Science Reasoning independently.
Our suggestion for all is to refrain from bothering with official early testing. Study well, using professional ACT/SAT instructors and timed Practice Tests for one “Target Test Date.” Students initially build skills without regard to timing or digital/paper format and use a practice testing regimen six to ten weeks before that target test.
College admission committees that account for SAT/ACT scores (meaning not those that are test-BLIND) do not care which test you choose or what “lane” of ACT you choose since the ACT can and will equate.
Practice Testing without prior study is rarely helpful:
Too many schools put students through a standardized test (or two or three, including the PSAT) in a sub-optimal way. While the differences between the SAT and ACT used to be very meaningful, since the 2016 SAT changes, the two regimes have been testing very similar skills. (The 2024 SAT changes left Math skills the same while Verbal skills veered slightly). The best use of a practice test, whether official or unofficial (meaning timed practice online or on paper), comes after significant study.
One significant problem with practice testing without prior study is timing, which surprises students. Their abilities in a given section may be significantly higher than a score from an unfinished section.
A second common problem is that many students are unfamiliar with a single “weird” question, which causes them to spend inordinate time on it and rush haphazardly through the rest of the section.
A third problem is that even students who have studied the SAT / ACT skills beforehand but have yet to practice with digital tools might not quickly adapt to the logistics of a first digital practice test.
Cost-benefit to a pair of early practice tests:
Regarding time, there is no question that time spent learning skills is more effective than a 2-test comparison. Including commute time and set-up time, seven hours to compare ACT versus SAT on two official tests could be seven hours with a tutor or in a class LEARNING SAT or ACT skills.
Cost-benefit to a single early practice test:
Even a practice test, perhaps just 2.75 hours long, is only helpful when taken with prior prep. The one “type” of student who likely benefits is the rare one whose initial score is so high that they know studying is unnecessary.
This is a mild suggestion for school decision-makers:
Think it through. Set up a program that integrates skill studies and practice testing. Remember that few skills tested on the SAT and ACT come from 11th-grade schoolwork. Thus, targeted SAT prep and/or ACT prep can be very productive in the summer before 11th grade or even during 10th grade.
Colleges do not care when students test. They are concerned about seeing high scores whenever they are earned.
If not marshaling all students as a united program, we urge the council to individual students:
Pick a lane and plunge in. Strive for a top score on that test. If your score differs from where you want it to be after two vigorous attempts, consider adding the other test. Don’t abandon the first test – third and fourth attempts are often significantly better, especially if practice test scores are high. Since the ACT and SAT are close in content and each is masterable with coaching, the most significant factor for choosing a test is the TEST DATES.
As for the optional ACT Essay and (soon) Science sections, a good course of study encourages students to add on once they decide whether either is an asset to their admission or scholarship chances. Ivy Bound’s typical prep courses introduce ACT Science and ACT Essay Prep LAST so that students might take more time for research. These two sections typically take less prep time than studying Math or Reading + English, so including all is a small addition for a potentially significant reward.
A request by Ivy Bound / Aspire:
Get this to the decision-makers. Let them make a PLAN. Ideally, contact Ivy Bound to invoke its expertise.