Testing: the SAT, the ACT, and test-optional

The testing season generates more anxiety and more spending than almost any other part of the process, much of it unnecessary. Here's the honest version: which test, when to take it, how many times, whether the prep courses are worth the money, and the question that trips everyone up - do you always send your scores?

SAT or ACT?

Colleges accept both equally; there is no advantage to one. They're just structured differently. The move is to take a practice test of each, see which one your student naturally scores better on, and focus there. Most students have a clear preference within a test or two.

The PSAT comes first

Before either real test, most students sit the PSAT at school, and it causes more confusion than anything else in testing because there is more than one version.

• A sophomore may be offered it as pure practice. No college sees it, and nothing about it counts.
• The junior-year PSAT is the one that matters, and only in one specific way: it is the qualifying test for National Merit recognition, which a small number of students convert into scholarship money.

Either way the score never goes to a college. Treat it as a free diagnostic that tells you where a student is starting from, and use the results to decide how much preparation the real test deserves.

When to take it, and how many times

The typical rhythm: a first real attempt in the spring of junior year, with a retake in the fall of senior year if the score can improve. Two or three sittings is the sweet spot. Scores usually climb a bit from the first to the second try, level off by the third, and rarely justify a fourth. Many schools superscore, combining your best section scores across dates, which is a good reason to take it more than once but not five times.

Are prep courses worth it?

For most families, no, not the expensive ones. The single biggest driver of a higher score is realistic practice - full-length, timed, official practice tests - and that's free. Khan Academy's official SAT practice and the free ACT materials cover what most students need. Paid courses and tutors can help a specific student who needs structure or is chasing the last stretch of a top score, but the price tag doesn't buy the points; the practice does. Start with free, and only pay if there's a clear reason.

What "test-optional" means, and whether to send scores

Test-optional means the school lets your student decide whether to submit scores at all. It is not test-blind (that's a school that won't look at scores even if you send them). Test-optional is now common, and it changes the strategy:

The practical upshot: take the test, get the best score a reasonable amount of practice produces, and then treat the score as a tool you deploy where it helps and hold back where it doesn't.