Curiously, too many students never take the college entrance exam (SAT or ACT) they’re likely to score better on. Most students take the test that the students at their school take. So for the overwhelming majority of students in the Northeast it’s the SAT, and for the overwhelming majority in the Midwest it’s the ACT without ever knowing if they would have scored higher on the exam they didn’t take.
The SAT/ACT Diagnostic lets students know if they’re better suited to take the SAT or the ACT, which spares them from disappointing scores, unnecessary prep and frustration. College Planning Partnerships, a Connecticut test prep company, created The SAT/ACT Diagnostic eight years ago when its owner, Sam Rosensohn, noted how little students and counselors knew about the “other test,” and how students were often better suited to take one of the two exams.
“Too many students were taking the wrong exam,” said Rosensohn, who recalled a junior in 2004 who prepped with him for the SAT and scored 1770. Unsatisfied, the student came back for ACT prep and scored a 34, the equivalent of 2250 on the SAT. “Had he taken the diagnostic he would have gone straight to ACT prep and been spared a great deal of unnecessary prep.”
“That sealed it for me,” Rosensohn said, “there was no longer a question about it: some students were better suited to take one of the two tests, and nearly all of my students were information poor on this subject.”
The SAT/ACT Diagnostic is a three-hour exam. Students answer the same types of questions that appear on the SAT and the ACT. SAT or ACT – What’s a Student to Do? Take The SAT/ACT Diagnostic Students submit their bubble sheets electronically and are emailed a Score Report that advises what to do. SAT or ACT – What’s a Student to Do? Take The SAT/ACT Diagnostic
Students either score higher on one of the two tests or do equally well on both. For those who come in equally strong, they have the option to study for the test of their choice. “They realize they don’t have a backup plan, since they’re equally good at both, and these students bring more focus to their prep,” Rosensohn said.
Something students often do not want to consider is that if the SAT leaves them disappointed, the ACT is not necessarily a better step. The SAT/ACT Diagnostic lets them know just that.
For each of the sections that students take on The SAT/ACT Diagnostic, their Score Report identifies the topics they got wrong. This serves as a blueprint for test prep and spares some students from taking a soup to nuts course. “If a student has scored in the 95th percentile in the math, and we know specifically what topics need to be addressed, the math prep can be reduced to a couple of hours. If, on the other hand, the student had more trouble on the Critical Reading, the tutor will know right where he has to focus: vocabulary, inference questions, reasoning questions, general questions, or comparison questions.” There’s no reason to prep students on what they already know.
Students can sign up and download a copy of the test, take it, submit their results and get the electronic Score Report for $50. College Admissions Newsletter – February 13, 2014 (~20% discount with coupon code: inlikeme)
Students may opt to have College Planning Partnerships send a hard copy of the exam and then review the results with them and their parents by phone and offer a study plan based on their results. The cost of the diagnostic and up to a one-hour consultation is $150. College Admissions Newsletter – February 13, 2014 (~20% discount with coupon code: inlikeme)
Schools and private college consultants can purchase the test in bulk. For more information either email Sam at sam@satprepct.com or give him a call at 860-664-9857.
Lynn Radlauer Lubell, Publisher of InLikeMe.com and Founder of Admission By Design, an Educational Consultancy based in Boca Raton, Florida.
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