ACT or SAT?

Take our preference test now to determine which test is best for you.

My daughter had test anxiety. I knew her scores were not showing her potential. With Clayborne, she improved her score over 200 points and is incredibly happy in college!

Anne Marie PaceParent

The landscape of the college admissions process has become an intimidating terrain, dotted with sheer standardized score cliffs and obscured by murky paths of academic and extracurricular requirements. One thing we know for sure: standardized test scores matter! With a decade of test preparation experience and data from thousands of students, we will guide you along the path.

Upcoming SAT Test Dates

Test Date
Registration Date

August 29, 2020
July 31, 2020

September 26, 2020
August 26, 2020

October 3, 2020
September 4, 2020

November 7, 2020
October 7, 2020

December 5, 2020
November 5, 2020

Upcoming ACT Test Dates

Test Date
Registration Date

September 12, 13, & 19 2020
August 14, 2020

October 10, 17, 24, & 25, 2020
September 17, 2020

December 12, 2020
November 6, 2020

February 6, 2021
January 8, 2021

April 17, 2021
March 12, 2021

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What is a good ACT or SAT score?: It depends on your college goals. We recommend you research schools to find out what typical ACT/SAT scores of incoming students. For example, Google searching “UVA ACT scores” will bring up typical scores of 29-33. The “typical” scores are the 25th – 75th percentile scores of incoming students. We suggest shooting for 50th – 75th percentile scores which in the case of our UVA example would be an ACT range of 31-33.
Should I take the ACT or the SAT?: It depends on many factors: academic background, test history, learning profile, prep timeline, etc. For more details, take a look at our blog post on ACT vs SAT!
When should I take the ACT or SAT?: The earlier the better. We recommend you start the process during the summer of rising Junior year with a baseline practice test. Ideally, you should be done with standardized testing requirements by the end of Junior year.
How many times should I take the ACT or SAT?: As many times as necessary to achieve your goals. Most schools will take into consideration the four most recent official tests you have taken, so the more the merrier!
What is “superscoring”?: The SAT is by default “superscored,” meaning most schools consider your highest Math and highest Verbal scores across all submitted tests. The ACT does not officially do this, but a number of schools have adopted superscoring practices.
Can I send just my best section scores?: No. For schools to receive your test scores, you must send the full test record through the appropriate ACT or SAT channel.
Do schools automatically see my scores?: No, unless you elect to send scores automatically to up to four institutions during registration (we do not advise this. See our blog post on ACT/SAT Registration and Score Submission Strategy).

We’ve helped over 3,000 students improve their test scores with our personalized, one-on-one tutoring model.

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