Periodically I hear myths circulating around the Kansas City area, some related to me by parents, others related to me by my students. I've collected a few of them here - some to roast, some to verify as truth, but mostly to inform about disinformation. I hope it is helpful.

1. Isn't the SAT for East and West Coast schools only?

Ah, one of the most popular and longest-lasting myths. Absolutely not.

One of the first items of research for my team when we first moved to Kansas City was actual verification of the fact that not one of the schools in the top 100 of US News and World Report had a preference for a particular test. My staff has personally called every single one of their admissions offices and the answer remains the same: We have no preference. The irony is that there are quite a few schools that don't accept the SAT at all for admissions, but there are none that don't take the ACT. It's part of the difference of being run by marketing people in NJ (SAT), close to the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal, and being run by educators in Iowa (ACT).

2. I heard someone say that the ACT was better for girls and the SAT was better for boys.

Um, no. In fact, data supports that in general, men score higher on both tests than women. Now, what the statistic means is subject to all sorts of other problems, but here is the evidence for your further perusal:

ACT 2007 Score Charts

SAT 2007 Score Charts

This data, tracked by the perspicacious and tireless people at FairTest.org, an organization dedicated to fair testing (meaning tests other than the SAT and ACT), is widely available and not often publicized. The most notorious statistic is the unbending correlation of SAT score to family income.

I have already discussed my disagreement with a Michelle Slatalla article in the NY Times here, but I will repeat it again: there is no predictor for which test you will do better in. Either take a practice ACT and SAT with a company like mine (free, no consequences) or a real one (not free, more stressful) and then compare the scores. Only then will you know.

3. Oh, I heard they give out extended time really easily.

No, not exactly. For the SAT, yes, they do. The ACT (again, run by educators, not marketing gurus) is a little less forgiving.

What is extended time? It is a recognition that processing skills vary for some students and that if given extended time, they can perform on the same level as others. Now, I'm not here to discuss the merits of this argument or the importance of it in testing in general. My job is to help my students score the highest score they can achieve.

One of my students in one of my classes earlier this year paid attention, did her homework, and seemed to be understanding everything that was going on in class. Her practice midterm and final exams with us did not show that. As I cross-checked her homework against her tests, I realized she was consistently running out of time. I told her mom that we needed extended time. Skeptical at first, but trusting in my advice, she got my student to the necessary appointments, got the forms filled out, and voila, we did get it. She had never previously needed extended time.

Difference in scores? She got a 17 after our class without extended time. One month later, she took it again and got a 24. I'll let you be the judge of whether or not it was effective for her.

Information on extended time for the SAT is available here and for the ACT here.

4. Don't they take my best scores from various tests and create a "best score" for me?

Depends on the test and depends on the school.

ACT first. Schools tend to look at ACT composite only, unless there is some startling deviation from your other scores (ex. 31 in everything except reading, where you got a 21 - there might be some questions about your reading ability posited). ACT has also always had score choice, which means you don't have to send scores if you don't want to. I've always told my students and parents to NEVER send scores until you're done testing, then send only the best one.

SAT - well, they've recently reintroduced Score Choice for March 2009. This is good and bad, and also very related to what school you are applying to. Here are two examples:

University of Southern California - takes your best per section on the SAT. So, for example, if I got a 610 Writing, 660 Reading, and 540 Math on one test, and a 550 Writing, 660 Reading, and 700 Math on another, USC would pick your 610 Writing, 660 Reading, and 700 Math to give you a score of 1970. A mythical score based on two different tests, but hey, we'll take it!

University of California, Los Angeles - only takes your best composite. So, here score choice works well because you can send them your best score after you're done testing for the last time.

5. Shouldn't I just take the test over and over and keep trying to do better? I've got nothing to lose.

Sure, except your time and money.

These tests are torture. I take them every year. I hate them and I can't begin to imagine the stress of taking them 2-3-4-5 times in the hopes of getting higher scores. Our philosophy is and remains, prep using us or some other prep program, take it once, maybe one more if you want AND need a higher score. Maybe a third time if we are one point away from a scholarship or an athletic spot. Beyond that, for the majority of people, it is not helpful.

It's not like students have a bunch of time to study for these tests over and over, or a surfeit of Saturday mornings to spend in a classroom for 3.5 hours testing. Three or fewer. That's our general rule.

6. Should I take the SAT at Center HS because my test and my essay will be better than the rest of the inner city kids testing there?

I'd hesitate to repeat this, but it was told to me by several of my students, who were in turn told by a tutor in town who will remain unnamed by me, solely to save her the embarrassment of passing on such a bogus fact.

The essays are scanned as PDFs and then distributed by the Web for grading from all points of the globe. Graders don't even know your name or gender, much less where you took the test and who you took it with. There is no "easier" version of the test given at Center High School. Please take note.

7. Well, but aren't some test days easier than others?

Absolutely. This June ACT was a recent excellent example of this, featuring significantly harder reading and science sections than we saw on the April ACT. It's really the luck of the draw as far as what test you will be given on a certain day.

However, when you're talking about micropoints (10 or 20 on the SAT, .25 or .5 on the ACT) we are talking about the curve for the test, and since you're graded against everyone you took the test with that day, the least competitive dates will always be December/January (desperate seniors, overachieving juniors). October and March/April are always notoriously packed.

If some conflict prevents you from testing on a non-competitive day, again, no worries, it's not that big of a difference.

8. Shouldn't I just take this at the end of my junior year so I don't stress about it? Junior year is supposed to be the most important year academically, and I don't want to get distracted.

Right motivation, wrong strategy. Absolutely junior year is the year. It's the toughest, most grueling, most relevant for college admissions. Oh, and yes, you have to take an ACT or SAT.

The answer to this question is not cookie cutter. I can rephrase it to read: "When should we take the test for the first time?"

I would answer that by asking: "When are you most available to prep?"

Some people play sports year round and so summer is a great time for them to prep leading into a September or October test date.

Others prefer to prep in Fall or Spring. My point is that there is no answer for all. The answer depends on your child's time resources to dedicate to prep. And, if you're like some of my students, there is never any extra time, so the sooner we start, the better.

As far as prep goes, my only recommendation is to prep towards a given test date. It makes sense to go to summer clinics for sports because you might be competiting in tournaments throughout the summer or because you want to keep your skills up for when the season restarts. But to do a test prep class and then not take the real test for months? What can be retained for all those months without constant practice? My worry? Not much. That's why we never have classes at Get Smarter Prep without a test date that we are working towards.