I just got the ACT test prep book that has the practice tests inside (Someone here posted about it, sorry, I can't remember who! BTW, the 2008 edition also has an online test.) Anyway, I was wondering if anyone did the tests at home and then took the tests at a registered center later. If so, how did the scores compare? I'm having my son try it at home to determine if we should go through the hassle of registering for either the ACT or SAT officially.

Also, to help me in intrepreting his results afterwards, what is considered a good "talent search" type of score for a 7th grader?

Thanks in advance, I know next to nothing about the ACT!

Here's some 7th grade data from TIP 2 years back that is very nice for getting a touchy feely. We never did any practice tests, so I can't speak from that aspect. I always intend to....but just never get around to it. For me, spending the money to actually register at least assures me that the kids will take the actual test, LOL!

http://www.tip.duke.edu/talent_searches/grade_7/7TSResultsSummary.pdf

(Scroll through it for both SAT and ACT data)

Ghost will be writing ACT for the first time this coming Saturday. We do have a booklet, but he has not looked at it yet. I do not think there is going to be a time to do an online test, but I will make him go throught the booklet so he at least knows what type of questions there are.
His SAT score from last year (6th grade) put him on 99% pecentile in Math , 98% in reading and 99% in writing , according to the table above. He just did SAT again in January. He thinks that his MAth score will be higher but his LA score lower. We will see :-)
I want this year to be the last he writes any of those tests. He had to miss an entire fencing league because o that, the day he is writing ACT there is a Klondike, which he is going to be majorly late for and we really had to pull our resources to get him up on that mountain later in the day. I thik that he will have enough data to last him through his junior year of HS.

I think I might have been the one who mentioned the test book. DS will be taking his first ACT in Saturday. We got the book to make sure that it would be worth giving up a Saturday morning to take the test (Ania--I hear you. When they get to this age, there seems to be some activity every weekend and it's hard to decide how to prioritize). He has also never taken a timed test so I wanted him to take the practice to get a sense of how to budget his time.

He has taken 2 practice tests (one in Sept. when we were deciding and another in Nov. because the first one was so much fun!). The scores were close, but the second practice was a bit higher in reading and science, which is what I'd hoped for. But I can't tell you how well the practices will predict the real test.

Oh, I was going to add that the reason that we got that book is that it had the paper answer sheets. I was very worried about his ability to fill in bubbles and keep the lines straight. All his school tests are on computers, so they did not prepare him for The Bubbles!

Thanks Acs, I think it was you, too! I'm looking into this practice test for the same reasons you did. I'm inherently lazy and don't want to have to go through scheduling the real testing if there's no reason. I just want to know if there's more we should be asking for at school. The ACT or the SAT should be able to tell me that, I think. Maybe you and Ania could let us know how your kids compare the real ACT with the practice tests and/or the SAT after Saturday? I'd like to know if the real test has the same complexity level of the practice one, and I've heard that the SAT is a little harder than the ACT.

Thanks for the table, Dottie. I have a good reference point now for comparison.

There generally is that preconception that kids who don't do well on SAT do better on ACT. This in reference to juniors.
ACT is shorter, because you do not have to take the writing assessment and they are not testing any questions , like they do in SAT. I will let you know how Ghost compares them:-)

DD13 took both last year. She did slightly better in math on the ACT, but it was a few months later....so it made sense. Her verbal score on the ACT was more visibly higher though. She said science was extremely hard, but it's not a big push for our district, at least not yet (state testing starting this year or next).

FWIW though, DD answered every SAT verbal question, and I really think the guessing penalty accounts for much of the difference. She thought the ACT was easier (science excluded), but that could have been changed expectations after sitting the SAT.

We've yet to do a practice test, though I keep thinking of all the money I could save, if I could force myself to follow through withOUT spending the money. The paid for ticket seems to be the only way I can commit. The kids are always game to go to the testing, but never interested enough to try on their own at home with all of the usual distractions.

Whew! I accidentally posted the wrong thing here, but luckily can edit still.

DS 13 thought ACT was much easier than SAT, probably partly due to shorter time, no writing.

DS 11 is taking ACT for the 1st time this Saturday. He did one practice test booklet, but has a bad attitude (I walked him through the science section to show him the answers are just logic). We'll see how it goes. His math score on SAT was mediocre, so I'm hoping he brings it up percentile-wise on ACT (he's actually been learning a lot since Dec when he sat for SAT, so it's possible).