And for Illinois: The Mandatory SAT Is Here

[socialring]This April all Illinois public high school juniors will take the SAT on April 5. It is a newly mandated requirement for high school students in Illinois after the state Board of Education signed a contract with SAT, abandoning its longtime use of the ACT test. Lakeside has fielded a few questions on this and here is what we know:

YES–if you go to a public school, it will be administered on April 5 and you do have to take it.

YES–the score will be placed on your high school transcript. But it now appears that, in Illinois, it will be placed on your final transcript. This has definitely been announced by New Trier. Other Illinois public high school students should check with their registrar or dean. Having a score you didn’t want to report on your final transcript doesn’t affect you, however, since those transcripts don’t go out until after you graduate, to the college which you will be attending. At that point, your score on the test will not matter. So, if you have been tutoring for ACT, and have regarded SAT as an afterthought, the idea of having this potentially “throwaway” score embedded on your high school transcript should not cause worry.

Here is the official wording from the State of Illinois Board of Education website:

Must SAT scores be placed on transcripts? Yes. Section 2-3.64a-5 of the School Code requires that scores on the state assessment in high school (further defined as an assessment for college and career readiness) must be placed on the student’s permanent record and entered on the student’s transcript as pprovided by administrative rules implementing the Illinois School Student Records Act.

Should students be studying for SAT? Does your student really have the time? If he/she has been prepping for ACT, Lakeside recommends letting it be–just take the test and be done with it. If, on the other hand, your eagerly ambitious junior has the time to devote to yet more test prep, Khan Academy has partnered with SAT to offer free online test prep. Or consult your tutor.

And yet more testing information: For students who attend New Trier, the school has paid for an additional in-school test day on April 19, when ACT will be administered for free. Lakeside advises taking advantage of this free opportunity to try and raise your score. And if you just can’t get enough, ACT also has a Saturday, nationally scheduled test day on April 8.