College Admissions: SAT vs. ACT
Which Test to Take? Learn the Differences Between the Two
The ACT and SAT are both standardized college admissions tests, and most selective colleges and universities accept either one. Yet each test has advantages and disadvantages, depending on an individual student's strengths and weaknesses.
When students prepare for the test best suited to their skills, they generally score higher -- the name of the game in the arduous college admission process.
Knowledge Versus Reasoning
The ACT is considered a curriculum-based test, meaning it tests a student’s knowledge of subject matter covered in high school. On the other hand, the SAT is traditionally thought of as a test that measures a student’s reasoning or critical thinking skills.
If the student received good grades in enough challenging classes, the ACT may be a good fit; they'll be tested on what they learned.
The College Board's SAT is not as straight-forward and is more of an "aptitude" test. Known for using tricky and sometimes intentionally confusing phrasing to determine test-taking skills, the SAT is better suited to the student with strong deductive reasoning capabilities. Good test-takers love the SAT.
Here are some quick take-aways on other differences between the two tests, in terms of content, structure, scoring and strategy considerations.
Differences In Content
• The SAT puts more emphasis on vocabulary; the ACT is largely focused on grammar and punctuation.
• The ACT has a Science Reasoning Test, which tests the the student's ability to access scientific charts and tables, research, and conflicting scientific viewpoints – whereas the SAT does not.
• The ACT covers four sections: English, Mathematics, Reading and Science. The SAT contains three sections: Critical Reading, Mathematics and Writing, including a required 25-minute essay. Writing is not required on the ACT, but strongly recommended.
• In the ACT Math section, about 7 percent of questions are based on trigonometry, which is not tested on the SAT.
Differences In Structure
• The ACT has all multiple choice questions, whereas the SAT also requires students to produce answers to mathematical questions.
• Questions on the SAT become more difficult as the test progresses; the level of difficulty remains fairly constant on the ACT.
• The ACT has 215 questions and the SAT has 140 – however, both are three hours long. Which means students have less average time to answer ACT questions.
Differences In Strategy
• SAT takers are penalized slightly for wrong answers. The conventional wisdom is to try and eliminate one or two answers and then make the best guess from the remaining choices.
• ACT test takers are not penalized for wrong answers. Before time runs out, students should guess on any questions they didn’t know or were unsure about. But like the SAT strategy, it make sense to eliminate as many choices as possible before making a final section.
• The SAT is riddled with questions designed to slow the test taker down. Professional test strategists like the Princeton Review recommend moving on to the easier questions and coming back to the harder ones.
Differences In Scoring
A student taking the ACT can earn a maximum of 36 points on each section, which the ACT then averages for a composite score. On the SAT, students earn a maximum of 800 points on each of the three sections.
Advice: Practice Questions Before Taking Tests
According to Eva Ostrum, in her book The Thinking Parent’s Guide to College Admissions [Penguin, 2006], “Nothing…beats having your child try practice questions for each test in order to make a fully informed decision” on whether to concentrate on the SAT or ACT.
The ACT and College Board both offer practice tests online. In addition, the ACT offers the PLAN test, a prep test geared to sophomores; and the SAT offers the PSAT, the College Board’s Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test, which is usually taken by sophomores and juniors trying to qualify for a National Merit Scholarship.
Take Both The SAT and ACT Tests?
Many students simply take both the ACT and SAT, which provides a choice of two scores for college admissions. If applying to many different schools, the advantage would be that the student has covered their bases in applying to different schools.
However, this strategy raises another key difference that students may want to consider: The ACT offers an attractive “Score Choice” option, which means students only reports scores to colleges and university that they designate. In other words, their best scores.
By contrast, “the College Board requires students to report all SAT scores except those the student cancels within an allowable window,” says Ostrum. This is an important difference between the SAT and ACT, because poor early SAT scores, for example, could impact the student’s standardized testing profile.
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