SAT versus ACT
How To Decide Which Test Is The Best For You
That’s an excellent question, which needs to be answered before you commit to either test. The questions on the ACT math test cover a wider area than those on the SAT math test and tend to go into less depth. The SAT math questions go deeper, the difficult questions tending to be similar to the “challenge,” or “extra credit” problems you might have seen on your math tests. The time constraints on the math section of the ACT are tighter than the SAT. On the math section of the ACT you have 50 minutes to answer 45 questions. On the SAT you have 70 minutes to answer 44 questions, which are split into 2 modules of 22 questions each. Unlike the ACT, the SAT math test is adaptive, meaning that the difficulty level of subsequent questions depends on how well you are performing on the test. The ACT has an optional science section (the SAT does not) consisting of 40 questions that must be answered in 40 minutes. The science test is not an achievement test, but rather tests your reasoning skills in sciene. The best way to understand this is to take a look at an actual ACT science test that was given in the past. Here’s a link to a full ACT test that you can review. The science section is the last one—Section 4.
Now to the nitty-gritty. If you don’t have a College Board Account, you’ll want to set one up, take a Blue Book test under timed conditions, and score it. You may also have taken the PSAT once or twice, so look up those scores and compare them to your SAT score. Next, you’ll want to take a full ACT practice test under timed conditions, and score it. Here’s a link to a full ACT practice test. It’s important to be totally serious when you’re taking these practice tests. Take them all at once, not in parts, and with no interruptions. Now that you have the two scores, you’ll need to see how they compare. To do this, you’ll need to use the ACT/SAT Concordance Chart.
Once you’ve compared the scores, you’re in a position to make an informed decision. To help you a bit with the process, I’ll give you a few real world examples. A student of mine scored a 610 on her SAT math practice test. On her ACT, she scored a 35 in science and a 27 in math, which is about equivalent to an SAT score of 710—100 points higher. Since then she’s raised her math to a 31, and she’s only just begun. Choice: ACT. Another student scored a 23 on ACT science, and a 22 on ACT math. When he took the SAT math practice test, he scored a 580. Since this was slightly better, and since he absolutely hated the ACT, he decided to stick with the SAT, on which he eventually scored a 740. Choice: SAT. A third student had ACT and SAT scores that were about equivalent. After talking strategy with him, he decided to go with the SAT, as he would only have to focus on math, since there’s no science section on the SAT. He ended up with a 760. Choice: SAT. His sister decided to do the same and is scoring in the high 700s on practice tests. Choice: SAT
If you’ve done the above and you’re still struggling with your decision, feel free to give me a shout. I’ll be more than happy to help.
