ACT or SAT? How To Decide Which Test To Take
Don’t chew up your pencils trying to decide…..
Should You Take The ACT or SAT?
As an ACT/SAT tutor, this is the number one question I am asked. And my number one answer is to take a practice test of each and compare the results. The process is pretty straightforward, the materials you need are free and readily available, and it’s something really any student can do on his/her own.
Below, I’m going to walk you through the basics of how to do a good ACT v. SAT diagnostic and also point out some of the major differences between the two tests.
ACT and SAT Diagnostic Basics
Should I Do A Diagnostic At Home Or At A Test Center?
You may choose to go to a local testing center that administers mock tests; however, we find this is generally unnecessary—unless there are special circumstances at home that make it impossible to work in a quiet, distraction-free space. Since you are going to have to do frequent full practice sections of your chosen test test, it’s helpful to get used to doing this work at home.
Moreover, most test centers will only let you do complete, three-hour mock tests. Some students, however, only need to work on one or two individual sections—or even just parts of sections. For example, a strong math student may only need to work on the last 20 more challenging problems for ACT math. A weaker reader may need to do extra work on the challenging SAT history passages.
How To Do Your Own ACT vs. SAT Diagnostic Test
Unless it’s impossible for you to print, work on paper for the diagnostic.
-Print out the current ACT Official practice test here
-Print out SAT Practice Test 9 here and the answers here (N.B. the College Board doesn’t have a single annual Official Test. (I’ve selected SAT Test 9 to make sure you cover certain bases with SAT Reading.)
Have pencils, a calculator, and a watch, or some kind of timer.
Go to a quiet, distraction-free, space where you can work at a desk.
Take breaks and grab snacks between sections, just as you can during the real test.
Do the ACT and an SAT on separate days. They’ll each take nearly 3 hours to complete.
Take each practice test around the same time of day, if you can, for a better comparison.
Time each section according to the ACT/SAT rules — but see our special tip below!
If you receive extended time, adjust the timing of your sections accordingly.
I encourage you to mark up your test booklet e.g. circling units for math to prevent careless errors, or transition words in reading passages to alert you to important points. If you must work online, have some scrap paper handy.
Veridian Pro Tip!
If you run out of time on a section, mark the place where that happened, but keep answering to see how many questions you would have answered correctly if you had had more time. This is important because you may run out of time the first time you try one of these test, but you will get faster as you practice more.
Scoring and Comparing Results
Score the tests and compare — only counting the answers you completed within the allotted time.
Use the official ACT and SAT scoring guides to determine your score—it’s not quite as simple as just counting the number you got right/wrong.
Compare not only the total scores, but also your scores on each subject section.
Use this ACT v. SAT Concordance Chart to understand how your scores relate to each other. It shows which ACT score is equivalent to which SAT score so you can determine which results are better.
What If My Scores Are About Even?
First, remember that the ACT and SAT are equally accepted by all colleges and universities. It’s also pretty common for students to have comparable scores when they do the practice tests. If you come out even, then simply choose the one on which you felt most comfortable. Feeling confident the day of the test is also important!
Important Note About Evaluating Your Results: Over the years, I’ve seen many ACT vs. SAT comparisons done by centers that offer mock tests. Sometimes they’ve been excellent, but other times they’ve missed the mark because they don’t get into the granular detail that we do - teasing out content gaps from test-taking ones (such as time management which, often, can be easily dealt with). And in terms of content gaps, we also get extremely specific; we’ll tell you not only “you need to work on standard usage” aka grammar rules, but which rules and concepts specifically. Some test centers have also given my students outdated tests and/or tests that they’ve already completed (because they don’t ask).
Additional Tips
Grammar
Don’t base your decision on the grammar sections unless you see a really big difference between those two scores. These sections are where the two tests are most similar, so a small difference between these scores is not very meaningful. And I find for most students, grammar is what I call the l”ow-hanging-fruit section.”
Reading*
Only the SAT contains passages archaic English, meaning primary source writing that dates back to the 1700s or 1800s. The SAT may also include a fiction passage written in the 1800s (though less so in recent years). Some students aren’t fazed by this others find it incredibly difficult to improve. While the ACT requires you to work a bit faster per passage than the SAT does, the ACT passages are all written in the 1900’s or 2000’s and are generally much more straightforward in terms of both the text and the questions. This is largely a matter of personal preference, but it’s worth considering in addition to your scores alone.
Math
Don’t skip the math comparison! Our math tutor guru, Vickie Barone, has just completed writing an entire article on the nuances and difference between ACT and SAT math sections (coming later in Feb. 2022, but if you contact us, I’ll be happy to send you an advance copy). For now, here are a few basics:
The SAT features many questions that have long, wordy setups, require multiple steps to complete, and/or contain “tricks” that will complicate solving them. On the SAT, you may spend a significant amount of time decoding what a question means before attempting to answer. This is not nearly as common with ACT questions. ACT math questions are generally more straightforward and feel more like questions students might see on a regular math test in school.
The SAT gives a bit more time per question to make up for this difference in complexity, but it really depends on each student’s comfort level with the trickier questions to decide whether it’s worth the tradeoff. This is another thing that contributes to the difficulty of managing time on the SAT, because it can take longer to decide whether a question is easy and should be tackled right away, or something to return to later in the section.
The ACT permits calculator use the entire time; SAT has a non-calculator section and a grid-in section. Additionally, The ACT includes a lot more geometry than does the SAT; the SAT includes a lot more data analysis.
Science (ACT only)
Don’t let the ACT Science section frighten you. It’s more like a reading section with charts, graphs, and a bit of actual science. That being said, the more familiar you are with at least the terminology and very basic concepts of the three major high school science disciplines—biology, chemistry and physics—the more comfortable you may feel with this section.
Also, most students run out of time on this section when they first attempt it. That’s because you need to learn how to approach it; for example, when to read the text and when to skip to the charts. This is something I work on with my students as they prepare for the ACT.
ACT & SAT Test Dates
Most U.S. test dates are going forward as scheduled, but it’s always best thing to check directly with the ACT and the College Board directly.
ACT Test Dates & Registration here.
SAT Test Dates & Registration here.
Want more information on the SAT and ACT or some guidance in making the right choice, please get in touch—I’m happy to help!