Students are increasingly taking both the SAT and ACT as university application numbers continue to rise year-on-year. In fact, the ACT is now the more widely taken test, which comes as a surprise to many international families whom are often more familiar with the SAT as a globally-recognised brand name. Changes made to the SAT in 2016 (including a return to the 1600-scale and the removal of negative marking) have made the tests more equivalent than before.
First of all, it is important to point out that both of these tests are considered equivalent by all US universities. You will have no advantage in taking the SAT over the ACT or vice versa. The only thing that matters are your actual scores. So, it always makes sense to take the test that you will do best on. Secondly, it is a myth that your SAT or ACT score is the most important factor for your US university applications. The most important factor will always be your regular school grades (assuming you are not a recruited athlete). This is then followed by your SAT/ACT score and your application essays.
The single best way to decide if taking the SAT or ACT is right for you is to take a timed, full-length practice test of each type. This is something that I encourage all of my students to do when beginning their test preparation. Since the content and style of the SAT and ACT are very similar, factors like how you handle time pressure and what types of questions you find most challenging can help you determine which test is a better fit. After taking each practice test, the decision will then come down to two factors: 1) Which test the student 'felt' better taking, and 2) Which test the student scored higher on overall. These will usually be one and the same and in almost all cases, students will come out with a clear preference.
Below is a schematic which effectively summarises the overall structure of each test:
Following from this, there are several key differences to keep in mind:
The ACT is faster-paced than the SAT, but the SAT generally has tougher questions: students have far less time per question on the ACT, and this largely means that each question on the ACT is easier than each question on the SAT. This is particularly true for the Reading sections of the tests where the SAT tends to ask more cryptic and less direct questions than the ACT. On the Math sections, the SAT questions tend to require more specific knowledge and spotting of 'shortcuts' in order to solve questions. So, the ACT tends to favour students who work quickly while the SAT tends to favour students who like take a little more time but are happy to deal with questions of a slightly more tricky and cryptic nature.
The SAT has both a calculator and non-calculator Math section; the ACT only has a calculator Math section: The non-calculator section of the SAT is short with only 20 questions in 25 minutes, however many students who are not comfortable with Math fear this section because they tend to rely heavily on their calculators in the classroom. Again, I encourage students to try an SAT practice test even if they do not like the idea of a non-calculator section because they may be surprised at how they perform.
The ACT has a Science section; the SAT does not: The Science section of the ACT is not a pure science test. It is more like a 'charts and graphs' test, where students are asked to interpret information from various charts and graphs within the context of various scientific experiments. Therefore, students do not need to be taking a science subject at school to necessarily do well in this section as it is not science knowledge-based. However, some students are more comfortable than others in dealing with this type of graphical information in the ACT's short time limit.
The SAT is scored out of 1600, comprised of two section scores; the ACT is scored out of 36, comprised of four section scores: The scaled scoring of the tests is vastly different, with the SAT providing a far more granular score given it is out of 1600 (versus 36). The SAT overall (or 'composite') score is broken down into two separate scores, English and Math, both out of 800. These total to give your composite score out of 1600. The ACT score is however broken down into four separate scores (English, Reading, Math and Science) each out of 36. The simple average of these gives your composite score out of 36. Universities will see these separate score breakdowns, as well as the composite score, so this is worth keeping in mind. Furthermore, the score scaling of the SAT has recently become harsher given increasing levels of students taking the test and the need to separate student performance levels for universities. This has meant that many students have seen their SAT scores fall over the last year or so.
The Essay tasks are different in nature: The Essay is taken at the end of each test and is a separate score - it does not form part of the much-more-important composite score. It is being required by increasingly less universities, but I encourage students to take it regardless as they often will not yet have decided on their final list of universities and there is no way of taking the Essay separately! The nature of the tasks is different: for the ACT, students are asked to write an argumentative essay where they must choose an opinion on a modern-day topic (such as global warming) and defend it using their own evidence. For the SAT, the task is a literary analysis where students are given an excerpt from a book or an article and asked to analyse how the author has achieved a certain literary goal. Both tasks can be practiced to improve and so the Essay should not be the determining factor given that it is far less important than the other main sections of the tests.
The ACT is now computer-based for all international students while the SAT is still written: This is an important consideration as computer-based testing can feel significantly different for many students who are used to sitting paper-based tests. The majority of students I have worked with prefer to take tests on paper and so this can affect their decision on which test to take. It is also worth noting, however, that students with extra time (such as those with ADHD or dyslexia) are still able to sit the ACT on paper.
While it is certainly important to choose the best test for you - by understanding the key differences between the two tests and taking a practice test for each - the most important factor in determining your test success will ultimately be how much work you put in to your test preparation once you have chosen which test to focus on. The good news is that all the evidence has shown me that students can improve their scores considerably through diligent test preparation. So, make sure you devote enough time and effort to preparing for the SAT or ACT as many US universities will be using this a key assessment criteria!
Integra Education is an educational services firm specialising in the provision of US & UK university admissions counselling, SAT/ACT test preparation and Mathematics & Physics tutoring.
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