The college admissions process is filled with stressful decisions— where to apply, whether or not to do early decision, how many AP classes to take—however, perhaps no decision is as important for college juniors as what admissions exam to take. In this article, I hope to briefly demystify the decision between taking the ACT and SAT. Both tests theoretically measure your readiness for college and your reasoning ability.
However, the tests use slightly different approaches. The ACT looks more like the tests you’ve seen in high school—and it’s more likely to test you on knowledge that you’ve learned in your classes. For students that have a great work ethic, and have approached high school with a “nose to the grindstone,” the ACT could be an excellent choice.
The SAT is structured to test your “reasoning” ability. If you’re the kind of student that hasn’t fully “applied yourself” to your high school work, but feel like the material comes easy to you, then the SAT might be the better choice. Students who have an excellent vocabulary and a mastery of grammar will shine on the SAT.
There are another few factors to keep in mind as you make your decision. The ACT tests several areas that the SAT does not, including science and trigonometry. The SAT is approximately twenty minutes longer so those who have a hard time sitting still for long periods may want to go with the ACT. No one is quite sure why, but women tend to do better on the ACT then they do on the SAT.
Ultimately, great test takers will do well on either test. Lower scorers will also score relatively equally on either test. For students who perform in the mid-range, the test itself tends to make more of a difference.
If you really want to make an informed decision, take a practice exam for both tests. Either take a full practice ACT or SAT, or do the PLAN and PSAT.
Either way, make sure you bring a few number two pencils.
