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Am I a SAT student or an ACT Student?

Practically unheard of in Nepal a decade ago, ACT has been making inroads into the Nepali market for a couple of years now. Now more students than ever before are taking this test and preparation is available more easily in Nepal than, say, a few years ago.

Students who don’t want to take both (and here I’m not going to get into the whole ‘don’t put all your eggs in the same basket’ argument- there will be a separate article about that later J) often get confused about which of these tests to attempt. There are many similarities and many fundamental differences. But here is a comparison, which I hope will help you to decide.

POPULARITY IN THE USA

Which is more popular in the USA? SAT is the older test, but since 2012 ACT has overtaken the SAT and become the number one test of its kind in the USA.

ACING THESE TESTS

Which test has more perfect scores? Well in the ACT 1 out 735 students gets a perfect score while in the SAT, 1 out of 3400 students get a perfect score.

TEST TIMING AND PACING

The SAT (including the optional essay) is 3 hours 50 minutes long while the ACT is 3 hours 35 minutes long with the optional essay.

Across the test, the average time per question is 50 seconds in the ACT and 1 minute 10 seconds in the SAT.

SAT WRITING VS ACT ENGLISH

The passages are easier in the ACT, say, about 9^th grade level in an American School. The passages in the SAT are varied, with levels varying from 9^th grade to early college. Most of the concepts tested are the same, but the SAT is trickier with many of the answer choices very trickily phrased. The ACT has no info graphics. Verdict- ACT English is more student friendly than SAT Writing.

SAT MATH VS ACT MATH

The SAT Math test has advanced Algebra and Trigonometry. The ACT is using more questions in Trigonometry and Algebra II nowadays. If you’re not all that great at Trigonometry, no need to press the panic button because it’s pretty basic in both tests.  As far as the level of the math is concerned in both these tests, I call it an honorable draw.

However, the ACT has the edge in calculator usage and allows calculator usage across the whole math test. The SAT let you use a calculator only for the difficult section.

The ACT is totally multiple choice and you have a 20% probability on each question. The SAT has grid-ins.

ACT READING VS SAT READING

ACT has 4 looooong passages: they can be up to 900 words, but in the SAT there are 5 passages and they are about 700 words long. Both tests have a paired set of passages.

The complexity of the passages is also a key factor and the ACT passages are a lot less complex than the SAT passages. ACT passages are about the same level of complexity 10^th and 11^th grade students in the USA would be expected to do, while the complexity level of the passages in the ACT could go up to early college level. Verdict- ACT wins because of the lower complexity level of the passages.

ACT SCIENCE TEST

First of all, only the ACT has a Science section- the SAT does not. This is the reason that the ACT is perceived as a test for STEM aspirants. However, knowledge of scientific facts and theory IS NOT TESTED! The Science you’ve learnt in your SLC is enough for the background info you need. Thus, Management and Humanities students can succeed on this section too. I teach the Science Reasoning section of the SAT and by the way, I studied Science only till grade 10, and I was terrible at it!

SAT OPTIONAL ESSAY VS ACT OPTIONAL ESSAY

On the ACT, you will be given 3 different perspectives on the same issue and you will be asked to evaluate them and provide your own perspective on the issue. Those of you who are good debaters and form a perspective immediately and come up with supporting reasons and examples fast will do better.

The SAT Optional Essay however, starts with a passage of about 700 words. You are required to write about how the author builds up an argument. The most obvious difference is that the SAT wants you to comment only on what the author is doing in the passage- your own opinions do not matter.

SCORING

The SAT is scored on a scale of 400-1600 and the ACT is scored on a scale of 1-36. Verdict- a no-brainer:  The ACT presents you with something you’ve been doing for years, while the SAT will make you do something totally new.

SAT-ACT Conversion Table

My own perspective, I recommend the ACT for most students over the SAT. I have also seen most students who take both get a better score on the ACT.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back soon with more insights to share.