SAT or ACT?


How Do I Choose Which Test To Take?

FAST FACTS

  • The ACT includes 4 longer sections + essay, but working quickly matters on this test.
  • The SAT includes 10 shorter sections + essay, but you may feel like you have a little more time to work on each section.
  • Students say the ACT feels more familiar, like a test they would see in school, so it’s often the option for students who go to private schools who have standardized test fears.
  • The SAT may feel trickier, particularly the math, but its methods are more limited and crack-able. (e.g. it’s easier to get a feel for its questions and know where its going)
  • If you’re eligible for extra time at school that doesn’t guarantee you’ll be offered extra time on either test. You may want to apply first and see if you receive extra time and from whom.

The best way to decide which test to take is to sit down and take a full-length version of each and see how you do. You can find a score comparison chart here.

Warning: take a real SAT and a real ACT (not Princeton Review, Kaplan, Arco, etc). You can take any full test available in the College Board book or get the full length, free downloadable test from the College Board here. The ACT is a little trickier. The ACT site has a free downloadable test, too, that you can get from your guidance counselor  (or that you can grab from me here) but the test has been evolving a little. Many students report that they feel like the science section is more difficult than the sample material you’ll see on that downloadable test. Keep that in mind if you’re already having trouble with science (understanding it or completing it).

You can use this score comparison sheet to compare the scores you receive. If you score about the same on each, choose the one that feels more natural to you and run with it!