TALE OF THE TEST: Should you take the SAT or ACT?
As high school students look ahead to college, they know that part of the application game is choosing which admissions test is best for them. While you can look at the layout of each test on my SAT & ACT pages, I’m going to compare the sections of the test against one another as if they were a series of boxing matches. So in a scholastic version of Mayweather-McGregor, let’s see who wins.
Match #1: ACT English vs SAT Writing & Language
The ACT English runs a little faster so you don’t have to think as much to find the right answer. When you sit down to take the ACT, their questions are pretty straightforward whereby if you know the grammar law, you’re golden. In this case, you would apply the 4 C’s: Is the answer ‘clear, consistent, complete and/or concise?’ There would be a few questions about the passage overall, but sometimes you can get the answer just from looking at the title of the passage. The curve on English is stiffer than other sections of the test so you really need a high percentage of correct answers to do well so that your raw score translates favorably to your ‘out of 36’ English score.
The SAT Writing & Language section is briefer and touches on the same grammar rules as the ACT. Some of the questions focus a little more on reasoning so you may need to keep a little more attention on the comprehension of the passage. Some feel that is what the reading section is for and the old SAT was more fun for students before it changed in 2015.
Winner: ACT English
Match #2: ACT Reading vs SAT Reading
The ACT Reading section shows up as the 3rd section of the test, right after your break and is the same four-passage layout each time: Literary Narrative, Social Science, Humanities, Natural Science. I also find time to be more of an issue with this section because if the passages get a little involved, you can find yourself having to rush at the end. The content of the passages have a drier feel.
The SA
T Reading is the first thing they hit you with on the test. So you sit down and BAM: over an hour of reading. However, you are given ample time for each passage (65 min / 52 questions / 5 passages) and the content is a little more interesting, sometimes including graphs, but can sometimes get too significant with the more literary selections. If you’re not a reading person, an hour of reading may be a bit much to start out your SAT, but its content is more enjoyable.
Winner: SAT Reading
Match #3: ACT Math vs SAT Math (no calculator & calculator sections)
Just like the English & Writing sections, the math content needed to be known for both tests is similar. However, the way the questions are presented is different. ACT Math questions are more like problems you would have for homework. Just like the SAT math sections, the questions do run easy to hard, but the way the ACT math questions get hard is bringing in harder topics where the SAT brings in additional layers to problems.
If math is your thing, then the SAT has more of it, and one positive change, for teachers at least, is pulling the calculator away for one math section, but then allowing it on the second one. Sometimes the students have issues with time on the math sections, more so with the ‘no calc’ section. When students struggle on math questions on these tests, it’s more than they don’t know the skill on the ACT, while they don’t know how to approach the question on the SAT.
Preference over who has the superior math section(s) depends on the student, but if these are reasoning tests, let’s go with the one where more reasoning is involved.
Winner: SAT Math
Match #4: ACT Science vs Mystery Opponent
There’s no mystery opponent, but ACT Science has to fight somebody. Science is not necessarily a section about science. It’s more another reading comprehension section with science content as a backdrop. Now both tests’ reading section have a passage based in science, but the ACT science section is more about looking at data, experiments and opinions and reading the graphs/studies and essentially following the yellow brick road. If you like reading about experiments, more so than doing a second math section, then the ACT may be for you.
Winner: N/A – No Contest
Match #5: ACT Essay vs SAT Essay
At the end of each test, there is an ‘optional’ essay that everyone does. Both essays changed in the last few years so let’s compare the essays as they are today.
First, for the ACT, make sure you get a newer book because some books on the market may still carry the older essay about school issues. Now the ACT cares about issues that affect our culture and offer multiple perspectives, to which the same essay task of analyzing them and giving your own viewpoint is always the same. One thing the ACT essay does allow for is a chance to create your own examples and give your own viewpoint on the issue.
The SAT essay, on the other hand, does not want your opinion. The current iteration involved reading an article about an issue and then writing about how the author makes their point. So you’re not analyzing the article, you’re analyzing how the author analyzes the issue. This lends each essay to having the same thesis of the same three bullet points that are given in the prompt. The SAT essay is more of a commitment because you are stuck with that one essay and you have to, in a way, praise the author despite your personal feelings, when you would think, showcasing your own feelings should be the way to go.
Winner: ACT Essay
And the winner is:
Uh oh, this could be one of those articles where you read a lot about something and then at the end nothing is resolved. By the tally of the matches, you could conclude that, but this is the analogy I give to students & parents:
The SAT comes off like a test that was written by a liberal arts hipster outdoors under a tree and the ACT was written by a hermit in their dorm room or campus library. So the ACT is drier, but the SAT may have more advanced content. It is really up to the student. Also, I have had students awarded extra time due to various conditions/disabilities and a slight majority are directed to take the ACT. However, it does depend on the student.
The best thing I can recommend is to check out these most recent official books. Each has their own theory section as well as practice tests. And if you’re looking for which test has the better prep materials available, then I would side with the SAT.
Evan Wecksell is the self-proclaimed ‘best tutor in the world.’ This is his site so no bio necessary, but definitely find the best test prep books on his materials page. And follow Evan’s Breakthrough Tutoring on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!