ACT/SAT question

[Buccaneer]

My stepson is a jr in HS and he got a notice for upcoming ACT tests and classes through the Princeton Review. It's been so long but I don't know what the ACT test is. How is that different than SAT (which was all I took in HS)? Do you take both or just one?

[MacroGuru]

Well, I took the ACT never had to take the SAT...the ACT is graded to 36 points, with from what I heard 30+ is good college material...

It's been 12 years since I took mine though, so I do not know what to say...

[Honolulu_Blue]

http://collegeapps.about.com/od/act/a/actvssat.htm

The SAT gets all the hype as the big, bad beast of college entrance exams. But the fact is that nearly as many students take the ACT as the SAT in a given year. Many people also consider the ACT to be a “better test” than the SAT. A slowly increasing number of colleges are starting to emphasize the ACT rather than the SAT as the test-of-choice for college admissions, and the changes recently made to the SAT have actually made that test more similar to the ACT.


Even so, there are still many differences between the ACT and the SAT. Here are those basic differences. Testing Content

The first way that the ACT and the SAT differ is in the content that they cover, though these differences have lessened with the recent changes made to the SAT. Both tests cover the following subjects:


Math (though the ACT contains a little basic trigonometry, while the SAT does not)
Reading
Writing and Grammar (the ACT has an “optional” essay, but most colleges will ask you to take it, so it isn’t really optional.)


In contrast, here are the subjects and content that is not common to both tests:

SAT: The SAT has a focus on vocabulary that the ACT does not have. For the ACT you will not have to memorize vocabulary words.
ACT:The ACT has an entire section called the Science Reasoning Test that is unlike anything on the SAT. On the Science Reasoning Test students are shown various passages that describe scientific phenomena or scientific experiments. To score well on the Science Reasoning Test a student has to be comfortable with science (though no specific science knowledge is necessary). Even more important, a student has to be able to read, use, and make inferences from data and other scientific information.
Testing Philosophies

Though both the ACT and the SAT are college entrance exams that cover similar (though not exact) skills, the tests were developed according to two very different philosophies that make the two tests quite different from each other. To put it simply, the SAT was developed as an aptitude test, and though it no longer claims to measure aptitude its format and its questions still do seek to root out “innate ability” through tricky questions and confusing phrasing.



In contrast, the ACT is an assessment test. It tries to test the knowledge you’ve acquired in high school rather than any “innate ability” you might have. Because of this, ACT questions are more straightforward than SAT questions. You may find an ACT question difficult, but you’ll almost never feel that an ACT question is trying to “trick” you the way an SAT question is. Format

The SAT is a three hour and forty-five minute test containing three sections (Math, Critical Reading, and Writing). Each of those three sections is itself broken down into three timed sections that can appear in a variety of orders.



The ACT is more straightforward. It is four hours and fifteen minutes long (five hours if you take the optional essay). The ACT has four sections (Math, Reading, English, and Science Reasoning) each of which you will take one at a time. Scoring

The SAT is scored out of a scale of 2400. On each of the three timed sections you will receive a score ranging between 200-800, with 800 being the highest. These three scores are added up to get your total score. For instance, if you got a 600, 620, and 660 on the three sections, your score for the SAT would be an 1880.

The ACT is graded on a scale of 36. For each of the four sections, you will receive a score on that 36-point scale. For instance, you may get a 28 on the ACT Math. Your total score on the ACT, also called your ACT Composite Score, is the average of your four subject test scores. So if you got a 28, 29, 31, and 32 on the four sections, your ACT Composite Score would be a 30.

[Buccaneer]

What are the experiences for taking the ACT, esp. if you are an average student.

[illinifan999]

We were told midwest schools like the ACT and the coast schools like the SAT more, whether this is true, I don't know. I only took the ACT, but I took it 3 times, 2 national dates and once during the PSAE. I'm a pretty average student (A's and B's), and on my first one I got a 24, and the last 2 I got a 26 with my highest scores in reading and english.

The test itself is one of the worst times I have ever had. I cannot stand math and science and the science is the last test you take and it's really, really hard to stay focused. The material is incredibly boring, the graphs are just plain stupid, and the entire time I wanted to carve my eyeballs out with a spoon. The reading stories are very boring, but at least I can skin through those and find answers quickly, english is very repetitive and I just don't understand math at all but still managed to get a 24 on that section. My best subject is reading and I got a 33.

[st.cronin]

I never took the act but I scored dramatically higher on the sat after taking a class. I forget which class - I think it was princeton.

I went from a 970 to a 1390.

[Raiders Army]

Took both...

32 on ACT
1310 on SAT

[Izulde]

1270 on the SAT. 750 Verbal, 520 Math. This was back before they changed the format.

29 on the ACT.

And sadly, I never studied for either test. If I had, I would have done a lot better, I think.

But I never have been a serious student, in the studying sense of the word.

And the axiom of midwest preferring ACT and coastal schools preferring SAT is still true. Furthermore, if you're looking to get into a very selective school that prefers the SAT, SAT II tests can be your friend.

[MacroGuru]

Well, I am not proud of this...however....The ACT test was the day after my 18th birthday, so I partied pretty hard...showed up for the test still a little drunk, and took it.

I scored a 29, and I was pretty happy with it.....since I was still drunk and all......

[ThunderingHERD]

I was a terrible student in high school and slept through all my classes. Luckily it was a small school that my aunt (whom I lived with) reigned over as puppetmaster. I hated the ACT because the math part required actual math knowledge, of which I had none. I still did pretty well, don't remember the score cause I never took it after my sophmore year. The SAT, on the other hand, puts a premium on logic and reasoning--I got an 800 verbal and even a 620 math despite being completely clueless about the subject. And not studying and having no idea that I was even taking the damn thing until my aunt woke me up at like 6 AM on a Saturday.

[bosshogg23]

Im pretty sure the ACT average is 21. Thats what my sister scored and blew her chance at going to Michigan.

[kcchief19]

Unless they've changed it since my day (likely), other key facts/considerations:

* You are given the option of having your scores automatically sent to schools you are considering -- don't do it. If you score poorly, you want to throw that score away and take it again. You can always submit scores to schools after you know what it is, but you can't get bad scores back. Schools are *supposed* to honor your best score, but there is nothing that says they have to.

* The SAT is very tricky. I took it once and wouldn't touch it again with 10-foot-pole since all the schools I considered too the ACT. Maybe someone can answer this -- does the SAT still penalize you for wrong answers? When I took the tests, there was no penalty on the ACT for guessing, but there was on the SAT. Example: if there were 10 questions on the test and you and I both answer seven correctly and I missed two and guess at the last question and was wrong, I would score lower than if you missed two and left the last question blank. Silly.

[sterlingice]

I took both and thought the ACT to be much easier than the SAT. I'm a pretty math oriented guy so the fact that I walked off with my lowest score on the ACT being math while my highest was reading comprehension seemed to tell me the test was somewhat flawed. Whereas the SAT, I was putting a good 100-200 inbetween my math and language scores. It seemed to me that the ACT was about being able to take a pretty easy test in the alotted time while making the fewest careless mistakes. Sure- that's what every test is. But what I mean in this case is that, given a day, I think most good high school students could get close to 36 on all tests. However, on the SAT, the math goes up to Pre Calc and the vocab on the analogies was tough towards the end (tho I've heard that's gone now) to the point where you could stare at it for days and you'd still be down to guessing between A, B, C, and D because you just wouldn't know. This was before they put in the writing section of the SAT but I bet that's a cakewalk if you read their booklet of stuff to include. Probably can get a 650+ on that without even breaking a sweat if you're a halfways decent writer.

If you're taking them, do the practice tests that come with them in the time alotted. They're a lot like the normal test only with last year's or rejected questions (I forget). It'll get you ready for the format and will give you an idea of what to expect in terms of difficulty, etc. If you want to throw away money on getting a few higher points, go ahead- but if you just do it on your own, you can save a few bucks and probably will get the same score. I think the biggest thing that killed people I knew who didn't do that well was not expecting a certain format and taking too much time on certain sections and doing one or two beforehand will give you all you need to know about that.

SI