26 replies to this topic

[Scythe2147]

most colleges now will accept ACT scores on there own. the SAT is optional now, in high schools in Oklahoma over half of the student body will only take the ACT and not bother with the SAT.

[unnameduser]

Most colleges ask for a minimum ACT and add "or equivalent SAT"

[CodeFind]

Whenever I get confused, I go here and solve my problems

[Judy Su]

most colleges now will accept ACT scores on there own. the SAT is optional now, in high schools in Oklahoma over half of the student body will only take the ACT and not bother with the SAT.

[size=3]
Has the ACT format changed since the 1990's?  SAT has, so I was wondering if ACT did as well (if I remember correctly, the test had 4 sections, 9 points max each, for a total max score of 36).

[bruhle]

Whats the scoring scale for the two?

[RocMat1]

I know that the ACT top score is 36.. SAT I think is 1800, not sure though

[CLBeilby]

most colleges now will accept ACT scores on there own. the SAT is optional now, in high schools in Oklahoma over half of the student body will only take the ACT and not bother with the SAT.

I know that the ACTs were accepted as early as 1990 as an alternative to the SATs in the California State University system (I did the ACTs myself, and had no problem with admission.)

[JohnnyNYC2000]

Wikipedia shows the proportion of people in each state that take the ACT & SAT exams. A significantly higher proportion of people take the SAT on the East and West coasts than they do in the midwest. People in the midwest overwhelmingly favor the ACT. There appears to be little advantage either way since how you do judged by the percentile you fall into. Since I don't believe that people on the Coasts are on average any smarter or dumber than people in the Midwest, the test should be indicative of your intelligence on the subject matter tested.

Whatever you do, take both practice tests to figure out which one you'll do better on! Some people's percentile scores can vary dramatically between the two tests. While peoples' scores are highly correlated with regards to the percentage their score falls into on both tests, there is usually one test that an individual, for whatever reason, will do better on (I got in the 99th percentile on the ACT and the 94th on the SAT - I don't know why).

You should take practice tests to figure out which test (SAT vs. ACT) that you're better at. Here is a link to PDF versions of both the SAT and ACT practice exams created by their respective owners: http://www.varsitytutors.com/standardizedtests.html . I found it really helpful.

[dominantmind]

The ACT and SAT practice tests were both about the same in difficulty to me. but I ended up taking the ACT

[Arkkos]

I took the SAT a few years ago, though i didn't get a great score. It was good enough to be accepted for the six CSU's that i applied to. I didn't take the ACT.

[soymilk7]

After taking both SAT and ACT, I liked the SAT better. It was easier imo. The ACT was long, the question portions were long compared to the SATs, and material was more intricate and complex. (Hardly though, just comparing the two) However, I believe that taking both ACT and SAT had a positive impact on my admission to my university, as compared to someone who had only taken one or the other.

[rudedogz2]

I took the ACT about 5 years ago... didn't seem any tougher or easier than any of the other standardized tests I'd taken up to that point.

[DeannainCO]

Be sure you find out which test is required by the college(s) you want to get into.  Some schools accept only the SAT, some only the ACT, and some require one of the two.  And Johnny is correct - the majority of schools on the West and East coasts require the SAT; most schools in the center of the country require the ACT.

Check with your college(s) to find out which they will accept.

[propersnazzy]

i go to school in minnesota,
and i know you're required to take the ACT,
but i plan on going to college outside of mn.
is it beneficial to take both if i'm not sure what
the colleges i'm interested in accept?

[johnmarydoe]

Yes, ACT seems to gain a lot ground these days, a lot of people are shifting from SAT to ACT, but the problem is that there are still some school that insist in SAT. I think ACT is a great alternative but before that you should still try the SAT. In case you guys need to prep for the SAT or ACT, visit this www.academichacker.com , they have great ACT and SAT techniques and academic updates and it's updated pretty often, not like other websites. Good luck!

[OOOBeccaOOO]

Whats the scoring scale for the two?

The SAT is sored as a 2400 being the highest score

[champs]

A friend recommended winingprep.com for gmat preparations. I must say that it is a must-visit site for all gmat aspirants. It has excellent ebooks on maths, improving comprehension and grammar, and critical reasoning.

           http://www.winingprep.com

[pilotcs]

lol that post had to do nothing with ACT vs SAT

anyway, the new scoring scale for the SAT is 2400, not the old 1600 or as someone earlier said, 1800.

[jongao]

I think the questions on the ACT are more practical than the questions on the SAT

[nikmash232]

i gotta admit act questions are more straight forward..easier for me even though there is such a short time to finish