SAT & ACT PREP

A Premier Tutor Spills the Tea on the Tests

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4 Things to Help You Make the Right Choice Between the SAT and ACT

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  1. You take practice tests of both, and find you score much better on one more than the other… or, though you score similarly, you prefer one over the other.  
  2. You look at the upcoming test dates, and realize there’s no way you make it to any of the dates of one test, but the other test has dates which work.  

    2023 U.S. dates for both tests:

    SAT 2023: Mar 11, May 6, Jun 3, Aug 26*, Oct 7*, Nov 4*, Dec 2* 
    (*will be Digital and conventional hybrid) QAS option Mar/May/Oct, SAS is useless)

    ACT 2023: Apr 15, Jun 10, July 15, Sep 9, Oct 21, Dec 9 (TIR option Apr/June/Dec)
  3. If you’re a 10th grader (or younger) in spring 2023 (class of ’25), you need to know about the changes happening with the SAT starting in Fall of 2023. The College Board announced the roll-out of the digital SAT test which will mean that U.S. students in the fall of 2023 will have the option to take the new Digital SAT, or the current paper-based test.  The SAT and the ACT each tend to make big changes every decade or so, but the leap of one company to finally go digital (it’s been discussed for 20+ years) will be quite a seismic shift. 

    Having accompanied students through the big 2016 SAT test change, which sparked massive anxiety and mystery re: what the NEW scores meant for this school or that school, I worry this fall is going to be a bit of a dumpster fire with the SAT (more so than usual)…but, don’t believe me or anyone who claims to know for certain how it will all shake out!   So, in essence, if you’re a sophomore this year, do seriously consider prepping for the ACT instead — you’ll likely skip a lot of hassle and additional stress!  
  4. You qualify for extended time (testing accommodations), and though you applied for accommodations for both tests, only one of your requests was granted, in which case, you’ll probably want to do that test.

The difference between the SAT and ACT, and how to determine your advantage

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So, what’s the difference between the ACT and the SAT? 

The SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) and ACT (American College Test) are quite similar to each other!  In terms of content, is an 80% overlap between the SAT and the ACT test: they generally cover the same topics. Both have 4 sections, both are about 3 hours long. It is very rare for a college admissions office to prefer one test over the other.  The majority of students score quite similarly on each test.

The 4 sections of the SAT 

  1. Reading (65 minutes) 
  2. Writing and Lang (35 minutes)
  3. Math No-Calculator (25 minutes)
  4. Math Calculator (55 minutes)

The 4 sections of the ACT 

  1. English (45 minutes) 
  2. Math (60 minutes)
  3. Reading (35 minutes)
  4. Science (35 minutes)

I’ve find, time and time again, that the majority of test takers definitely have a preference between the tests because of some key differences in formatting and structure.  Choosing the test on which you feel more confident and competent is hugely important, because THAT will be the test for which it will be easier for you to prep score your highest! 

Reading, Comprehension and English in the SAT and ACT

The SAT Reading is more difficult (and always includes an 18th/19th century passage), but the ACT Reading is much more tightly timed, with only 8 min 45 seconds to read the entire passage and answer 10 questions.  

The ACT English (75 questions, 45 minutes) and the SAT Writing and Language (44 questions, 35 minutes) sections are virtually the same on content, but do differ in terms of length.  

Math in the SAT and ACT

Comparing the math sections on each test: the SAT takes away your calculator for some portion (ugh!), but provides a short list of formulas and equations at the beginning of each section.  On both the Calc and No-Calc sections of SAT Math, there tends to be a heavier emphasis on Algebra.  ACT Math has much more geometry and trig, and is much tightly timed, but there’s only one section of Math, and you may use your calculator for all of it. 

Conclusion

At the risk of over-generalizing, one could argue that ACT appeals to test takers who are fast and more language oriented, while the SAT is better for those who shine in math.  In a sense, the four sections of the ACT are actually THREE reading sections (English, Reading, and Science) and ONE Math section, since the ACT Science is not “Science” so much as it is “data speed-reading”.  The SAT, in this sense, is half Reading and half Math, as opposed to the ACT which is 75% “reading” and 25% “math”.  Other students who are more Math Science oriented experience the exact opposite, though: they prefer the ACT because the Reading is less difficult and much shorter, and there’s both Science and Math, whereas the SAT has only Math.