You may think that there’s only one game in town when it comes to college entrance exams—the ACT or the SAT—but your high school student may have a choice. What’s more, it’s a choice worth researching. The two tests are different, and different students will perform differently on them. In fact, the differences between the ACT and SAT may make choosing the best test for your student’s skills an easy decision.
Despite the dissimilar styles of the two tests, college admissions officers at schools that accept both tests insist that they do not prefer one over the other. However, you should figure out which test your prospective schools require before signing up; this will help you avoid wasting time and money. But let’s assume that your dream school will accept either test; here is some information to help you choose the one that is right for your student.
The ACT consists of reading comprehension, grammar and punctuation, math, science, and an optional essay. It is based on the national curriculum, so it is like a big final exam at the end of high school. It lasts two hours and 55 minutes (plus another 30 minutes if your student takes the optional essay at the end). Of course, there are short breaks throughout.
Because of the ACT’s focus on lessons learned in school, studious pupils tend to do better on it than on the SAT. That said, if your son or daughter is a worker bee, they may want to consider this one. The ACT may also be the more affordable option. Because the essay section is optional, those who apply to schools that do not require it can save some dough.
The SAT is the more popular of the two tests. It is taken by more college-bound high school students than the ACT, but that may not be the case much longer (the fact that some Midwestern states require all of their high school juniors to take the ACT may have something to do with this). Between 2002 and 2007, the number of East Coasters taking the ACT rose 66% while the West Coast’s number rose 44%.
The SAT focuses on math and English, the latter of which is assessed with reading comprehension, sentence completion, and a mandatory essay. It is divided into four 50-minute testing periods (broken up by very short breaks), making it almost four hours long. It tests the students’ reasoning and problem-solving skills more than the fundamental concepts they have absorbed during their twelve years in school. Statistically speaking, boys do better on the SAT than the ACT (conversely, girls tend to score higher on the ACT than the SAT). Also, numbers indicate that minority students perform better on the SAT than the ACT.
If the whole ordeal of college entrance exams is too overwhelming for your son or daughter, though, and they’d rather just skip the whole thing, there are some schools that don’t require the SAT or ACT. Unfortunately, most of these schools are trade schools and lesser-known state schools, so none of them is in the top tier. If you and your child are targeting an accredited four-year university, it will be all but impossible to avoid the duopolists of the college entrance exam market.