ACT vs. SAT

As the new school year starts, many juniors and seniors are having to take standardized tests in order to apply for colleges. Students have two choices: the Scholastic Aptitude Test otherwise known as the SAT, or the American College Testing or the ACT. The two are about 50 dollars each depending whether or not the student decides to add the essay portion, but in content they differ greatly. For starters, the ACT is made up of four sections: english, math, reading, and science with an optional essay portion. While in the SAT, there are three sections: reading, math, language and also includes an optional essay portion as well. This past year, the SAT has been modified and the scoring rubric has changed from 2400 to 1600 (designed so that test takers can easily understand his or her scores) while the ACT has stayed constant. The number of students who are choosing to take the ACT instead of the SAT is increasing rapidly.  The New York Times predicted this back in 2013 when the most popular test taken was the SAT, “In fact, the ACT has pulled ahead for the first time: 1,666,017 students took the ACT last year; 1,664,479 took the SAT”.  The ACT started to get more and more popular as time went by. An article published in the year 2012  from The Washington Post explains, “The ACT is scored with no deduction for wrong answers, eliminating the psychological hurdle of figuring out the best strategy to for avoiding the SAT’s guessing penalty”. This is one of the reasons why the SAT has been revised. The old SAT required students to write an essay but has since given them the option for it to be optional.  Another factor that has led to the decrease of the SAT is that it can be challenging for students to take the the test since it is new and there is not as much test prep material, so in a way the revised test might seem intimidating. The new changes came along with a new scoring system that no one quite understands. Senior Casey Barnard  says, “The ACT just seemed like the better option for me. The scoring was easier to understand, and the SAT is trying to simplify itself down to be more like the ACT anyway”.  Another great component pushing students to take the ACT is the use of a calculator for the whole math section, while the SAT only allows it to be used for certain questions. In the end, most students just feel that the ACT is simpler to understand and prepare for.