When I began my career in test prep back in 1998, the ACT was a rarity in this area of the country. It was a regional test, used by some colleges in the midwest and parts of the south, but very rarely anywhere else.

That has changed. Around the time the SAT changed format in 1995, the ACT began to experience a surge in popularity. Students were unhappy that the SAT had ballooned to a ridiculous four hours in length, while universities became increasingly open to alternatives. As the ACT became a viable alternative, students began to consider which test would be better for them. Nowadays most of my students ask me to prep them for both tests.

Which one is better for you? Here’s a rundown on the differences as I see them.

READING

In my experience, the #1 reason students choose the ACT instead of the SAT is that the Reading section of the ACT is easier for them. For many students who struggle with the difficult words and abstract passages of the SAT, the ACT can be a very attractive alternative.

The SAT has loads of tough vocabulary, while the ACT has none at all. There are 19 sentence completion questions on the SAT but nothing comparable on the ACT. Obviously, if vocabulary is the major weak point of a student, the ACT can be much more amenable to a good score. On the other hand, if you knew the word “amenable” in the previous sentence, the SAT is right up your alley!

Both tests contain reading passages but there are significant differences. The SAT has more questions asking the test-taker to “read between the lines” and decipher prose that subtly implies something (for example through tactful understatement or irony) rather than being direct and literal. That’s okay for students with more of a poetic or creative bent, but others struggle with it. The SAT also likes to ask difficult theoretical questions such as “Which of the following statements, if true, would most effectively undermine the authors argument?” ACT questions are generally simpler and more direct. However, ACT reading questions are not presented in any order, which can force students to spend more time searching through the passage for answers.

Overall I think the ACT reading section is significantly less difficult. If you’re a great math student but not the world’s best reader, you should take a hard look at the ACT.

MATH

The math on the SAT is almost entirely at a junior high school level: arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. The test even gives you all the formulas you need for geometry problems at the beginning of each section, which is a nice gift. The catch is that to compensate for the low-level math, the SAT asks questions in very tricky ways, such as confusing word problems. The SAT is a better choice for students who
haven’t taken higher-level high school math courses or who have not performed as well in them. It might also be a better choice for students who excel at puzzles and games, since that kind of analytical thought is strongly rewarded on the SAT.

The ACT has much higher-level math. It goes deep into trigonometry and even includes a little bit of pre-calculus, such as matrices. However, the test asks for that material in a more straightforward way. That means the ACT is ideal for a student who is getting good test scores in trig or above, but might have trouble with more abstract math problems where it isn’t immediately obvious what you should do. A student who already has important information memorized from classwork (such as the equation for a circle, or the Quadratic Formula) and knows how to apply it should do very well on ACT math.

WRITING/ENGLISH

Both tests contain a section that tests grammar and usage; the SAT calls it “writing” and the ACT calls it “English”. The material covered is very similar on both tests. The ACT asks a few questions about punctuation while the SAT asks a few about more formal and nitpicky conventions of grammar, but most of the multiple choice questions are interchangeable.

The real difference is that the SAT includes an essay which is rated and becomes part of your Writing score. The ACT essay is optional, since some colleges require it and others do not. Even if the ACT essay section is purchased (it costs a little extra) it doesn’t affect your score — it’s sent directly to colleges and isn’t officially graded. The ACT essay prompts are also much easier, asking simple yes-or-no questions about student life such as “Should all schools require school uniforms?” The SAT has broader, philosophical prompts such as “Do the ends sometimes justify the means?” Students often spend so much time trying to figure out how to answer such questions and what arguments and examples to use that they don’t have enough time to actually compose a  solid essay.

Another interesting factor is that colleges sometimes discount the Writing section when determining an applicant’s overall SAT score, preferring to combine just math and reading into a score from 400 to 1600 just it was for decades before the Writing section was added in 2005. There’s no such fudging on the ACT — your English score counts for your ACT composite, period. That’s a bit of an advantage for students who are scoring very high in this section.

SCIENCE

Finally, the ACT has yet another section that asks students to interpret scientific charts and graphs. No actual scientific knowledge is needed, but familiarity with basic ideas of science (such as the concept of a “control group”) is vital. The section also asks students to extract data and infer conclusions from some fairly elaborate graphs. Some students find this pretty difficult.

The SAT has nothing comparable.

SO WHAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU?

In the end, your choice really depends on which test actually gives you a better score, and which your desired colleges prefer.

If you’re unsure which test gives you a better shot at a great score, you should make sure to take the PLAN as well as the PSAT. Those two test results will likely point you toward one path or the other. If it’s the wrong time of year to take the PLAN, you can always take a practice ACT from

The Real ACT Prep Guide, which contains three actual ACT tests. An experienced tutor can help you decipher the scores and advise which direction you should go. It’s also important to be sure which test carries more weight with the colleges where you plan to apply. The SAT is still preferred by most of the more competitive institutions on the east coast and in many cases is the only test accepted. For all the gains made by the ACT, the SAT is still very much the big dog in college entrance exams (there’s a reason this site is called MASTERtheSAT.com!)