You’ve been sitting at the same desk for two and a half hours. Your breakfast has worn off, and your stomach is grumbling. The erasers on all three of the pencils you so carefully selected last night are nearly completely worn down. You are almost to the end of the test you have been so tirelessly studying for over the past several months.
Nearly all colleges high-school seniors apply to require scores from one of two standardized tests: the ACT or the SAT. These nationally administered standardized tests are another piece that colleges use to evaluate applicants.
The ACT is a three hour and 25 minute test with four sections in Math, English, Science, Reading and a semi-optional writing section.
Each of the sections is given a score from one to 36, and a composite score is given on the same scale based on the four sections.
The ‘optional’ writing section receives a score on a scale of two to twelve. The ACT does not include a guessing penalty, and the student has the ability to choose which scores are sent to colleges.
The SAT is a three hour and 45 minute test with ten sections divided among Critical Reading, Writing, Math and an experimental section.
The total score is given on a range of 600 to 2400 and reached by adding the scores of the three different subjects scored on a scale of 200 to 800; a scale of two to twelve is used for the essay section.
Although it is widely misconstrued that the SAT is considered by colleges as more highly regarded or with more stature, colleges will accept and weigh equally the ACT and SAT.
College counselors and admissions officers alike will deny it, but people specifically on the West Coast cannot shake the idea that the SAT is considered to be a more prestigious test. However, each has its advantages and disadvantages.
Therefore, which test you take should be decided upon which one you score better on.
The ACT generally asks its questions in a more straightforward manner than the SAT; on the SAT part of the trick of doing well is just learning to understand what the questions are asking you.
The SAT has a much bigger emphasis on vocabulary, and the ACT includes a science section that the SAT does not and tends to cover more advanced math concepts than the SAT does. While the SAT is divided into many small sections, the ACT is often regarded as a more complete package exam and is generally examined in a more composite manner.
High school students constantly stress about their test scores and think it will define them on their college applications.
However, as The College Solution states, the most effective indicator of how a student will perform in college is his or her grade point average, and standardized tests provide a less accurate prediction.
In fact, nearly 860 colleges and universities in the US do not require standardized test scores.
Both the ACT and the SAT are just another task in the process of applying to college.