SAT vs ACT?
The answer is an emphatic YES. You should take a practice SAT and the ACT in the summer of your rising junior year to determine which test best matches your skill set. There are distinct differences between the two. See the table below for a quick look at the differences or click below for a detailed blog post from March 2017.
full-breakdown-new-sat-vs-the-act.html |
SAT v ACT |
New SAT (2016) |
ACT |
Wrong answer penalty |
None |
None |
Essay Affects Total Score |
No |
No |
Avg time for reading questions |
13 minutes |
8.5 minutes |
Length of test (w/o essay) |
195 minutes |
175 minutes |
Added focus on language mechanics |
No |
✔ |
Geometry/Trigonometry |
6 questions |
18 questions |
Higher level math concepts (i.e. logs) |
No |
✔ |
Science Section |
None |
✔ |