So which one should I take? I want to apply to USC, UCLA, Perpperdine, and LMU in the LA area. Do I NEED to do the essay portion? Thanks!
USC: SAT or ACT with essay optional
UCLA: SAT or ACT with essay required
You are HS student so you can look up the LMU and Pepperdine for yourself. Just check each website application requirements.
Do you know which test is easier or would recommend for me to take? Are the essays really hard?
@nickerjackker - You can take either the ACT or SAT. Colleges will accept both. As for the essay portion, UC schools require the essay for both the ACT and SAT.
Pepperdine requires the SAT essay but makes the ACT essay optional.
USC makes it optional for students to take the ACT essay or SAT essay.
And early reports indicate that the new SAT is easier than the old SAT. Having said that, we would recommend that you take both the ACT and SAT at least once to get a comparison of the scores.
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/05/how-hard-is-the-new-sat/482376/