<p>I scored a 33 on the ACT and then a 2360 on the SAT… the ACT science section was stupid and pointless, the essay topic was boring, the math just measured how far I’d gone through high school, and the reading stories were less interesting. Also, I did much worse so I guess I am biased.</p>
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<p>You can say it for another seven years, but that won’t make your opinion accurate. I disagree. The ACT is a superior test. Prove me wrong.</p>
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<p>Nope. Still unfair. So many rich kids in private schools have vastly more opportunities than those in the lower income bracket. A couple of incredibly talented people at my school who excel at science who would have done well at those olympiads and science competitions -but too bad they no idea what those things even were. Those “evil” standardized tests helped show those admissions officers that they had the same intellectual capabilities as those attending prestigious private schools. Again, I’m not trying to perpetuate that they’re perfect- nothing is, that’s silly, but it still offers a semi-equal leveled playing field.</p>
<p>And SAT> ACT.</p>
<p>I still always find it laughable how people think that the SAT is ONLY a test that tests your ability to maneuver it and game it. </p>
<p>Writing section: tests your grammar. simple as that. i will admit that i think the essay portion is rather stupid. </p>
<p>Critical Reading Section: Fill in the blank vocab section. Answer questions with answers IN THE PASSAGE. Not very hard. </p>
<p>Math: Eh, I feel too lazy to comment on this.</p>
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<p>33 ACT, 19?? SAT. Close-ish to your criteria.</p>
<p>No prep for either test.</p>
<p>I think my whole family is kinda close to your criteria as well
Let me comment on me and my brothers</p>
<p>Me: First time 25 ACT (eventually 33) and 1550 SAT- ACT is around 150 pts better
Twin: First time 24 ACT (eventually 32) and 1510 SAT- around 140 better
Younger Brother: 22 ACT (right now he is at a 28, shooting for a 30 in october), 1440 SAT- around 100 points better</p>
<p>What has happened to my twin brothers and I is that we basically took both test the June of our sopomore years. We choice the ACT because that is the one we scored better on. We preped for a year and half and we improved 8 points each. My younger brother did the same thing and has improved 6 points so far and is going to retake 1 more time. </p>
<p>From our experiences as well as the feedback we have gotten from our friends it is much easier to improve on the ACT than it is to improve on the SAT.</p>
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<p>This is an amazing data point. Thanks. </p>
<p>Any twins out there to show whether ACT or SAT is better or useful?</p>
<p>I actually prefer the SAT over the ACT.</p>
<ol>
<li>The SAT offers more breaks</li>
<li>The time constraint on the SAT isn’t as bad as on the ACT</li>
<li>The ACT’s Science Section should just be called Reading #2, it is hardly involve much Science.</li>
</ol>
<p>Remember, the ACT tracks to the standard high school curriculum. As a result, you better see improvement when comparing a soph. score to a junior score. </p>
<p>We live in an ACT state and are advised to take the ACT several times if possible. You are told to take it sometime in the middle of your junior year and then as part of the state-mandated testing late in April of your junior year. If you still need to improve your scores, a retake is still possible in June or early in your senior year.</p>
<p>Ahhh I so hope so. Both tests are quite dumb, but the ACT is by far better.</p>
<p>I found with my kid that even though he did about the same on both, ACT was more comfortable to him. I am sure it works the other way also.</p>
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<p>wow, really? I had just assumed everyone did</p>
<p>Also, I got pretty much an equal score for both (apparently my SAT score was 10 points below what it should have been :b )</p>
<p>2150 SAT, 34 ACT. No prep on either taken each once. I feel like if I actually studied and went to like a prep class though, my SAT score would shoot up way more, because it’s all about gaming the system and knowing how the test is trying to manipulate you, less about actual knowledge.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, they’re two different companies who pretty much could care less about us and make it their mission to suck our wallets as dry as possible.</p>
<p>I did better on the ACT than the SAT:
35 - 36 vs CR 800, M 750 W 720</p>
<p>I felt going through each test that the ACT was much more about timing and working your way through each problem. The SAT was a bit more challenging as more metal gymnastics were required.</p>
<p>However, looking at my scores I feel like I could get a higher score on my SAT if I wanted to (it might just be overestimation of my abilities 
). I would just have to drill the math more so that I wouldn’t miss two questions and learn how to write an SAT essay. </p>
<p>I’d be interested in which test measures students’ theoretical limit (in other words the highest score with a moderate amount of preparation) faster?</p>
<p>If you want something comparable, I took the old SAT, the last one actually, and scored a 1260. I hate trick questions and all the games on the SAT. In contrary, I found the ACT to be easy fast and to the point. No looking for tricks. I got a 29 first try, then a 33 the second.</p>
<p>I thank the ACT for allowing me to open a few more gates and probably got a direct admit at kelley because of it.</p>
<p>Although the majority of ACT Science is reading, you gotta admit you still have to know science to do well on it due to the very short time limit. You don’t have hours to actually read the problem. If you were being hit with a titration problem and you remembered doing a titration lab in chemistry, you wouldn’t have to spend time trying to understand the problem and could blaze through the questions. The only section I’ve ever gotten a perfect score on was science, and due to recognising the problem from science classes.
anyways, the SAT is such a stupid test. how is having to know obscure vocabulary supposed to prepare you for college? I got a 35 on the act compared to a 2060 on the SAT -_-. SAT critical reading is also such bs</p>
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<p>ahhaha. because if YOU did badly on one test there must be something wrong with that test! and since you scored highly on the ACT it must be an awesome test! yayy, you really convinced me. : )</p>
<p>For a great article comparing the ACT vs SAT: [SAT</a> vs ACT – Tutor Talk | Appelrouth Tutoring Services](<a href=“http://www.appelrouthtutoring.com/blog/2008/08/26/sat-vs-act/]SAT”>http://www.appelrouthtutoring.com/blog/2008/08/26/sat-vs-act/)</p>
<p>Among the more interesting quotes:</p>
<p>“If a student is even on the SAT and the ACT, I will always focus on the SAT. The SAT, by its design, is and always will be a more coachable test. I have never seen the kind of dramatic gains on the ACT that I have seen on the SAT. There is not a “lightbulb” that goes off when a student finally understands the ACT. This happens all the time on the SAT. Students finally understand how to interpret the critical reading questions on the SAT. They finally get the bizarre math functions. With the ACT what happens is that a student simply becomes familiar with all the sections and learns how to manage the timing. I have seen students go up 3,4, 5, and 6 points on the ACT, but never the tremendous jumps of 300-400+ points that occur on the SAT. The one ACT section that does yield dramatic jumps is science. Some students are completely unprepared for the speed and quick decisions that section requires. After some preparation, many students find that they do remarkably better on the science section than they did initially.”</p>
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<p>this sentence contridicts itself… “never the tremendous jumps of 300-400+” it was just said that he/she has seen 3-6 point increase which are damn close to the 300-400+ increases she is talking about…</p>
<p>3 points= around 180 pts
4 points= around 240 pts
5 points= around 300 pts
6 points= around 360 pts. </p>
<p>Both my twin and i have improved 8 points after around a year and a half of prep that equal to about a 480 point increase on the SAT.</p>
<p>^^ Since the ACT is cumulative you absolutely should score higher after a year a half …that coupled with “learning” how to pace yourselves would account for an increase.</p>