SAT or ACT? PLEASE HELP A BROTHER OUT

humbugs
Tue, 01 Jul 2014 23:49:59 +0000

(almost all example questions are made up)

every person is different. ACT math questions are less riddle-like and more straightforward. almost all ACT questions label geometry segments for you (which is nice). SAT questions test more elementary concepts and rely on tricky wording and confusing problems to keep that score bell curve from skewing left.
–Hard SAT problem: “Jim has more money than Tom but less money than Daniel. Peggy has twice as much money as Tom but 3 dollars less than Jim. how much money does Peggy have?”
–Hard ACT problem: “A solution for a quadratic equation is a+bi. What is the other solution?”

ACT reading requires faster comprehension and retention. The ACT reading frequently asks literal questions:
–“Which came first chronologically?”
–“it can be best implied that so-and-so happened in which year?”
such questions are absent from SAT reading passages. SAT critical reading frequently has difficult vocab in the answers themselves that can make elimination intimidating:
–"What was the author criticizing in passages 22-24?
A. prevarication from the truth
B. moral equivocation
C. senseless hedonism

ACT science is a beast that some people conquer without a problem but others struggle with. It’s all about moving quickly and processing scary-sounding terms and graphical data.

Bottom line: if you have a rich vocabulary, love of reading, and/or gumption for word tricks, the SAT is a better choice. If you read at breakneck speed and enjoy graph interpretation and pre-calc level math, the ACT is better.