Which is better SAT or ACT?

testtaker101
Fri, 04 Jan 2013 11:37:01 +0000

I don’t really know what you define to be “better.” If you mean which is more easy, I think it depends on what kind of student you are, it’s gonna be a different answer depending on who you ask. I’ve been prepping for them for a while now, and comparing the sections, here’s what I think.

For reading, the SAT gives you enough time but some of the questions are pretty hard and require you to think for a while or have some ambiguity and therefore it takes a while to figure out which answer is best. On the ACT you have an unreasonable time constraint when you consider the ACT passages are longer than those on the SAT, but the questions are about as easy as it gets. Seriously. If you can get through it in time, you’re set because that’s honestly how easy the questions are. Very rarely have I had to think about a question for more than a few seconds because it’s either directly stated in the passage word for word or it’s really obvious. My only problem is I have to rush on the last passage due to time and I miss a few questions there.

For math, SAT is way, way easier for people who suck at math. For people who are good at math, ACT is probably easier. The thing with SAT is it tests you over very basic math concepts, like stuff 5th graders know how to do, but the problem is the SAT writers try to trick you so much it’s not even funny. There are a lot of ways you could make stupid mistakes, but the questions are also really easy. The ACT, on the other hand, tests REAL math. Like actual, real math problems that are at the 9th and 10th grade levels, and ones which actually require some knowledge of math. The SAT is mostly just reasoning when you think about it. As for time, ACT is probably worse because the questions are harder, but the ACT writers have enough of a life to not waste it trying to trick people, so there is much less of a chance of making a stupid mistake. I’m not really sure about the time though because for SAT I finish each math section with like 10-15 minutes left over and for ACT I finish the math section in 40 minutes so time was never a problem for me.

For writing, ACT is sooooo much easier. It’s ridiculous how much easier it is. The writing portion on both tests has always been easy for me, but it’s so much easier on the ACT. On the SAT there are some questions that you have to think about, but on the ACT you don’t have to think. You can literally do the test half asleep, it’s that easy. When I do SAT writing I normally miss 1 or 2 MC, but on the ACT I got a 35 and the only reason it wasn’t a 36 was because I noticed I made a mistake and went to change it but the proctor called time right there.

Then, the ACT includes the science part, which is BS because this section is essentially just reading. You just read about science. Again on this section, the time constraint is very unreasonable, but if you practice a lot you can get really good at it. The questions again are really easy, it’s just time that’s a problem.

So to get to the answer to this question, I think I prefer the SAT a little more right now. The time constraint is a lot better, even if the questions might be a little harder in reading and more deceptive in math, but if you practice a lot you will learn how to answer the harder reading questions and get better at avoiding mistakes in math. Took the ACT in December, got 35 English, 36 Math, 30 Reading, 28 Science (time was a serious issue on last two, I ended up guessing on quite a few at the end of each section). I haven’t taken SAT yet but I took a practice yesterday with my tutor proctoring so it was under official conditions and stuff and got 700 reading (I was very pleased because I started out low 600s but have improved my vocab and my approach to the passages a lot, although I could’ve done a lot better. I only missed 3 in the first 2 reading sections combined and in the last reading section I had a stretch where I missed 4 straight, obviously that disaster can be avoided), 800 math, 780 writing (assuming my essay was a 10).