ACT® or SAT: How To Decide Which Test to Take

Which test is better for you, the ACT® or SAT? Don’t go on a hunch! Use scores to help you find the test that will give you an advantage.

Below are the steps we recommend and a scoring table to help you compare scores on the SAT to those on the ACT®.

• Make sure that your child takes a carefully timed and supervised baseline ACT® to compare that score with his or her PSAT scores. (Junior PSAT scores are a good predictor of SAT scores.)

Marks Education offers free, supervised practice tests for clients in our offices. We use real ACT®s released by the ACT® company.

Once you have the scores for both tests, use the chart below to see whether your child did better on the ACT® or SAT, using the junior year PSAT score to substitute for an SAT score if you wish.

If the score comparison indicates that one test is better by a margin of one ACT® point or more, direct your child toward that test.

If the scores are comparable, ask your child to consider the following factors:

1. Which test did they feel better taking? Comfort level with the test is a big factor in eventual performance, so students should think about this carefully.
2. Slower, deliberate test takers should lean toward the SAT.
3. Students who struggle with reading comprehension passages from older texts (think Benjamin Franklin, Virginia Woolf, or Jeremy Bentham) should lean towards the ACT®.
4. Students who like to move quickly through surface questions should favor the ACT®.

Important: Choose either the ACT® or the SAT and focus on that test. The tests are different enough that, for most students, studying for both is a tremendous waste of time. Also, preparing for both may prevent score improvement. The SAT prioritizes careful consideration, while the ACT® prioritizes speed. Most students who switch back and forth between tests follow the wrong strategies for each test, and this affects potential improvement.

How to Compare Scores Across Tests

The following table compares scores across the “new” or redesigned SAT, the ACT®, ACT® percentiles, the “old” 2400-point SAT offered prior to March 2016, and the same SAT on a 1600 point scale (Reading and Math sections only). It’s based on 14 pages of data tables published by College Board on April 9, 2016 and on the 2006 concordance studies published by College Board and ACT®.

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