Now that you and your student have decided to take a standardized test, yet another question looms: which is better—the SAT or the ACT? In the end, I always recommend that students try practice tests for both in order to see how they score and how they feel about the test formats before committing to a test. But not everyone has the time or resources to do that, so the information below can help you choose which test makes sense for your student.

In general, your student will want to consider a few factors: the amount of time per question, the type of Math on the tests, and the difficulty of the reading passages. First, we’ll describe both tests, and then compare them using these factors.

What is the SAT like?

The paper SAT has been in its current form since 2016. The College Board will implement the Digital SAT, which I cover here, in Spring 2024 (we’re assuming March 2024 will be the first digital implementation in the US). But the paper test breaks into 3 separate sections: Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. The Writing and Reading sections combine to create 1 score (between 200–800), and the Math section gives another score (also 200–800) for a total possible score of 1600.

The SAT is 3 hours long, and generally gives more time per question than the ACT does. You have 75 seconds per question for Reading, 48 seconds per question for Writing, and 83 seconds per question for Math.

The Math section has 58 questions, and breaks into two subsections—a no-calculator section, and a calculator section. They also provide a reference page with common formulas at the start of the section. The SAT has a greater focus on Algebra I and Algebra II. Only approximately 6% of the test—or 3 questions—involve Geometry. The SAT also asks 13 questions where the student must calculate their own answer and write it into the answer sheet. The other 45 questions are multiple choice.

The Reading and Writing sections both utilize 500–700 word passages. The Reading section has 5 passages, 10-11 questions per passage (52 questions total). There will be 1 Literature, 1 History, 1 Social Science, and 2 Physical or Natural Science passages. Usually these are of late high-school or early college reading level (think major historical documents or articles from the New York Times). The SAT also spends about 7–8 questions on vocabulary.

The Writing section will have 4 passages, 11 questions per passage (44 questions total). Approximately 20 of the questions—just under half—will be related to grammar and punctuation. The remaining 24 will focus on rhetoric and style: how should ideas be organized, where should new information be inserted, what can be added to improve the persuasiveness of the passage. The Writing section also dedicates ~3 questions to vocabulary.

Both the Reading and Writing sections incorporate graphs, charts, and tables that will expect students to incorporate data analysis into their understanding of the passage, and they will be asked to correlate data with information from the passages. Sometimes this is to draw conclusions based on information from the passage and trends in the data, or predict outcomes based on those trends. Other times it is to correct an error in the passage or in the data.

What is the ACT like?

The ACT breaks into 4 categories: English, Reading, Math, and Science. Each section provides an individual subscore of 1–36, and the scores are averaged to create a composite score, also out of 36.

The test is 5 minutes shorter than the SAT, at 2 hours 55 minutes long, and provides less time per question than the SAT does. For Reading and English, you get 53 seconds and 36 seconds per question; for Math, you get 60 seconds per question; and for Science, 53 seconds per question.

ACT Math has 60 questions, and is entirely multiple choice (no student-calculated answers), and allows a calculator the entire time. But it does not provide a formula reference, and it involves far more geometry than the SAT. About 14 questions will involve Geometry. The rest will be Algebra and Algebra II.

For the ACT Reading section, there are 4 passages, and they always break into these categories: 1 Prose Fiction (i.e., a piece of literature), 1 Humanities, 1 Social Science, and 1 Natural Science. Each passage asks exactly 10 questions (40 questions total). The passages are of mid-high-school reading level. Around 5 of the 40 questions will be vocabulary questions.

The ACT English section is far longer than its SAT counterpart, at 75 questions. But they only give 36 seconds per question (45 minutes total). The English section spends less time on rhetoric questions, with just under half the questions being on style, organization, and how to insert new ideas into a passage, and only around 3 of the questions will be vocabulary questions. Neither the English nor Reading sections will include charts, graphs, or tables.

The Science section is the biggest differentiator. It has 40 questions, and only provides 35 minutes to complete them. This is truly an additional reading section that incorporates charts and data into passages about scientific theories, experiments, and research results. There will be 6–7 passages with 5–8 questions per passage. All the passages involve either applying a scientific principle, summarizing an experiment and its results, or examining how an experiment has been set up, utilizing diagrams and charts to supplement short reading passages. The time constraint on this section is usually what causes students to struggle.

How do these tests compare?

Time Per Question

The SAT provides way more time per question. 

If your student takes a lot of time to read and understand material, then the SAT will provide more breathing room between questions for them to process what they’re reading. The questions and passages might be a bit tougher on the SAT (more on that below). If, on the other hand, your student can process written material quickly, they may prefer the way the ACT asks questions and they may not mind the time limits. But the faster speed of the ACT definitely trips up some students, and they often feel rushed from the beginning of the test to the end. It’s not for every student.

Type of Math

As mentioned, the SAT and ACT both cover Algebra I and Algebra II, but the biggest differentiator is in Geometry. The ACT has a much larger Geometry focus than the SAT does. Almost a quarter of the ACT Math questions are Geometry questions, and the ACT does not give students a formula reference page. The SAT only asks a handful of Geometry questions, and they provide a reference sheet with formulas for area and volume of shapes, and circumference of circles. If your student struggled with Geometry, then the SAT Math section will be better for them, even though it has a section without a calculator and requires students to hand-write some of their answers. If your student was fine with Geometry, then they may prefer the ACT, which is all multiple choice and allows for a calculator the whole time.

Difficulty of Passages

The ACT’s Reading and English passages are less complex than the SAT’s passages, and the way the ACT asks questions is a bit more straightforward than the SAT. Sometimes students have to re-read SAT questions to understand what is being asked, where the ACT is just a bit more concise. So if reading comprehension is a challenge, the ACT might be a bit easier in that regard.

On the other hand, it provides much less time per question, so if your student can puzzle out a question’s meaning in a minute or so, then the SAT may still be the better option despite the increased passage and question complexity because it provides 50% more time per question.

The Science section on the ACT is also a common sticking point for students. This section can be a real challenge, even for students with strong comprehension skills. And because the ACT’s score is an average, a low Science score can drag the composite score down, or make it difficult to raise the student’s composite score. To raise the composite score by 1, the Science score will need to increase by 3 because of the way the scores are averaged—the ACT rounds down on a 0.5, and up on a 0.75 (so a 30.5 rounds down to a 30, and a 30.75 rounds up to a 31).

Summary

In the end, which test will be best depends on the student. I still recommend students try both tests to see which one they like better and which one they score better on. There is no inherent benefit to taking one test over the other from the college’s perspective.

If your student hates geometry, consider the SAT because its math is more Algebra-focused. If they are weak in Math generally, the ACT lacks a no-calculator section and does not test Algebra II as heavily, so preparing for the Math section might be a bit easier. Students who take more time to process what they read will likely feel more comfortable with the SAT, but those who struggle with complex passages might perform better on the ACT Reading section.

The SAT is more prevalent on the east and west coasts because schools usually implement the PSAT in Sophomore and Junior year, so students are familiar with the SAT format. In the midwest, high schools use the Pre-ACT or ACT as a statewide standardized test more often, so students in those areas are more likely to take the ACT because it’s familiar. But colleges do not actually prefer one test over the other, and there are concordance tables that colleges can use to see how SAT and ACT scores compare.

The information above can help a family short on time or resources make a choice between the two tests. But if a student has the time to try both, that’s the best way to determine which test format makes more sense for them.

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