ACT VS. SAT

Since the beginning of high school, I've been taking the PSAT's and practice ACT's. I've always wondered why there's two tests and what's the difference between them. Considering the ACT, from personal experience, has more advanced Mathematics sections, while the SAT is more advanced towards the English and Writing sections.

The ACT also has a Science section, which adds more variety, rather than the SAT with its common English, Mathematics, and Writing. The ACT also has less sections with a longer time limit to complete them, while the SAT has 10 sections that are anywhere from 25-35 minutes.

What's quite interesting about it, is that the SAT is the dominant college admissions test along the East and West Coasts and the ACT's mainly taken in the Mid-west and South.

The scoring on the tests are also very differnet. Each section of the SAT is scored on a scale of 200-800 with 2400 being the highest possible combined score, or 1600 without the count of the writing section. The ACT, on the other hand, scores each section on a scale of 1-36. Then the overall score is an average also from 1-36.

Both tests are quite difficult, but, most students find the ACT to be the easier test. The good thing about the two, is they're both accepted by colleges. There's no preference. Although, a lot of college's don't even take a gander at the test scores, but, the majority of major universities and Ivy-league schools require it to be mandatory. I hope this has answered any questions. Good luck!