WHICH ONE TO TAKE?

Here'S 2 official practice tests:

ACT Practice Test (Answers at End of Document)
SAT Practice Test - (Answers in This Separate File

Bottom Line:

I recommend students take a full official timed test of each kind
and see which one they do better on or feel better about.
Generally, colleges don’t prefer one test to the other.
Also, remember that the PSAT is like the SAT, so if your teen
did well on the PSAT, they will likely do well on the SAT.

Comparing the Tests

the big picture

section by section comparison of ACT & SAT

  1. WRITING/ENGLISH
    Both the SAT and ACT test a student's command of correct English, such as grammar, sentence structure, and rhetorical skills like organization (where a sentence should be placed in a piece and so on). A part of the SAT English section now directly tests vocabulary.

  2. READING
    Only the ACT has this section. It gives longer passages for students to read and then asks students questions about the passage. Students who are good, confident, experienced readers will do better in this section.

  3. MATH
    Both the SAT and the ACT test students on algebra, algebra II, trigonometry, geometry, general mathematical reasoning, and interpreting graphs and tables. The ACT math section is more like the kinds of problems students are used to seeing in their math classes. The ACT also could ask about a broader variety of concepts. The SAT math section is similar, but is more practically and conceptually oriented. The SAT has an emphasis on applying math to real world problems that often involve tables and graphs. It also asks “trickier” questions—ones that require insight into concepts as opposed to just cranking out an answer. Some teens do better with the more straightforward, nuts-and-bolts ACT emphasis and some do better with the more practical SAT emphasis. Again, taking a practice test will help your teen find out which he or she prefers.

  4. SCIENCE:
    The ACT includes a Science section which the SAT does not. This section requires students to read and interpret the results of specific experiments and studies as presented in graphs, tables, charts, and and so on. It does not test on scientific knowledge. If your teen is good at this kind of thing, it could make the ACT a better option.

  5. ESSAY
    There is no longer an essay on the new digital SAT. The ACT essay is a conventional persuasive essay. Students are given a topic along with three positions on that topic and asked to choose a position and relate it to the others.