<p>My daughter is a high school junior and has just gotten her Jan SAT and Feb ACT scores...these were the first time for both. She took both 'cold'..with minimal prep.
Her SAT scores were sub-par based on her academic performance (sub-1900). Her ACT scores were decent (32...99th percentile).</p>
<p>First question for the panel: What do people think explains the major discrepancy?</p>
<p>Second question: Has anyone encountered a 'bias' in the top 50 schools or so for the SAT over the ACT? I know everyone says either one is acceptable, and at this point she plans to submit only her ACT scores, unless her repeat SAT scores markedly improve. But...in the back of our mind, we wonder....</p>
<p>There are a lot of such discrepancies. Some students excel on the SAT, some on the ACT, some both and some none. It depends on many factors such as high school course load, time management, etc. There was even a research which said that females are likely to score more on the ACT than boys!</p>
<p>ACT is regarded more as a ‘speed test’ and SAT as an ‘IQ test’. ACT draws materials from high school academics and SAT is more of a holistic thing. I guess your daughter’s high school performance was superb for which she used the material (what was on her head with no prep) to take the test. </p>
<p>To answer your second question, there are countless threads available on CC which prove that schools value ACT and SAT. The thing is that Collegeboard is more successful in advertising SAT to people and that Collegeboard is a part of ETS, the testing agency of other major tests like the TOEFL and the GRE. Also, from its advent, Collegeboard set up its headquarters in Berkeley, CA and Princeton, NJ while ACT emerged from Iowa. Normally, most of the prestigious institutions lie on the two coasts, so SAT seems to be popular. But popularity doesn’t necessarily shows its value to colleges. Colleges accept both equally and are not biased.</p>