<p>Sorry no one seems to have helped you much yet. I have taken the SAT twice (1370) and ACT once. (I am taking it again in October) Studying for the SAT will NOT help your ACT score. (Except for perhaps the Reading and Science sections, because those are based on comprehension.) The most obvious difference between the two tests for me, was the math section. On the SAT, it asks you to do many different things that will involve skills you have learned, and use you knowledge to determine a solution to the problem. On the ACT, they give you a math question straight-up, and ask you to solve it, like out of a textbook. However, this simplicity comes at a price. The questions on the ACT math involve a bit more challenging math. For example, an ACT question I had involved a matrix, which I didn't learn in-depth until pre-calc. (Luckily, I knew it for the test) I walked away from the section feeling I knew pretty much everything, but then only got a 28 on that section. Who knows? That's why I'm taking it again.</p>
<p>If you have taken the SAT Reading, the ACT reading is MUCH easier. (YAY!) Even though I got a 640 SAT reading score, I got a 34 ACT reading score. (99th percentile) I just felt the questions were SO much easier!</p>
<p>Also what is different, is the addition of the English section. Basically they took the two types of questions you find in the reading section of the SAT, and gave each of them their own respective sections. (English and Reading) English relies more heavily on grammar and mechanics. Comma placement, sentence structure, word usage, etc. The English section is VERY different from anything on the SAT. If you only study one section of the ACT to understand how it works, make it English!</p>
<p>The science section isn't as scary as you may think. It is more like a science-themed critical reading section. They give you a passage, and usually a few charts, and ask you questions about them. (Even if you haven't taken the subject, you should be fine.) Heck, one of them on the test I took talked about oxygen levels in the blood at different stages of an airplane flight (WTH?) but I still understood it.</p>
<p>I haven't taken the writing test yet. (Thanks to a mistake my parents made on my application. Gurrr....) However, my friends all say that the essay is much simpler on the ACT. (You won't get any topics about the creation of happiness, like on the SAT last June. That was god awful.)</p>
<p>I got the Kaplan book, because my SAT tutor recommended it to me. (No, he does not work for Kaplan. In fact, we used the Gruber book for his SAT class.) I plan to open it up again soon so I can get my score up. (Getting a 34 in reading and a sub 30 score in all the others makes no sense to me!)</p>