<p>As an Illinois high school junior, I'll take the ACT (and possibly the SAT) some time next year. I have two prep books: Gruber's Complete Preparation for the New SAT and the Collegeboard "blue book." The two books, obviously, are geared toward the SAT. I want to spend most of my time preparing for the ACT. Would those books be as effective as preparation for the ACT, or should I buy books which are specifically meant for ACT prep? Thanks.</p>
<p>1) why do you have SAT prep books when you plan on taking the ACT?</p>
<p>2) Math is harder on ACT, so i don't think SAT can help</p>
<p>3) SAT Critical Reading is harder than ACT reading, since ACT is more straightforward, but ACT requires reading faster</p>
<p>4) SAT has no science section.....</p>
<p>5) Grammar is structured in different ways on both tests, but the grammar on the ACT is again, pretty straightforward, so studying general grammar to do well on SAT should also help for ACT</p>
<p>The SAT books were gifts. As I pointed out, it's a possibility that I'll take that test (depending on how the ACT goes, most likely).</p>
<p>Yeah, I know that grammar's straightforward on the ACT; I got a 36 sans prep on that section. My issue is with math and science. Is there a consensus that ACT math is harder than SAT math? If so, ACT prep books would clearly be the best choice. Besides, as you mentioned, SAT doesn't have the science section.</p>
<p>Could somebody else add some insight into the difficulty of the ACT math section, as it relates to the SAT one?</p>
<p>it's pretty different.
The ACT math definitely is harder. it's made to test higher-level math, and you have 60 minutes for 60 questions, which is pretty fast paced.
the ACT's reading questions are a lot easier.
The big problem with the ACT is timing, so you really should practice that a lot.</p>
<p>Studying for the SAT can't hurt your ACT, but you should definitely do some seperate ACT practice.</p>
<p>You really need to take ACT practice tests to get used to the timing.</p>
<p>The main difference in ACT math v SAT math is that the ACT math has trigonometry and sometimes imaginary numbers (if they ask for it). Practice tests (at least 10) before the real thing are really necessary.</p>
<p>Both maths are easy, but if you aren’t particularly good at math, the ACT will be easier for you. The difference is that the SAT tests the most BASIC concepts of math that you should have learned and does so by asking complex questions that require you to think critically and figure out which basic methods you have to use in order to solve. The ACT tests more stuff like simple trig (cos, sin, tan) etc…but it does so in such a straight forward manner that the difficulty almost even out IMO, but people find the ACT easier just because it doesn’t try to trick you. SAT critical reading is harder, but the ACT requires you to read much faster. The ACT has a science section…which is basically read the graphs and small excerpt and answer questions relating to that excerpt and graph. The SAT writing section can be said to be more difficult as well, but the ACT writing tests on a couple more grammar rules I think. Try a practice test for both and see which is better, then work on that test only.</p>
<p>I think ACT math is way easier. I was surprised.</p>
<p>SAT math score: 650 
ACT math score: 32 :D</p>
<p>BIG DIFFERENCE!</p>