Are the SAT and ACT really equal?

Test Preparation
1

<p>Alright, I was at Barnes and Noble with my mom to buy an ACT prep book. While I was in the line waiting to check out, I was telling my mom about how I only wanted to take the ACT and not the SAT (I took the SAT in 7th grade and absolutely despised it). The guy in front of me proceeded to turn around and say that if you only took the ACT, you looked like you were running away from the tougher test in the college's eyes (he said he was a college professor).</p>

<p>Needless to say, I'm now probably going to be signed up for the SAT even though I know it's not the test for me. That brings up a question. Are the SAT and ACT really viewed equally in the eyes of admissions officials at top schools? Will it really look bad if I only take the ACT?</p>

<p>Sorry if this seems silly, but this is a question that my mom and I have been debating about for awhile.</p>

2

<p>He is wrong. Colleges look at them equally these days. Maybe he was a professor 25 years ago.</p>

3

<p>Scores in both test put you on a percentile rank for comparison. There is little difference for a difficult or easy test, may it be SAT or ACT. It seems that guy does not know what he is talking about. I guess he was from the coast area that took only SAT in his time.</p>

4

<p>If you get couple of math questions wrong in SAT, your score will be below 2370.</p>

<p>You make the same two mistakes in ACT, but might end up getting a composite score of 36.</p>

<p>Now tell me which is harder test.</p>

5

<p>They are supposed to be but I doubt it.</p>

6

<p>You won’t get penalized for just taking the ACT; they are equal in that sense, but many find the ACT test itself to be easier. However, I have come across people who find the ACT harder because they simply could not do the science section well.</p>

7

<p>I just don’t like the whole formatting of the ACT; the SAT is so much more user-friendly. The time constraints on the ACT are absurd and I personally despise the reading and science sections. I much prefer the more inferential questions presented on the SAT as opposed to the direct passage-to-question information on the ACT, and I just can’t seem to do well on the science section even though my top subject is science (3 AP sciences, 5s on chemistry and environmental science, solid As in all classes). </p>

<p>But to answer the OP’s question, yes, they are COMPLETELY equal. Just make sure that there isn’t a lack of standardized tests when submitting your application. Good luck!</p>

8

<p>Thanks, you guys. After showing my mom the thread, I’ve decided against taking the SAT. She agrees with me.</p>

9

<p>I agree with diddly. The time constraints on the ACT are ridiculous. They do that because that’s the only way to make the ACT hard. The questions are terrible. The science section isn’t even science. It’s just detailed reading under time pressure. </p>

<p>I’m really sick of the whole which test is harder debate. The tests are normative and by definition one cannot be harder in the absolute, since someone will always be in the 99th or 1st percentiles. One could be harder for an individual, but not in general.</p>