<p>What is the MAIN difference between the ACT and SAT? Is one easier than the other? How about the colleges' preference?</p>
<p>It is best to take practice tests of each -- some will find one test easier than the other, others do equally well. It is difficult to predict in advance which type you would be. People say that the SAT has trickier questions and the ACT is more time-pressed, but again, see how it works for you.</p>
<p>It is hard to say there is a "main" difference (particularly since the SAT changed its content to be more like the ACT -- dropping analogies and quantitative comparisons, testing more advanced math and grammar). The SAT has penalties for wrong answers, several tests per subject, only two scores, and no score choice. The ACT has no penalties, does one test per subject, yields four scores (including 8 subscores), has score choice, and includes a science reasoning section which has no equivalent in the SAT.</p>
<p>Nearly all colleges now take either test and have no preference. (This has changed in recent years -- you will hear people give advice based on what used to be true years ago about which tests colleges want). Some schools accept the ACT in lieu of both the SAT I and II; others do not.</p>
<p>The only name school I know of that doesn't take the ACT is Harvey Mudd.</p>
<p>Scan some other threads here and in the ACT section -- what you ask has been discussed ad nauseum ...</p>