<p>My junior son has taken the ACT (26) and will take it again in June. He is a very good student (2nd in his class at a public) but a slow test taker. We were planning on getting him some side tutoring before the next ACT - he is also an athlete and spending hours scouring the ACT book just isn't happening very well, though he has tried with the little time he has between sports and studying. </p>
<p>But today he came home saying he would like to try the SAT as well. We are only ACT educated at our house! His older sister took the ACT - most schools in our area accept ACT readily...but most will also accept SAT.</p>
<p>I looked briefly at the College Board website....</p>
<p>First question - what's the difference between the SAT Test and the Subject tests? Are subject tests necessary?</p>
<p>SAT does not have science, correct?????</p>
<p>Your experience ACT vs. SAT???</p>
<p>Any brief comments on one over the other or suggestions appreciated. :)</p>
<p>You are not required to take the SAT subject tests, unless the colleges your son will be applying to require them. Also, the SAT does not have a science section, only math, writing, and critical reading sections. Personally, I find the ACT much easier, as it tests skills that I have learned from school, rather than stump with logic-based questions. I got an 1880 on my SAT, but on my ACT I received a 34. However, some people prefer the SAT, and do much better on it as opposed to the ACT.</p>
<p>some kids do much better in ACT over SAT and some do much better in SAT over ACT. As far as I know, ACT tests what you know and SAT tests your ability to reason. </p>
<p>There are three sections of SAT, if I remember it right, math, critical reading and writing. </p>
<p>Both my kids do well in ACT so I know little about SAT. Since ACT is knowledge based, one would expect that taking it in senior year should get better scores than in junior year.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, only the most selective colleges & universities require the SAT Subject tests, and they usually require two, although a few require three Subject tests. For the vast majority of colleges & universities, they will accept the ACT and the SAT interchangeably, usually specifying that the ACT should include writing.</p>
<p>You are correct, the SAT “Reasoning” test does not have a science section – it is made up of three components, Critical Reading, Math and Writing.</p>
<p>There are “concordance” tables which many colleges use to convert ACT scores to SAT scores, and vice versa.</p>
<p>Some kids do better on the ACT, some better on the SAT. My 2 older kids did about the same. The consensus is that the ACT is a little more fact based, based on material kids learn, or should learn, in high school. The SAT has its origins in Army “intelligence” tests. For many years the “A” in SAT stood for Aptitude. College Board has since dropped that nomenclature, but there is still something of a different flavor to the two exams.</p>
<p>It is probably worth while taking a practice test of both types (SAT vs. ACT) to see if your kid does significantly better, in percentile terms, on one versus the other. If that is the case, then I think it is worth it to take both tests for real.</p>
<p>The ACT is definitely designed for speed test takers. The SAT has a bit more time on the sections so if your son needs a little extra time he might find the SAT more to his liking. And the ACT “Science” section is more chart and graph reading than science.</p>
<p>The way I see it, a smart kid who is a reader can do well on the SAT with little prep. The ACT seems to be a better thing for the work hard student who remembers what he studied in class.</p>
<p>I am more familiar with the SAT than the ACT. Some additional info: </p>
<p>It seems like the verbal section of the SAT is more like the reading section on the ACT, and the SAT’s writing section is more like the English section on the ACT. Also, I don’t think that the SAT has any trig questions. The SAT takes a bit longer to complete than the ACT.</p>
<p>I have been proctoring the ACT for 8 years and I have noticed that students don’t seem to feel too much time pressure on the first two sections, English and Math (45 minutes and 60 minutes respectively). However, the last two sections, Reading and Math, only offer 35 minutes and do seem to pressure better students.</p>
<p>Some kids think the ones finishing first are the smarter ones, but that hasn’t been my experience at all. When my kids took the test, they were obviously assigned to other proctors. However, I have watched many of their friends take the test and what I noticed was the smarter kids had more trouble finishing the reading and science sections in the allotted time.</p>
<p>S did much better on the SAT than ACt which is unusual from my own personal poll. He should have qualified for extra test time but Collegeboard denied request. We did not bother trying w/ ACTs (which we were advised never gives extra time). Some people look at the extra time accommodation as cheating but a slow processer is just that; it doesn’t correspond w/ intelligence. </p>
<p>Goggle xiggi (from this ccboard) for his test taking tips. I know he specializes in SATs. Also Utube has some good videos “mystery tutor”.</p>
<p>I agree with hmom5. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how that helps … a lot of unanswered questions is no better than a few that are wrong. What I’d recommend is to get the Real SATs book, and take a test or two at an accelerated pace. Record the results. THEN chase down The Xiggi Method and follow that.</p>
<p>And, if the kid is totally fed up with testing, have him check the list of test-optional colleges and universities at [The</a> National Center for Fair & Open Testing | FairTest](<a href=“http://www.fairtest.org%5DThe”>http://www.fairtest.org) Lots of good places there!</p>